The Usage and Significance of Aliases in Online Journalism - Dissertation Example

? The Usage and Significance of Aliases in Online Journalism: A study of the Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper, Saudi Arabia Masters in Social Media Chapter 1 Introduction Information systems have changed the face of communication tremendously over the past 20 years (Stevens, 1981). The introduction of the World Wide Web, which has become the largest information network in the world, has influenced traditional journalism and the print media significantly (Janssen 2012: Qualman, 2010; O’Reilly, 2005). This is because most traditional newspapers utilise the Internet to disseminate their information quickly and conveniently. This is done effectively through the use of social networking media and systems like Facebook and Twitter (Kuzma, 2010; Batkiewicz, 2011; Fuchs, 2011; Janssen, 2012). Most traditional newspapers have online newspapers which they run alongside the traditional papers that they sell. These online newspapers have the advantage of speed and convenience. This is because as the number of users of the Internet continues to increase, more and more people spend more time reading and accessing information online rather than the local newspaper shop. This means that press houses that roll out information online are more likely to get access to readers long before traditional newspapers are rolled out and distributed. Online newspapers produce real-time information for readers to access. Another feature of online newspapers lies in its interactive nature. In practice, most online newspapers can have columns which allows readers to share their views and opinions about topics after they read an article. Interactivity allows the newspapers to link issues to the problem of members in the wider society because it allows readers to air their views and opinions which can be used to enhance the social constructivism of the discussion at hand (Walravens, 2011: Chen, 2005). On the other hand, this comes with some disadvantages as well. It could be open to abuse by some interest groups who can set up ‘serial commentators’ and there are potential legal issues that can come with the inability to ascertain the true identity of people who share comments on those pages (Walraven,s 2011). Jansen (2012) also points out that news papers in the world continue to struggle with the mode through which they can integrate this into normal journalistic norms. Since the trend in maintaining online newspapers has become fashionable around the world and there is more evidence that more and more people will spend more time on the Internet in the future, it is worth examining this phenomenon further. Basically, there is the need for some kind of examination of current trends and the postulation of possibilities into the future. 1.1 Research Problem Saudi Arabia is a country with a strong internet reach and most discourses in the Kingdom are done in Arabic (Ramady, 2010), which gives almost all the citizens and residents the opportunity to participate in online forums and other interactive units of newspapers that are online. This means that there is a high potential for a wide range of views and opinions that can be shared on such platforms. Also, Saudi Arabia is a nation that maintains one of the strictest forms of Islamic law and compliance. Due to this, there are several laws which restrict certain types of information that are not acceptable in the Sunni traditions of the Kingdom (Ramady, 2010). Thus, there is the chance that most contributors who want to say things that might not be in compliance with the laws and norms of the Islamic laws of the Kingdom to do so with false names and aliases. This obviously prevents the repercussions and at the same time allows the person to air his or her views without being traced. This situation has to contrasting facades. From one angle, it can allow some people to take advantage of the freedoms and opportunities that online newspapers bring and allow them to say things that are quite provocative and inappropriate. This way, the online newspaper is likely to face the retribution with the obvious Islamic and governmental authorities. On the other hand, such comments, particularly anonymous ones have the potential of prompting change and reforms which can guide the country to make a democratic transition in the reforms that have been promised by the King. 1.2 Research questions In line with the requirement laid out in the research problem, we will want to ascertain the actual scope of anonymous commenting on Saudi online newspapers, its repercussions and the benefits and demerits for the newspapers and the society at large. In attaining this end, the following research objectives will be explored: 1. An assessment of the motivation of users who make comments with aliases rather than their real names. 2. An analysis of the relationship between aliases and the concern for individual privacy. 3. An evaluation of the pros and cons of the use of aliases to Saudi media companies. 4. The examination of the merits and demerits of the use of aliases in Saudi online newspapers to the wider Saudi community, government and its influence on social reforms. 1.3 Hypothesis “A hypothesis is a temporal statement that is made at the beginning of an essay, which is tested for its truthfulness or falsity in the research” (Kothari, 2005 p45). This study hypothesises that cultural factors and the legal codes of the Kingdom makes it difficult for people to show their identity in commenting on online newspapers. This trend puts the online newspaper in some kind of danger, but in the long run, these comments help to promote political discourse and enhance democracy in Kingdom. 1.4 Motivation for Research This research seeks to provide some important information about the position of online newspapers in nations where there are laws that wholly or partially limit the freedom of speech. It ultimately aims at providing an insight into what is done on such contexts and how the journalists and wider community can utilise newspapers online to promote democracy and social change. The research is in partial fulfilment of my Masters in Social Media degree. Social Media is an emerging field and it is generally seen as a non-traditional field of study. It is my hope that this research will allow me to apply the concepts and ideas I acquired in the taught course to a real life problem in my native country. 