scholarly journals Censorship In Social Media: Political Satire and the Internet’s “Oppositionists”

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Political Satire ◽  
The Public ◽  
Rapid Dissemination ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Many ◽  
Totalitarian Regimes ◽  
Dissemination Of Technology

Censorship has been prevalent through time in various forms, at different historical periods all over the world. It is negatively perceived, and it is considered to undermine democracy and violate human rights. As a rule, it is a feature that characterises conservative societies, totalitarian regimes, as well as individuals with ideological preconceptions. The areas mostly affected by it include freedom of expression and free movement of ideas. Governments try to ward themselves against this phenomenon in various manners, in particular by establishing laws that protect human goods and moral values, as those have been shaped from the Age of Enlightenment onwards. However, in recent years, in the midst of the rapid dissemination of technology and the swift development of social media, a tendency has emerged consisting in trying to influence the unsuspecting public opinion and resulting in excluding from the public sphere opinions which are not pleasant to part of the media users, often serving “external” interests. Therefore, the online medium, free par excellence and offering, in principle, the possibility to everyone to publicly and courageously express their opinions, hinders and becomes an obstacle to the dissemination of “another” opinion, in spite of this dissemination being the ultimate intellectual feature of contemporary societies. This type of censorship has now been included in the long list of the many aspects of the phenomenon seen to this day.

Hall of Mirrors: Media, Democratization, and the Public Sphere in Maranhão, Brazil

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 208-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julián Durazo Herrmann
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Regime Change ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
The Public ◽  
Critical Elements ◽  
Strong Interference ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Public Sphere

Freedom of expression and access to diverse sources of information are seen as critical elements of democracy, although their concretization on the ground is subject to strong interference. Recent regime change in Maranhão, one of Brazil’s poorest states, has led to the emergence of new media and some expansion of the public sphere. The traditional oligarchy continues to dominate the media, however, and the opposition media replicate its exclusion of nonelite actors. The Maranhão experience confirms that normative approaches to the media either as automatic contributors to democracy or as instruments of elite manipulation have little value for understanding media dynamics. Liberdade de expressão, bem como o acesso a diversas fontes de informação, são considerados elementos críticos da democracia, ainda que a concretização desses fatores esteja sujeita a forte interferência. A recente troca de regime no Maranhão, um dos estados mais pobres do Brasil, tem levado ao surgimento de uma nova mídia e a uma certa expansão da esfera pública. Contudo, a oligarquia continua dominando a mídia tradicional e a mídia alternativa imita a prática de exclusão de atores não pertencentes à elite. A experiência do Maranhão confirma que tratamentos normativos que veem a mídia como contribuinte automática do processo democrático, ou como instrumento de manipulação da elite, teem pouco valor para se entender a dinâmica da mídia.

Paradox of Globalization: New Arab Publics? New Social Contract?

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 114-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila DeVriese
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Arab Spring

AbstractBecause social media is playing an irrefutable role in the Arab Spring uprisings the central question in this article is to what extent Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in general, and social media in specific, are contributing to the democratization of the public sphere and shifting the monopoly on agenda setting in the Arab Gulf, particularly in the case of Bahrain? How will these technologies continue to shape contentious politics in the Middle East and will their utility for democratizing and expanding the public sphere persist in the aftermath of the Arab Spring? Or will the increasing liberalization of media and freedom of expression that had preceded the Arab Spring experience a repressive backlash as authoritarian states attempt to clamp down on social and traditional media—or even harness them for their own purposes as seen by Facebook intimidation campaigns against activists in Bahrain last Spring. Finally—using the lens of social movement theory—what repertoires of contention and political opportunity structures will pro-democracy activists use to keep their campaigns alive? Activists in the Gulf have not only incorporated the ICTs into their repertoire, but have also changed substantially what counts as activism, what counts as community, collective identity, democratic space, public sphere, and political strategy. Ironically this new technology has succeeded in reviving and expanding the practice of discursive dialog that had once characterized traditional tribal politics in the Arabian Peninsula.

Satire, social media and revolutionary cultural production in the Bahrain uprising: From utopian fiction to political satire

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 136-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Owen Jones
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Cultural Production ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Political Satire ◽  
The Public ◽  
Utopian Fiction ◽  
Counter Narrative ◽  
Creative Resistance ◽  
The Public Sphere

Social media has permitted activists to subvert censorship and state-controlled media. As a result, it has become a key medium for experimenting with and/or creating genres previously marginalised or discouraged by the Bahraini government. This article explores aspects of revolutionary cultural production and creative resistance in Bahrain since the uprisings in 2011 and examines the role social media has played in shaping and defining it. Focusing on memes, parody accounts and the YouTube serial Baharna Drama, this article looks at the rise of political satire online and the evolution of satirical forms over the progression of the uprising as a dialectic with government policy and propaganda. This article argues that social media has facilitated the emergence of new forms of satire in Bahrain and has allowed activists to assert, to both local and global audiences and in different registers, the integrity of a desired revolutionary aesthetic by confronting state attempts to paint the revolution as schismatic and divisive. As such, 2011 marked a new turn in Bahrain’s satirical heritage. It also argues that the subversive nature of satire makes it a favourable genre with regard to revolutionary cultural production and the public sphere, yet acknowledges that satirical forms, as a response to authoritarian policies, are rarely devoid of the tutelage necessary to make them a truly revolutionary form of counter-narrative.

