What role did the media have in the outcome of the "Arab Spring" revolt in Tunisia?
Upvote:2
The media has been criticized for casting an inaccurate view of the recent tensions. The problem is that it's portrayed as a recent upheavel, something that the people in the region have seemingly just woken up to. In fact, many of those in the hotspot areas leading revolts have stated that the struggles have been ongoing for years, if not decades, and only because of social media and increased communications capabilities have the current situations finally boiled over at this very moment in history, and seemingly altogether (when really they are more coincidental- after all, just because one country nearby revolts doesn't make it any safer to revolt against a strongman in another country, as Syria and Dubai are proving).
On the flip side, because of the media the word has not just been "getting out" but has been amplified significantly, which places extraordinary pressure on unpopular governments, often hastening their fall. Mainstream media and news organizations are in a fight for their existence with the new social media wave, and thus tend to cow-tow to it. In this example, activity on Twitter and Facebook can often lead to a bunch of mentions in the press, and if drama is abound... it will be 'page one' for sure. Coordination of protests on Twitter, combined with large-scale news reporting of said protests are the current one-two punch being used to overthrow strongmen in the region, something previously unthinkable.
Upvote:5
The following snippets are from two articles that describe what role the media may have had in the outcome of the "Arab Spring"
So, Was Facebook Responsible for the Arab Spring After All? ...
Pollock's portrayal of Egyption activism displays strategies and tools similar to Tunisia's. Of course, that's no accident: The Egyptian activists were following the events in Tunisia, learning from them, and even communicating with some of the leaders -- over Facebook, of course. When one of the Egyptian movement's leaders heard the news from Tunisia, he started texting: "Ben Ali gone. Possibility." As Pollock puts it, "Recipients understood the possibility he had in mind."
In the end, no matter the importance of the online tools, "history happened on the streets," editor-in-chief Pontin writes. But how those streets became flooded by so many, well, it wasn't random, and social media's role boils down to two simple but central accomplishments: First, Facebook and elsewhere online is where people saw and shared horrifying videos and photographs of state brutality that inspired them to rebel. Second, these sites are where people found out the basic logistics of the protests -- where to go and when to show up.
...
So, Was Facebook Responsible for the Arab Spring After All? By REBECCA J. ROSEN SEP 3 2011, 8:34 AM ET 6 (The Atlantic)
Streetbook How Egyptian and Tunisian youth hacked the Arab Spring. Pollock's Full story
...
Mostafa knows technology has played a crucial role. "Before this social-media revolution, everyone was very individual, very single, very isolated and oppressed in islands," he says. "But social media has created bridges, has created channels between individuals, between activists, between even ordinary men, to speak out, to know that there are other men who think like me. We can work together, we can make something together." He recalls the April 6 movement spreading content via blogs and Facebook with the note "Copy, Publish, Share." He knew it was working when people he didn't know passed him printouts in the streets. Text messages were also used to call for protests, instructing recipients to "send to 10 people."
…
Streetbook How Egyptian and Tunisian youth hacked the Arab Spring. BY JOHN POLLOCK SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011 (Technology Review)
Additional Information:
About tunisia and egypt (video)
More post
- 📝 When were capital punishments suspended during the Rashidun caliphate?
- 📝 How came the poppy be associated with WW1?
- 📝 What factors contributed to Jews moving out of the Middle East?
- 📝 Hugh Dowding v. William Sholto Douglas?
- 📝 What was Poland's posture during the Seven Years' War?
- 📝 Why did Spartacus turn South at Mutina instead of continuing North towards Thrace?
- 📝 What are some of earliest examples of independent journalism?
- 📝 Where did all the money go?
- 📝 Is there evidence of extensive Viking presence in North America?
- 📝 Did people living in Stockholm, Sweden in the late 1700s (18th century) really have to fetch their mail manually?
- 📝 Thirteen "colonies", "provinces", "states", etc.?
