mest4: Final Coursework

Zainab Aljawahiri 13F

How has the reporting and construction of the Arab Spring changed people’s perceptions in North Africa and the Middle East ?

'Social media did not cause the upheaval in North Africa, they altered the capacity of citizens to affect domestic politics' – Philip Howard.

The belief that social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter caused the Arab uprising is not true. In the Arab world people demanded change which they did not receive for a long time, hence the first person set themselves alight in Tunisia. This was a side view shot taken by an amateur person; the fire is shown to be powerful as it signifies destruction as well as the ideology of hell. This started to catalyse a series of political reform and change.

There are polysemic ideas that range when investigating the power of the media. Firstly the BBC m constructs ideas based around the Arab people and what is really happening during that point in time, which is a more accurate representation of the event rather than Sky News reporting from a biased point of view. Therefore these events are open to different interpretations by the institution; however this in turn can shape the audiences consumption of the mediated text. Audiences can be active in their role, for example by challenging and questioning why certain events happen or they can be passive by just believing any story that the media portrays. Overall people are able to use social networking sites in order to publish information that would normally be mediated by the editors therefore allowing freedom of speech to some extent. Web 2.0 theory will support the idea that audiences are more active in their role as they have to go to the internet in order to get information as cited "the Web becomes a universal, standards-based integration platform".[1]

The dictatorships in these affected countries are the real reason behind people’s outrage and years of misery. The recent events that have happened, paved the way for a new era of democracy and freedom. On one hand the mediated image are only half of the story, the other side of the story is hidden partially. This is due to gatekeepers, as they construct the final product for the audience to see. However the use of citizen journalism has changed the degree to which gatekeepers control the output of texts. Galtung and Ruge theory of news values is applied here , as they state that our perception of what constitutes an event is culturally determined and not a natural occurrence.The continuity of events in the Arab world has sparked news for over one year now. For example the BBC showed the moment when the mass gatherings started to take place in Tunisia from the first day until the fall of the regime; furthermore the Arab perspectives were incorporated, thus giving an insight into the reality of what people face. The use of liberal pluralism is portrayed by citizen journalists, who have the freedom to select, construct and report narratives. As stated by the BBC ‘The new governments that have emerged in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt are only beginning to change the equation in the League. As they gain democratic legitimacy, and if revolutions succeed elsewhere, the dynamics of the League will change even further’.[2] On BBC Radio 4 a man stated: ‘We want our freedom , the freedom to say what we want without you bringing us here’. In this case it was due to him demonstrating against the government which led to him being caught .

The time-line of the Arab spring begun in August 2011 and until January 2012 it continues to dominate the news. The efforts by the people to change their countries’ political system has been a success in Tunisia and Egypt with the downfall of their respective leaders. [3] The media effects theory would support this as states that “use media studies, psychology, communication theory and sociology to refer to the theories about the ways in which mass media affect how their audiences think and behave”[4] . Audiences have become more actively involved by behaving and acting on what they think is right and wrong , in a way they have activated their own freedom .For example Tunisia and Egypt now have the right to vote without bribery from opposition , freedom of speech which was not possible before . The idea of theocracy can be applied here , that people who believe in the teachings of God can be applied to the Arab revolution . As stated by LSE ‘ the arabs did not feel closeness , similitude and unity of the Arab countries as to their challenges ,blockages tyrannies social movements and possible solutions’[5] . The realism created by the media can be questioned for example the picture from the NPR demonstrates a shutter shot of people in Bahrain who are protesting , they are out of focus for a reason which is that the photographer knows it’s better to keep people out of focus in order to create realistic snapshot of what is occurring . The picture encompasses a national flag that has been dropped by a protestor, which could symbolise loss of hope or that people want stability and hope in their country.

The Reception theory can be applied to the Arab Spring, as the way the text is viewed can have separate decodings . One member may state that the revolution is due to a rise in unemployment and lack of jobs, whereas another may state that its due to an unfair electoral system and no free will to say what they wish . However both messages are correct , whereas someone who has no clue what on earth is happening may blame the mass media for creating the havoc in the first place or the rise in use of social networking such as twitter , Facebook , blackberry messenger . However the Arab spring is just a snapshot of what is happening; to really understand people there we need to know their everyday life which is a main drawback of this theory. [6] Evidence comes from a documentary broadcast on YouTube which stated that ‘People were using Facebook and YouTube in order to post videos of the action as it happened’. [7] Also known as how Facebook changed the world , which it dramatically did as people created groups against their governments .

The change in the recent developments in the Arab world has a certain target audience. In this case it would be 16-50+, and a socio demographic of A-E depending on how educated the child’s family come from. These ratings have been given because the age group lower than 16 would not really be interested in watching developments that are very tied up in complex democratic, socio-political things which involve a deeper understanding of politics and the way in which these countries affected actually function. As well as this the Arab group are aspirer's because they actively seek to improve themselves , as well as buying high branded goods in order to establish a form of status in the UK .However the same cannot be said if they lived in Egypt whereby people struggle to achieve a decent income. There will be an “economic divide” between rich and poor and so social inequalities will always exist, this is one of the reasons why the Arab spring started, when the man in Tunisia had his fruit stolen by a women and then as he was outraged police battled him to the floor and took away his cart this led to his outrage in setting himself alight.[8] Evidence for this comes from the NPR website which states that ‘Bouazizi was the breadwinner for his widowed mother and six siblings, but he didn't have a permit to sell the goods. When the police asked Bouazizi to hand over his wooden cart, he refused and a policewoman allegedly slapped him. Angered after being publicly humiliated, Bouazizi marched in front of a government building and set himself on fire.[9] These actions led to mass demonstrations not just in Tunisia but other Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt were the trial of Mubarak is reaching an end[10] . However after the downfall of their respective leaders led to more democracy and a future of fair voting and the new system of government elected by its people. There is a tweet written by jstrevino ‘ Closing thought for the evening , as Allies pound Libya to think that it began a few weeks back with a desperate Tunisian fruit vendor’[11]

