Effectiveness of Digital Media - Coursework Example

In the modern times, the digital media has become an important part of our life. Its effectiveness and importance cannot be undermined. While there was a time when the digital media was related to private activities, in the most recent developments, the digital media has become an integral part of the political and social domain. The web 2.0, which is characterized by the presence of the social media has been an agent of mobilization. Its role became more drawn and more active towards the late first decade of the present century. Number of movements were activated and mobilized through the usage of social media. Its usage is not just limited to one part of the world, rather it has seen its usage in parts of the world where there was discontent and dismay felt against the ruling elites. The social media has become an emblem of free expression and the people’s voice. While the other mediums such as the television, radio, and newspaper and publishing is often subjected to the censorship of the governments in the different parts of the world, the social media has seen been able to bring about the like minded people to the platform. This paper looks into the overall role of social media and the modern digital technology that has enabled the people to mobilize. The cases that are to be taken include the examples of Arab Spring, the recently held agitation and dismay against Turkish government, the role of social media in Iran, YouTube ban in number of countries, namely North Korea, China and Pakistan. All these will be looked into with regard to their effectiveness and overall influence on the people’s mind. Governments have often taken actions to ban such activities subject to the internal unrest and policies which they feel should be prolonged. The citizens on the other hand take them for oppressive measures and thereby in revolt make use of all the means that are available to them. Turkish Protest: Turkey saw severe uprising by the citizens in the recent times. Since they were directed towards the government policies and opposition against it, this in turn led to the resentment amongst the government ranks and they prevented the news of the protestors from reaching the international platforms, and also on the local television channels. Twitter came up to the rescue of the protestors and it was used as the standout platform for the protestors who used it as a platform to not reach out to the fellow members in the different parts of the country, they also allowed the protestors to spread the world abroad on international platform as well (Ozkirimli, 2014, 135). The Turkish Prime Minister who was perturbed by the influence of the social media and the twitter termed Twitter as the menace towards the Turkish society that had resulted in the massive uprising against the government (Letsch, 2013). It can be safely said that the level to which these protests gained popularity and created panic in the government ranks, it would not have been possible without the presence and usage of this particular medium and more so the usage of twitter. Like the Tehrir Square, the Taksim square became the emblem and ended up collecting a large number of protestors who had come out against the government policies (Herrera, 2014, 2). Apart from these social media websites, the hacker community came up hard and tried to damage to government official websites. Since the official websites are an important representative entity of the government policies, the hackers targeted them. Agendas, maps, and other important points related to the revolt and protest activities, all these were organized by the social media. The government agencies aimed at blocking the mobile communication traffic, yet the internet traffic was not stalled completely, and the protestors made use of this opportunity and weakness and made the overall campaign highly effective and successful. Arab Spring: The Arab spring that started off from Tunisia went on to influence the political order in Egypt. Egypt and Tehrir Square ultimately became an emblem and symbol of revolution and staging a revolt against the usurpers (Filiu, 2011, 61). It was a group of individuals and young Egyptians who were not permitted to express their concerns in the streets and in towns, they took to the social media. The social media movement went on to collect thousands of people and they found a platform. The Egyptian official media and other sources had made their utmost efforts preventing the protestors from gathering. They prepared strategies, they expressed their views and concerns and they ultimately managed sending the dictator back home. The same was seen in the other parts of the Arab region with Libya seeing the ousted of Colonel Qaddafi. The case of YouTube: YouTube like the social networking websites is one of the most influencing factors that the modern times has seen. Although the nature of work and nature of service is different as compared to the social networking websites such as Twitter, Facebook, Orkut and other associated social networking websites, however YouTube can be termed as more effective as compared to the others and it provides the videos link. It at present is the largest container of the videos on the medium of internet. YouTube is also the holder to content that is often rejected by number of states. States and regions that are still relatively away from free societies and free democracy, the citizens make use of the social media and the YouTube to express their concerns and their views. The repressive governments have time and again aimed at banning the usage and availability of YouTube in their regions. China and Iran are the two common examples. Iran’s case: Iran has an overall censorship over the internet. It is subjected to number of things. One is the religious factor that they attribute to the difference between their culture and that of the West; the second is the political difference and views that are seen. America’s hard stance against Iran and the nuclear ambitions have created bitter environment between the two and as a result in order to prevent the Iranian citizens from getting influenced by the Western ideas and agendas, they have put severe curbs on the digital media. The television and press is already under the strong scrutiny of the government agencies. Iran has banned it subject to the presence of the content that is shared on the Western Media. Since all that content is available to the masses and Iran wants its citizens kept away from the Western views regarding the Iranian government’s repressive and war oriented policies, it has therefore banned the usage of YouTube in Iran. China has similarly undertaken the same measure and has banned its usage in the country. This is largely due to the fact that China has had a history of socialism and it was not fulfilling the requirements that the west stressed for time and again (Travis, 2013, 243). Russia’s stance to the social media: Russia has had its bitter experiences and past with the West. in the light of such bitter environment, it aimed at keeping its distance from the western digital media and the internet innovations. One movement and action that was taken about came in the form of a replacement and substitute to the Facebook. VK.Com, which is a nearly same like Facebook social media website, has been launched in order to capture the Russians and make sure they are diverted from the usage of Facebook (Simon, 2013¸127). Russian internet service also enjoys large amount of scrutiny from the government agencies. Since the incumbent leadership has been criticized for having upheld the original state of democracy, it therefore keeps an eye on the social and political activities. “ Pussy riot” was one movement that gained the attention of the global media. It came about after the government intervened and the state agencies and state legislature took into account the actions and termed them anti patriotic. Different charges were presented against them by the state entities. One of the major charges presented against them included that of the “Hooliganism” presented against them. Final verdict: Regardless of the place and background, the digital media, encompassing social media and the internet has become an integral part towards the social and political movements. It has brought about revolution in terms of the level of awareness amongst the masses and also in terms of providing them with a platform where they can express their views without any curbs or restrictions. The usurper governments on the other hand will find it hard to crush and oppress as the time passes by. It is the hope of the revolutionary and reactionary mindsets who want to free the world from the oppressive regimes and gift it with the true democracy and welfare societies and states. The case of Syria: Syria is another example where Facebook has seen hard stance by the government. This came about as a result of the ongoing civil war where number of opposition parties came forth and stood against the Bashar Al Asad regime who has been blamed for hijacking the governmental functions and making it a single party state. References: Filiu, J.-P., 2011. The Arab Revolution: Ten Lessons from the Democratic Uprising. s.l.:Oxford University Press Herrera, L., 2014. Wired Citizenship: Youth Learning and Activism in the Middle East. s.l.:Routledge Letsch, C., 2013. Social media and opposition to blame for protests, says Turkish PM. [Online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/02/turkish-protesters-control-istanbul-square [Accessed 12 June 2014 Ozkirimli, U., 2014. The Making of a Protest Movement in Turkey: #occupygezi. s.l.:Palgrave Macmillan Simon, D., 2013. Social Media Equals Social Customer. s.l.:iUniverse Travis, H., 2013. Cyberspace Law: Censorship and Regulation of the Internet. s.l.:Routledge Read More

 

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