- 📝 Who was Woodburn Heron?
- 📝 What is the most advanced nonliterate society?
- 📝 How widespread was pacifism in the WW2 USA?
- 📝 Did the USSR pledge support to Czechoslovakia before the Munich Agreement?
- 📝 Where can I find the official response to Austria from Serbia in the July Crisis?
- 📝 What happened to the French royal navy during the french-revolution?
- 📝 What was normal attire for Hindu kings in the 15th century?
- 📝 What would be a textbook example of Germans attacking a small defending force in the rubble of a village?
- 📝 What were the most common reactions to Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
- 📝 When did the Romans finally acknowledge that they were living in an empire?
- 📝 Did people from the cities of Uruk, Ur and Sumer have knowledge/recollection of how old their cities were (say, recollection after 2000 BCE)?
- 📝 Has a criminal organisation ever become a formal government?
- 📝 Was there ever a single collection of the Corpus Juris Civilis and has it survived?
- 📝 Why, in general, did the racist theories perceived Germanic as superior?
- 📝 In the Nuremberg Laws, What did "Approved for Citizenship" is half Jewish mean in practice?
- 📝 What were the key difficulties for the Romans in the conquest of Germanic tribes?
- 📝 Why weren't North American Indians considered to be property yet to be acquired (slaves)?
- 📝 What did anti-Greek stereotyping look like in the United States in the early 20th century?
- 📝 Why did the British leave Kohima and Imphal "lightly" defended in 1944?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What role did the media have in the outcome of the "Arab Spring" revolt in Tunisia?
- 📝 What role did the United States government and major corporations have in controlling dissent and protest starting in the late 1940s?
- 📝 Did the Soviet Union or its satellite states have any broadcast propaganda media for an international audience?
- 📝 What advantages did Catholic missionaries to the Indians have over Protestant missionaries in old Oregon Country?
- 📝 What role did the Eastern Roman Empire play in the fall of the Western Roman Empire?
- 📝 What effect did the Attack on Mers-el-Kébir have on Great Britain's international relations during WW2?
- 📝 What reasons did the Confederacy have for believing they would have a quick victory?
- 📝 What role did Lucky Luciano play in facilitating the invasion of Sicily?
- 📝 What did the top minds of the late 17th century have to say about Salem witch trials?
- 📝 What role did the Ancient Samurai heritage play on Modern Japan during WW2?
- 📝 What effect did the Bronze Age collapse have on India?
- 📝 What role did the space race play in reducing the nuclear threat during the 1960s?
- 📝 What effect did awareness of devastating bombing at home have on the fighting spirit of German troops on the Eastern front?
- 📝 What impact did the Seven Years War have on the American Revolution?
- 📝 What impact did Trotsky's armoured train have on the Russian civil war?
- 📝 What was the role of a 'Tidy Man' and what might their duties have been?
- 📝 What role did Jews play in the Punic Wars?
- 📝 What effect did the Mafia have during World War 2?
- 📝 At what point did the United States have a truly federal army?
- 📝 What alternate north-south supply routes did the Soviet Union have when the Volga and Stalingrad were under attack?
- 📝 What literary or philosophical works did the ancient Egyptians have that have influenced ancient civilizations or the modern word?
- 📝 What did sectionalism have to do with the American civil war?
- 📝 What role if any did Ligachev play in the 1991 coup attempt against Gorbachev?
- 📝 What access did people in the Warsaw pact countries have to Western television and radio?
- 📝 What rights did women have in Switzerland in the first few years of the 20th century?
- 📝 During WW2, what B-29 crew role did the abbreviation EMG mean?
- 📝 What intelligence successes did the Axis have in WW2?
- 📝 What kind of heating did Moscow have in the early Soviet Union (1917 - 1930)?
- 📝 Did West Russia really have a rock shortage in WW2? And if so, what was the cause?
- 📝 What specifically did Einstein have in mind when he called the Israeli Freedom Party fascistic?