ABSTRACT
This case study examines the emergence and circulation of small stories and the associated types of affective positioning in the context of reactions to the attack at the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, January 7, 2015. The chapter draws on The Guardian’s live news blog on the events as well as on Twitter reactions and examines a mode of affective news engagement called, here, ecstatic sharing, which echoes modes of ecstatic news in the live broadcasting of disasters (Chouliaraki, 2006). As I show, this mode engenders participation positions along dividing lines of identification and creates affective positions that signal different degrees of proximity to the event and the victims. This case study also points to how small stories of mourning can be mobilized for symbolic purposes and scaled up at a national and global scale.
