Media populism and the metanarrative of God in the Philippines

Abstract

This article uses the concept of media populism to analyze the sophisticated role of networked platforms in organizing political discourses. Building on the scholarship on mediatization and mediated populism, it examines the mediated appeal of the God metanarrative—Religious Duterte, Catholic Church, Apollo Quiboloy, and Daily Prayer—and shows how God-related posts amplify the communicative style of populism in the Philippines. The God metanarrative on Facebook inspires communal engagement much as it polarizes the civil consensus on free expression and inclusive nationalism. The embedding of non-conflictual sentiments in the digital sphere blurs the precarious line between free expression of religious views and of political support, enabling political entrepreneurs to exploit the former as a way to consolidate the latter.