YouTube digital spaces: a form of contemporary global agora? A case study of the documentary Greece: the hidden war

Social media have long provided opportunities for political and civic participation and YouTube is one of those social media that have been studied and analysed in this light (Stein, 2013; Carpentier, 2014; Way, 2015; Gossett, 2020). This paper explores the relationship between the content of a historical documentary, Greece, The Hidden War (Gabriel, 1986) and the discussions initiated amongst some of its viewers in the comments, to investigate the extent to which the YouTube digital space can be characterized as a form of contemporary agora.

By carrying out a qualitative content and thematic analysis, the research starts from the comments themselves and investigates which aspects of the documentary the viewers draw on, which topics and discourses they bring into the discussion that develops in the comments, and how they articulate their points. The analysis further distinguishes between Greek and non-Greek nationals to explore the extent to which the different nationalities of the viewers affect their interaction with the programme and with other viewers.

The reception study outlined above is then corroborated by a multimodal analysis of the social actors (van Leeuwen, 1996) mentioned by the viewers. This is based on constructs borrowed from social semiotics (e.g. Kress and van Leeuwen, 1996, 2001; van Leeuwen, 1999; Machin and Mayr, 2012) and recently applied to the genre of travel and cultural documentaries (Castaldi, 2021, 2022, forthcoming).

The analysis highlights three levels of engagement: a micro level that pertains themes and events specifically related to the programme; a meso level that addresses the Greek Civil War in its entirety; a macro level that relates to broader ideological antagonisms. Initial conclusions regarding the role of YouTube channels as digital agora will be drawn, and venues for further research in the area of social media and political and civic participation will be discussed.