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)
4
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
6
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.
7
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.
8
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
9
11. #iranelection
A disparate series of events, reports, protests,
accounts, links, stories, etc across multiple media
platforms by social agents seeking to redress a
perceived and actual danger
11
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
12
14. 10th Iranian election, aka:
Green Revolution
Sea of Green
Twitter Revolution
Persian Awakening
14
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
15
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
18
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
21
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
23
29. The Arab Spring
29
Revolutionary
wave of protests
throughout the
MENA region,
beginning on 18th
Dec 2010 following
self-immolation of
Mohamed Bouazizi
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
30
35. John Gilmore
“The Net interprets censorship as damage and
routes around it”
TIME magazine (6 Dec 1993)
35
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
36
39. Net neutrality?
Small team of engineers from Twitter
and SayNow created a voice-to-tweet
service
@speak2tweet
39
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
40
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”
41
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.
42
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
43
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?
44