1.5 Research Approach The research will be a blend of secondary and primary research. Secondary research will involve the critique of books and journals from authoritative sources to provide a definitive framework for the study. Primary research will involve the collection of information from the online newspaper segment of Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper. This will give insights into normal trends and activities that can be used to provide relevant information on the research questions and help in drawing conclusions about the hypothesis that has been generated. Chapter 2 Literature Review The literature review of this study will include a critical evaluation of important components of the study being undertaken. This section will involve a critique of important topic areas. Areas to be covered include the evolution from the print media to the online print media and its implications for the society in general and the wider community as a whole. It will look at the changes that have occurred in this transition and other definitive ideas that have come up with this change and how things are likely to turn out. The review will also examine how the Saudi legal system is structured and its implications to privacy in the kingdom. It analyses how these important ideas overlap and how they impact on communication and the media and how they are likely to influence the two components of the research: anonymous contributors and online newspaper companies. The literature review will involve a critique of important secondary sources like books and journals written by authorities in their respective fields. The journals used are mainly peer reviewed academic journals that have scholarly themes relevant to the topic under study. Participation in Print & Online Media There are various ways through which audiences participate in the print media. According to Nielson (2011), the traditional approach through which audiences can take part in discussions in the print media are “storytelling, criticism and appeals” (p21). In the pre-Internet era, most newspapers had columns that members of the public could occasionally contribute information to. This practice survives to this day, where many newspapers maintain a section where respondents can write their own ideas and stories about social issues. Also, people were allowed to criticise matters and come up with their own perceptions of information. In other situations, people were allowed to make appeals based on certain limitations. “Letter to the editor have become an effective medium for a two-way communication... captions like 'Feedback' and 'Last Word' provides a platform for the exchange of views and opinions in the traditional news paper” (Narasimha Rao, 2011 p89). Clearly, these columns and sections were designed to promote some kind of feedback from the public and encourage commoners to also communicate with the media and editors. Through this, there was an open system that allowed members of the general public to make inputs to the news and also contribute their quota to sharing opinions and ideas. The editorial team of traditional newspapers always ensured that the contributors of these articles were carefully chosen. These choices were made on the bases of journalistic ethics and norms that were generally accepted in the wider community (Upton, 2010 p99). This came with an inherent weakness of being capable of promoting some degree of media bias (Hastings, 2002). This is because the choice and editing styles used by editors might be disposed favourably towards certain ideas and ideologies which could go against the independence of the media. On the other hand, Franklin argues for the need for some kind of moderation because some comments of readers which are worth of being published are potentially insulting to certain portions of the population (2008). This is because some readers are not aware of the effects of their comments whilst others are unfairly abusive. Thus, there is a justified need to moderate and regulate the letters from editors that are sent to them. It is therefore an established fact that the two-way communication or interactivity between readers and editors in the traditional newspapers had a high degree of controls as well as checks and balances. These controls and editing helped in maintaining controls and media ethics on one side. On another side, it restricted the communication and the linkages between readers and their attempt to be heard through the traditional newspapers The introduction of online newspapers has redefined the approach for participation from the audience. The main ways that participatory journalism takes place in online newspapers have to do with the introduction of comments, discussion forums, user blogs and reviews and articles of popular contributors (Lasica, 2003 p22). Singer argues that interactivity is a core concept that is inherent in online journalism because the Internet offers a wide variety of ways through which people from different parts of the world can make their views heard (2009). Thus, it is quite common for the feedbacks of various readers of online newspapers to be written because most online newspapers have comments sections which allow readers to air their views on subjects and matters relevant to the discussion at hand. Also, in some other online newspapers, there are discussion forums and surveys that are opened up to examine important views and opinions. The presence of the Internet and software to support it enables such discussion forums to be transposed into surveys which give a view of what people think about a given social phenomenon. In other situations, some top commentators are chosen to write blogs and reviews which are published. Such blogs enhances viewer traffic and attracts more people onto the online newspaper’s website. According to a University of Amsterdam survey, the level of participation involving online newspapers can be classified under two main headings (Salwen et al, 2005 p68). First of all, there are the mainstream sites which are have restricted levels of participation. In other words, such sites have some degree of filtering and control which prevents people from exceeding the ethical bounds in airing their views (Quiggin, 2006 p481). Such comments are edited before they are screened on the website. Examples include the traditional media houses like New York Times, CNN and BBC. Salwen et al state that due to the fact that there are a lot of labour hours involved in screening comments, these websites do not