Media Literacy in the Wake of Political Uprising: A Case Study of Iran and Egypt
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ANDREA GLAUBER GLOBAL COMMUNITIES CAPSTONE PROJECT ADVISOR: CAITLIN HAUGEN 27 APRIL 2011 Media Literacy in the Wake of Political Uprising: A Case Study of Iran and Egypt
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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 - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Transcript of Media Literacy in the Wake of Political Uprising: A Case Study of Iran and Egypt
ANDREA GLAUBERGLOBAL COMMUNITIES CAPSTONE PROJECT
ADVISOR: CAITLIN HAUGEN27 APRIL 2011
Media Literacy in the Wake of Political Uprising:
A Case Study of Iran and Egypt
IntroductionWhat is media literacy?
o A 21st-century extension of basic literacyo Result of Web 2.0 (Facebook, Twitter, blogs)o Necessary for effective citizen journalismo Key traits:
o Accesso Contact usage
o Analysiso Critical conversation
o Evaluationo Navigate bias
o Content Creationo Effective communication(Livingstone 2-3)
Media LiteracyWhy is it important?
o “relationship among textuality, competence, and power” (Livingstone 20)o Ability to produce accurate media
o New facet of democraticparticipation
o Producers and consumersare one and the sameo Communication between
sources becomes necessary
Web 2.0o “social media”
o Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.o Key ideas
o Individual production/user-generated contento Consumers become the media
o Power of the crowdo Influence in numbers
o Data on epic scaleo Accessibility of information
o Easy participationo Simple interface
(Anderson 14)
Web 2.0 Media Literacyo Open
communicationo “architecture of
participation” (Anderson 19)o Service improves as it
populates
o User-friendly interface network grows
o Usage leads to interpretation/self-teaching
o Content generation
How are they related?
Citizen Journalismo Traditional public interactive
participatory citizen journalism (Nip)o Journalism always moving toward higher goal
of engaging citizens (Nip)o Through evolution, audiences (consumers) become
reporters (producers)o Made possible by Web 2.0o New format of democratic
participationo Society’s “gatekeepers”
Web 2.0 Citizen Journalism
o Rapid communication
o Easy accesso Community-basedo Source of inspiration
and ideaso Infinite network
o Produced in key moments
o Open to publico Modified
collaborationamong
producers
How did it develop?
Iran’s Media: A Briefingo Traditional media (TV, newspapers, radio)
monitored by stateo Modern media (Internet, Web 2.0) free from
state controlo 10.6% of Iran’s 70 million population has
Internet accesso This makes up 38.7% of the entire Middle East
populationo 700,000 blogs
o Persian one of the most popularlanguages of the blogosphere
Egypt’s Media: A Briefingo Minister of Information can forbid publication of
anything that may “threaten public stability and peace” (Saab 522)
o Press Law No. 96: state controls media in states of emergencyo Has been in control since assassination of President Sadat
in 1981o State of emergency declared by President
Mubarak; lasted 30 yearso Journalists still seen as
“guardians of society”(Saab 541)
Case Study: Iran 2009How was citizen journalism used during
political uprising?o First social media revolutiono From Dictatorship to Democracy by Gene Sharpo Western journalists banned from providing coverageo Most of narrative told from bottom-up in terms of
social hierarchyo Citizen journalists were themselves the
stories being coveredo Monitoring events, engaging in critical
conversations
Case Study: Egypt 2011How was citizen journalism used during
political uprising?o Gene Sharpo Protestors collaborated and planned in advanceo Increased international interventiono Internet blackout
o Considered human rights violationo Google-Twitter partnership
navigated censorship
Similarities
o Assistance of Gene Sharp’s From Dictatorship to Democracy
o Social networking provided crucial information to outside worldo International support and solidarity for movements
o Attempted government shutdowns of mediao Prohibition of Western journalists
in Irano Internet blackout in Iran and
Egypt
Iran 2009 Egypt 2011
Iran 2009 Egypt 2011o Less planningo No international
collaborationo State hostile toward
citizenso No prior social
media revolution experience
o 2 years of preparation
o Sparked by Tunisiao No history of
military abuse of citizens
o Had ability to observe protests in Iran 2009 and learn from them
Differences
ConclusionWhat do these uprisings tell us about
media literacy?o Media literacy becoming the future of literacy
o Web 2.0 not the future, but the presento Citizen journalism unsure, but still in existence
o These technologies are useful beyond mere communicationo Online community-building
o Future of democratic participationo Ordinary citizens power
Thank you.
