Slides used in undergraduate media studies module at University of Sunderland
For the YouTube videos on the following slides skip to the following sections:
#34 - 9:00 -11:30
#38 - 9:50-11:30
2. 2
John Gilmore
“The Net interprets censorship as damage and
routes around it”
TIME magazine (6 Dec 1993)
3. 3
Outline
1. Networked journalism
2. The Twitter revolution?
Lessons from Iran
3. The Arab Spring and
activism
4. 4
Transformation of journalism
“In the 20th Century making the news was almost
entirely the province of journalists… The economics
of publishing and broadcasting created
large, arrogant institutions – call it Big Media…
Big media … treated the news as a lecture. We
told you what the news was…. Tomorrow’s news
reporting and production will be more of a
conversation, or a seminar…” (2004: xiii)
5. 5
US Airways #1549 2009
Mumbai 2008
Asian Tsunami 2004
London 7/7 2005
6. 6
Networked journalism
A term that has been floating around for some
time…
Jeff Jarvis (2006)
Journalism professor at CUNY Graduate School of
Journalism; blogger; writer
Charlie Beckett (2008)
Director of Polis, at the London School of Economics;
writer; former broadcast editor at BBC, ITN & C4
7. 7
Networked journalism
Jeff Jarvis (2006)
“Networked journalism” takes into account the
collaborative nature of journalism now: professionals
and amateurs working together to get the real
story, linking to each other across brands and old
boundaries to share
facts, questions, answers, ideas, perspectives. It
recognizes the complex relationships that will make
news. And it focuses on the process more than the
product.
8. 8
Networked journalism
Charlie Beckett (2008)
The idea that traditional journalism opens itself up to
the public. It shares the production process from start
to finish. It uses new technologies to include the
citizen in every aspect of news-
gathering, production and publication. It means
using a lot of jargon like crowd-sourcing, social
networking, wikis and Twittering. Many of these
techniques build on existing journalism methods and
are already out there. But it will also require a
participatory revolution in the way we make the
news.
9. 9
Networked journalism
Charlie Beckett (2010)
By „Networked Journalism‟ I mean a synthesis of
traditional news journalism and the emerging forms
of participatory media enabled by Web 2.0
technologies such as mobile
phones, email, websites, blogs, micro-blogging, and
social networks
11. 11
#iranelection
A disparate series of
events, reports, protests, accounts, links, stories, et
c across multiple media platforms by social
agents seeking to redress a perceived and
actual danger
12. 12
Top Twitter Trends of 2009
“The terms #iranelection, Iran and Tehran were
all in the top-21 of Trending Topics, and
#iranelection finished in a close second behind
the regular weekly favorite #musicmonday.”
Abdur, Dec 15 2009
14. 14
10th Iranian election, aka:
Green Revolution
Sea of Green
Twitter Revolution
Persian Awakening
15. 15
June 12: The Election
Official (disputed!) results:
Ahmadinejad = 24.5 million votes (62.6%)
Mousavi = 13.2 million votes (33.7%)
Over 80% voter turnout
Both claimed they had secured majority of (58-60%)
vote
18. 18
June 13-14: Protests
Mainstream media fingered for poor coverage =
#CNNFail
Al Jazeera English charges Iranian government of
direct censorship
Al Arabiya‟s Tehran office shut down
NBC News in Tehran raided
BBC World Service claim signal jammed
21. 21
June 15-18: Escalation
Rumours of Mousavi‟s arrest flood the web
Supreme Ayatolla Khomeini initiates partial recount of
votes
Iranian football team wear green armbands in game vs
South Korea
US Govt asks Twitter to postpone its scheduled downtime
Ministry of Culture issues a directive banning foreign
media from leaving their offices
23. 23
June 19-21: Violence
Bloodiest days of violence across the weekend
Social media becomes the main way for citizens to
communicate and organise in face of media
censorship
Shooting of Neda Soltani by Basij forces becomes a
rallying cry against the government
State run television reports 10 killed in Tehran over
the weekend
29. 29
The Arab Spring
Revolutionary
wave of protests
throughout the
MENA
region, beginning
on 18th Dec 2010
following self-
immolation of
Mohamed Bouazizi
30. 30
Tunisia
Corrupt officials under rule of President Zine El
Abidine Ben Ali
High unemployment, inflation, police
brutality, and lack of free speech
Mainstream media censorship
35. 35
John Gilmore
“The Net interprets censorship as damage and
routes around it”
TIME magazine (6 Dec 1993)
36. 36
Tunisia
17th Dec 2010 – Mohamed Bouazizi‟s self-
immolation in Sidi Bouzid
18th-24th street protests result in public being shot
in Bouziane
Protests spread nationally, engulfing Tunis by 27th
14th Jan 2011 – President Ben Ali flees into exile
39. 39
Net neutrality?
Small team of engineers from Twitter
and SayNow created a voice-to-tweet
service
@speak2tweet
40. 40
Egypt
Jan 25th 2011 - Popular uprising began
26th Jan – Internet and mobile services shut down
28th Jan – Hundreds of thousands protest across
Egypt after Friday prayers
29th Jan – Military presence in Cairo increased
2nd Feb – “Battle of the Camel” in Tahrir Square
11th Feb – Mubarak resigns, Armed Forces take over
41. 41
Revolutions were tweeted
On Sunspace
Focus on Tunisa and Egpyt protests
Analyses different „information flows‟
Measuring different actors impact and
influence
“news on Twitter is being co-constructed by
bloggers and activists alongside journalists”
42. 42
Conclusion
Civic activism can be supported by coordinated
internet activism
Internet “revolutions” may be somewhat
problematic
Depending on circumstances, social media and
networked journalism contributes to a hybrid and
dynamic flow of information.
43. 43
In seminars
1. Identify an example whereby networks have
been used to break a news story before the
mainstream news media (it doesn't have to be
about the Arab Spring!)
2. Identify any advantages or disadvantages of
information bypassing mainstream media
channels
44. 44
In seminars
“One possible reading of the current situation on the
ground in Tehran is that, despite all the political
mobilisation facilitated by social media, the Iranian
government has not only survived, but has, in
fact, become even more authoritarian”
Evgeny Morozov, 2010, Prospect Magazine
1. Listen to the interview (link) with Evgeny Morozov (from 7
mins)
To what extent is he right (or wrong) to be skeptical about the
power of social media?