often open up all discussions to the public (2005). They only open up specific issues for discussions. This way, they can use appropriately skilled personnel to edit and screen comments and get an acceptable stream of comments and opinions that would not be offensive to certain quarters of the society. A second stream of online newspapers is the ‘index and category sites’ (Salwen et al, 2005). These sites are often new and strictly online newspapers without a corresponding press house that rolls out traditional paper based newspapers (Schultz, 2000 p205). Such sites simply allow comments to go live and these comments often go unchecked. The risk here is that such comments could be quite derogatory and they can lead to a lot of conflicts which could harm the journalistic reputation of the people involved in the website. However, since some of such sites are new entrants in the market and they are ran by less skilled and trained in journalism, they do not face serious reputational risks as other traditional press houses might. The inclusion of online journalism has inevitably changed the face of participation in the media. Most countries that have strict censorship laws have made allowances and adjustments to accommodate some degree of participation which did not exist in the traditional print media. In a study of the Chinese media which is noted for restricting its press, Li identified that as of the year 2005, 40% China’s newspapers had forums (2006 p254). However, the readers were allowed to participate in a restricted set of topics. Most topics were not discussed in such forums. However, the fact that China had to make some adjustments to harness some degree of participation shows that online newspapers are driven by participation. The Online Newspaper Industry & Social and Democratic Change “News outlets serve democratic norms by providing a wide range of view points including opinions and views from the public” (McCluskey & Hmielowski, 2012 p303). Traditionally, the news media is a convergence point for different views and opinions. This promotes social discourse which in turn, influences public policy and enhances change in every society. As established above, online newspapers provoke a high degree of dialogue and information which is channelled into the socio-cultural system in order to prompt questions on social change. According to McCluskey & Hmielowski (2012), online news papers challenges community institutions more than the traditional ‘letter-to-the-editor’ which involved some degree of delay and was only restricted to a small section of the society per subject. However, McCluskey & Hmielowski identify two reasons why online newspapers get more comments and are a stronger tool for social change (2012). First of all, there is the absence of the traditional gatekeepers who will screen comments and select just one or a few and also edit selected letters thoroughly before publishing them. Secondly, there is the presence of a younger audience who participate in such forums. This way, there is a larger audience base and also, there are younger people who give more challenging views which go a long way to confront social structures, which are traditionally upheld and safeguarded by the older generation. The conflicts of such discussions and postings support the case for different views and opinions (Knapp and Spector, 2011 p334). This way, online newspapers give a wider pool of views which come together to define the social landscape and promote social and cultural changes in the society. In summing up the differences between print newspapers and online newspapers, Wurf & Lauf (2005 p45) identify some important trends and indicators in both sectors. First of all, in the print media, news are put ahead of textual patters and advertisement is important. Text involves full articles which are written by credible journalists who use their real names. The information is more official and less interpersonal. On the other hand, online newspapers tend to focus on interactivity. Instead of focusing on getting more money through adverts, online newspapers focus on getting more people to visit their web pages. This is done by enhancing interactivity and taking more opinions from the public. Also, the online newspapers often refer to traditional newspapers and radio reports as their sources. In other words, it is more of a secondary based kind of reporting. This means that it shows less originality than the traditional news papers. Another feature is in the level of anonymity and the prevalence of aliases in the online newspaper industry. Also, online newspapers often focuses on a strict niche of readers who cover a wider geographical area and there is more in-depth analysis on topics that are often neglected by the traditional media (Fludernick, 2003 p15). Politics & the Online Newspaper Industry Lester and Hutchings identify three main components of the media which interact strongly with online newspaper reporting (2011 p654). The core elements are: 1. Political statements 2. Human interest 3. Scientific credibility. Human interests exist everywhere. Most people move to protect their interests when they are being threatened. Due to this, there is a high degree of politics and this spills over to the traditional media houses. These media houses try to remain independent. However, there is always the risk that the reporting might not be independent enough. Chomsky identifies that there are interest groups that continue to fund and control the media (2002 p77). Some of them are multinationals and huge and powerful corporations that can influence policy and control the media. Online newspapers might have some issues with scientific credibility. On the other hand, a person or a party that wants to avoid falling into the trap of being ensnared by mainstream stereotypical reporting can set up an online newspaper. “Political power involves the activity of coordinating individuals and regulating the patterns of interaction (Fourie, 2001 p124). This involves some degree of control that is wielded by people in authority. Fourie goes on to mention two important kinds of power. The first is coercive power which involves the government’s use of the military and other law enforcement units to force people to move according to a given line. The second is the symbolic power which involves cultural and other generally accepted systems of leadership. On the other hand, Burton points out that online newspapers are quite difficult to regulate, hence it