TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – According to the FBI, threats and acts of political violence have increased in recent years.
A Bowling Green State University professor studying the increasing role that alternative and activist media have on mainstream political communication in the United States is reacting to the shooting death of Charlie Kirk.
Anytime political violence happens, it’s a sad occasion
“It’s very tragic and terrible what’s happened to Charlie Kirk,” Joshua Atkinson, a professor at the School of Media and Communication at BGSU, said.
Part of Atkinson’s studies includes how political content creators are engaging in political discourse and how it shapes mainstream political communication.
“To really make a name for yourself, to really get out there and be seen, to draw that attention, you almost have to generate outrage,” Atkinson says.
Kirk was a conservative commentator and activist and was among a growing list of political influencers.
Atkinson said people on the left and the right of the political spectrum are participating in what he calls the “attention economy.”
“The more outrage you can generate, the more successful you will be and I think that is a significant problem that we face,” Atkinson said.
He added, the new alternative activist journalism comes with safety concerns.
“You see lots of people doing this now, the problem is all of these individuals now are also constantly getting death threats, they get swatted,” he said.
Atkinson said tech companies play a role in reigning in content.
“We’re going to see more of it until somebody, somehow, we kind of get a hold of that attention economy; if we don’t, it’s just going to be more of this,” Atkinson said.
Kirk leaves behind two young children and a wife.
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This article was published by WTVG on 2025-09-10 23:13:00
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