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Media Literacy in the Wake of Political Uprising: A Case Study of Iran and Egypt

Media Literacy in the Wake of Political Uprising: A Case Study of Iran and Egypt. Andrea Glauber Global Communities Capstone Project Advisor: Caitlin Haugen 27 April 2011. Introduction. What is media literacy? A 21 st -century extension of basic literacy

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Media Literacy in the Wake of Political Uprising: A Case Study of Iran and Egypt

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  1. Media Literacy in the Wake of Political Uprising:A Case Study of Iran and Egypt Andrea Glauber Global Communities Capstone Project Advisor: Caitlin Haugen 27 April 2011

  2. Introduction What is media literacy? • A 21st-century extension of basic literacy • Result of Web 2.0 (Facebook, Twitter, blogs) • Necessary for effective citizen journalism • Key traits: • Access • Contact  usage • Analysis • Critical conversation • Evaluation • Navigate bias • Content Creation • Effective communication (Livingstone 2-3)

  3. Media Literacy Why is it important? • “relationship among textuality, competence, and power” (Livingstone 20) • Ability to produce accurate media • New facet of democratic participation • Producers and consumers are one and the same • Communication between sources becomes necessary

  4. Web 2.0 • “social media” • Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc. • Key ideas • Individual production/user-generated content • Consumers become the media • Power of the crowd • Influence in numbers • Data on epic scale • Accessibility of information • Easy participation • Simple interface (Anderson 14)

  5. How are they related? Web 2.0 Media Literacy • Open communication • “architecture of participation” (Anderson 19) • Service improves as it populates • User-friendly interface  network grows • Usage leads to interpretation/self-teaching • Content generation

  6. Citizen Journalism • Traditional  public  interactive  participatory  citizen journalism (Nip) • Journalism always moving toward higher goal of engaging citizens (Nip) • Through evolution, audiences (consumers) become reporters (producers) • Made possible by Web 2.0 • New format of democratic participation • Society’s “gatekeepers”

  7. How did it develop? Web 2.0 Citizen Journalism • Rapid communication • Easy access • Community-based • Source of inspiration and ideas • Infinite network • Produced in key moments • Open to public • Modified collaboration among producers

  8. Iran’s Media: A Briefing • Traditional media (TV, newspapers, radio) monitored by state • Modern media (Internet, Web 2.0) free from state control • 10.6% of Iran’s 70 million population has Internet access • This makes up 38.7% of the entire Middle East population • 700,000 blogs • Persian one of the most popular languages of the blogosphere

  9. Egypt’s Media: A Briefing • Minister of Information can forbid publication of anything that may “threaten public stability and peace” (Saab 522) • Press Law No. 96: state controls media in states of emergency • Has been in control since assassination of President Sadat in 1981 • State of emergency declared by President Mubarak; lasted 30 years • Journalists still seen as “guardians of society” (Saab 541)

  10. Case Study: Iran 2009 How was citizen journalism used during political uprising? • First social media revolution • From Dictatorship to Democracy by Gene Sharp • Western journalists banned from providing coverage • Most of narrative told from bottom-up in terms of social hierarchy • Citizen journalists were themselves the stories being covered • Monitoring events, engaging in critical conversations

  11. Case Study: Egypt 2011 How was citizen journalism used during political uprising? • Gene Sharp • Protestors collaborated and planned in advance • Increased international intervention • Internet blackout • Considered human rights violation • Google-Twitter partnership navigated censorship

  12. Iran 2009 Egypt 2011 Similarities • Assistance of Gene Sharp’s From Dictatorship to Democracy • Social networking provided crucial information to outside world • International support and solidarity for movements • Attempted government shutdowns of media • Prohibition of Western journalists in Iran • Internet blackout in Iran and Egypt

  13. Differences Iran 2009 Egypt 2011 • Less planning • No international collaboration • State hostile toward citizens • No prior social media revolution experience • 2 years of preparation • Sparked by Tunisia • No history of military abuse of citizens • Had ability to observe protests in Iran 2009 and learn from them

  14. Conclusion What do these uprisings tell us about media literacy? • Media literacy becoming the future of literacy • Web 2.0 not the future, but the present • Citizen journalism unsure, but still in existence • These technologies are useful beyond mere communication • Online community-building • Future of democratic participation • Ordinary citizens  power

  15. Thank you.

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