The Arab Spring and the London Riots have similar themes that occur. Firstly the socio demographic of 16-25 year olds are mainly unable to find employment, in order to sustain living. This is in part due to the left wing conservative government who have cut thousands of jobs from the skilled to professional sectors in order to save money. Therefore leading to the youth suffering the consequences, many have suitable degrees from a range of backgrounds or even have progressed to postgraduate posts find it difficult to get into the job market. The rioting was not due to the treatment of the police towards an African man , it was because of the frustration and anger of youths towards the government . Other countries within the EU have been affected, such as Spain, Portugal , Italy and Greece ; who have suffered the worst of the economic downturn . As Kofi Annan stated ‘a society which cuts itself from its youth severs its lifeline’[12] The older generation have stereotypical views of the youth , especially when the London riots happened . The so called ‘mobs’ who hid their identity and caused chaos and mass damages create a negative image that all youths are exactly the same , when in fact this is not the case . The psychological purpose of the rioting was in fact the youth’s frustration at the government schemes and the lack of their ‘voices’ being heard. Social networking such as Facebook, Twitter and Blackberry Messenger were used in order to spread further violence and to create further protesting from Enfield across the country. Similarly in North Africa and the Middle East social networking was put to good use by creating groups against their governments, for a positive purpose rather than negative.

To a certain extent social networking sites such Facebook have helped to create a revolution dubbed “The Facebook revolution”. It stated that in order to control mass demonstrations the Egyptian government could either ban Facebook completely or regulate the usage of it . However there are drawbacks to this as it means that the Egyptian public will have little freedom to say what they wish, overall this is mainly the purpose of using these sites. This is supported by Egypt Today, who suggested banning Facebook or passing a law to regulate Facebook activities in Egypt.[13]. Furthermore the reason behind the control of Facebook is because “we need to prevent problems, strikes and vandalism in the country by regulating it".[14] As well as this Amnesty international allows anyone to read the articles posted by them about human rights and freedom in Libya.[15] Also they allow us to give opinions about the article posted, of which the responses are negative as they are unhappy about the current situation in those countries. There are also campaigns which have created by Amnesty writers in order to provoke people’s thoughts and feelings on current affairs. [16]

Recently the Arab spring has found its way into discussions in lessons including universities, as a recent article by the Daily Star was published. Professor Hilal Khasshan states that “Sectarian affiliations come first” for most students, he says, adding that many Shiite students stand by Syrian President Bashar Assad while Sunni students tend to support those protesting the regime’.[17] This provides students with a new opportunity to discussing recent as well as past developments in Arab world, therefore classroom discussions become more engaging and interesting. The Gramsci theory links in well with this is that dominant ideologies can change over time, moving away from heritage and tradition if enough audiences/groups enforce their own discourse (we media). [18] In this case the Arab people moved away from the traditional ideas of obeying the government and started to go against them therefore enforcing that they should have a more liberal system or voting and speech. Further evidence has come from the Guardian which has revealed recently that ‘the tally that we have received from various activists in Homs since the shelling started this morning is 50, mostly civilians. The regime is acting as if it were immune to international intervention and has a free hand to use violence against the people," Catherine al-Talli told Reuters.

An article in the New Scientist showed some evidence that social networking such as Facebook and Twitter did have a role to play. ‘One of the brilliant things about twitter is that it kills propaganda’[19] this clearly shows the positive effect that the use of social networking has. This shows that people take an active role in voicing their opinions about the current situation that they face. The people are becoming active consumers of the political landscape of their countries system. However human rights groups are more vulnerable to the effects of massacre by the regime at the time; as supported by Jim Muir who stated that ‘human rights groups fear a massacre there if a full ground assault is launched’.[20] Reporting in Syria is difficult as it restricts journalists from entering the country in order to report on the latest news as it happens ,evidence to support it ‘Syria restricts access to foreign media and it is often not possible to verify some reports and casualty figures’[21]. Therefore the reporting of accurate casualties is often given as estimates rather than actual figures which are hard to obtain.

Work Cited

www.teachict.co.uk – Why do Genres change over time

Youtube videos of the Arab spring – various locations

Facebook pages of the Arab Spring

TV reports on BBC and Al – jazeera about the mass demonstrations from day 1 .

MBC network on demonstrations.

The Guardian newspaper online on the Arab Spring

A2 Media studies book AQA , Nelson Thornes

UNESCO article – Democracy and Renewal in the Arab World

BBC Radio 4 – Arab Spring demonstrator talks about their experiences

Toby Manhire – The Arab Spring book

Post feminism in the contemporary film – Steph Hendry