is not easy to put them under the authority of political powers (Burton, 2010 p60). This is because they can operate in different ways and forms and this makes it almost impossible for them to come under the control and direction of people in authority and power. Another element Burton cites is the fact that most commentators and participants in such online newspaper discussions can maintain some degree of anonymity (Burton, 2010 p60). Privacy and the Use of Aliases in Online Newspapers “Several surveys attest to growing public concerns regarding privacy, aggravated by the diffusion of information technology” (Fanbuck & Papacharissi, 2007 p715). This is because there are some ways through which privacy can be tampered with even if an individual goes greater lengths to protect his image. This seems to give a case for the need to use some kind of aliases to protect one’s identity. Aliases are names which are used by people who contribute to social forums which are not their legal name but give them some assumed identity. The use of aliases is said to be one of the best privacy defences in contributing to privacy defence in online newspapers (Moore, 2002 p48). Moore goes on to state that technology has emerged that can allow a person to hide behind an alias. He gives the example of a US company called Zero Knowledge which can produce aliases and false images of people which cannot be divulged even if requested by the courts of law (Moore, 2002 p48). This is fast becoming accepted in the US and other Western legal jurisdictions to the point that they might be legal (Allen et al, 2008). This is supported by the fact that most media houses cannot guarantee the safety of contributors. Hence, they might act in the first instance to protect their identity. Barish (2011 p25) also goes on to state that aliases are important and must be used when a person feels that his information might get into the wrong hands. Barish identifies several US state laws which could be used as a legal basis for the use of aliases (2011 p25). However aliases must be chosen carefully and used consistently in order to be used effectively. The use of aliases also poses an identity problem. This is because anyone can send any message with an alter ego. This means that the worth or value of comments generated on a given page can lose its significance and mean. This is because a small group of people can come up with many names which can hinder the seriousness of a given online newspaper. In Colombia, the attempt to reduce abuse through the use of aliases is done through “establishing house rules, monitoring the comment repositories and generating tools for reporting offensive comments” (Gaol, 2012). This therefore indicates that there could be the creation of some rules like soliciting for some important details about the identity of commentators and using ways of monitoring comments and the IP address of commentators on online newspapers. Also, there should be ways through which people who suspect abuse can report matters with ease. However, most online newspapers regard the use of moderators as a waste of resources (2009). This is because an average newspaper article can generate 10,000 comments in an hour. This means that the moderator must be paid to read every single comment before it is authorized. This can be a potential waste of staff time and can cause serious financial challenges to the company. Also, it might prevent lively discussions and other commentators might find the site too rigid. The inherent nature of online newspapers give room for a cycle which supports the use of aliases. First of all, a lot of people can comment on online newspapers and as the number of possible commentators increases, the use of aliases is also likely to increase. In this wise, the use of aliases come up naturally because the online newspapers gives room for an unlimited possibility of commenting. Secondly, the fact that commentators cannot be traced also encourages people to say what they think without being detected. Thirdly, the difficulty of moderation makes it possible for a wider diversity of commentators to say what they think of a subject. This keeps the cycle going. Conclusion The media can be used as a tool for the democratization of a nation if it represents the views of the commoner and enables the commoner to make significant inputs into consensus building and take part in debates. The print media traditionally gets audience participation through storytelling, criticisms and appeals. However, with the advent of the Internet, online newspapers ensure the contribution of readers through comments, discussion forums, blogs and reviews of articles. Whereas some mainstream media houses continue to control comments and edit contents of audiences’ inputs on online newspapers, others do not edit readers’ comments and contributions. Online newspapers prompt a high degree of audience participation when compared to traditional print newspapers. Countries with the strictest standards of press restriction are forced to produce a higher degree of audience participation in online newspapers than they were previously allowing for traditional newspapers. This shows that online newspapers have an inherent attribute of allowing audience participation. Audience participation through online newspapers enhances democratic and social change. This is due to the absence of the traditional gatekeepers who edit and modify most audiences’ contribution. Also the accessibility of online newspapers to a wider range of people in the society, particularly younger people promotes social change faster. The media is traditionally influenced by politics. The presence of key political players prompts some degree of bias in the media. Online newspapers support the building and enhancement of transparency since it is easy to set up and can be used with a higher degree of anonymity. Anonymity is essential in contributing to online newspapers because most contributor data cannot be guaranteed. Secondly, the use of aliases on the Internet can be assured and there are many legal loopholes that supports this in Western countries. Saudi Arabia is a conservative Islamic state. It is bound to remain so until further notice. Due to this, the laws that limit press freedom and freedom of speech continues to subsist. This gives a strong case for the use of aliases and anonymous names to protect contributors. References Allen, H. W., Clubb, J. M., Lacey, V. 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