scholarly journals To Whom Do Politicians Talk and Listen? : Mapping Swiss Politicians’ Public Sphere on Twitter

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-202
Author(s):  
Tobias R. Keller
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
The Public ◽  
Automated Content Analysis ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Media ◽  
Twitter Users ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Mps I ◽  
Ordinary Citizens

Abstract Politicians use social media platforms such as Twitter to connect with the public. However, it remains largely unknown who constitutes the public sphere to whom politicians actually connect, talk, and listen. Focusing on the Twitter network of all Swiss MPs, I identified 129,063 Twitter users with whom politicians connected (i.e., their follower‐followee network) or with whom they interacted (e.g., [were] replied to or retweeted). I qualitatively analyzed top connected, talking, and listening MPs, and conducted a semi-automated content analysis of the Twitter users to classify them (N = 70.589). Politicians’ audience consists primarily of ordinary citizens, who also react most often to the politicians’ messages. However, politicians listen more often to actors close to politics and the media than to ordinary citizens. Thus, politicians navigate between engaging with everyone without losing control over the communication situation and address key multipliers such journalist to get their messages out.

scholarly journals Fenomena Seleb Hijrah: Tendensi Ekslusivisme dan Kemunculan Kelompok Sosial Baru

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (01) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Rahmi Nur Fitri ◽  
Indah Rama Jayanti
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Young People ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Social Self ◽  
Religious Behavior ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Society Today

Religious behavior nowadays has became a sector which has a lot of change. Modernity and globalization formed a society that was worried on their religious identity. This problem deliver to a new trend amongst young people and Indonesian celebrities. Campaigns of movement extensively spread on media social, self convertion to religious individuals also known as “seleb hijrah”. The massive movement of hijrah lead by various groups that caused alteration the meaning of it and increased activities of religion commodification. Society today has liberation to select literature of hijrah concept that are available in the media. Media extention facilitate spreading of the existence of seleb hijrah which eventually form new communities such as “Kajian MuSaWaRah”. Data obtain through social media, various video and articles discussing the same topic. This paper aims to scientifically explore and critically examine the phenomenon of seleb hijrah that have occurred among artists in recent years. Examine further the emergence of tendency of exclusivism in modern social circle. In addition, the article also explain the tendency of religious commodification in artists circle, in which called them selves with preacher. Nadirsyah Hosen said that hijrah activity amongst celebrities should not only be a popular trend to moving stage in seek of audiences. The majority of artists who are members of the group, innovate to maintain their existence in the public sphere. Keywords: hijrah, artist, exclusivism, identity  Abstrak Perilaku keagamaan masa kini telah menjadi bidang yang banyak mengalami perubahan. Modernitas dan globalisasi kemudian membentuk masyarakat yang terguncang akan identitas keagamaannya. Kekhawatiran ini kemudian menghasilkan tren baru di kalangan anak muda dan selebriti Indonesia. Kampanye gerakan untuk menjadi pribadi religius yang dilakoni para artis kemudian marak ditemukan di media sosial atau yang juga dikenal dengan seleb hijrah. Gerakan massif hijrah yang dilakukan oleh berbagai kalangan, menyebabkan terjadinya pergeseran makna hijrah serta meningkatnya aktivitas komodifikasi yang menjadikan agama sebagai obyeknya. Masyarakat dewasa ini bebas untuk memilih referensi hijrah dari sekian banyak sumber yang telah tersedia di media. Ekstensi media mempermudah penyebaran eksistensi artis hijrah yang akhirnya membentuk sebuah komunitas baru seperti Kajian MuSaWaRah. Data didapatkan melalui media sosial, berbagai video kajian serta artikel-artikel yang membahas topik yang sama. Tulisan ini bertujuan untuk menelusuri dan mengkritisi secara ilmiah fenomena seleb hijrah yang terjadi di kalangan artis beberapa tahun terakhir. Menelaah lebih jauh munculnya kecenderungan ekslusivisme kelompok sosial modern. Selain itu, artikel juga memaparkan terjadinya kecenderungan komodifikasi agama di dalam kelompok artis yang mulai mengidentifikasikan diri sebagai kelompok pendakwah. Mengutip tulisan Nadirsyah Hosen, aktivitas hijrah di kalangan artis seharusnya tidak hanya menjadi tren populer perpindahan panggung dalam mencari audiensi. Mayoritas artis yang tergabung ke dalam kelompok ini kemudian berinovasi untuk tetap mempertahankan eksistensi mereka di ranah publik. Kata kunci: hijrah, artis, eksklusivisme, identitas  

Film Criticism in Germany Today: A Report on Practice

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 59-71
Author(s):  
Claudia Lenssen
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Film Criticism ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Unity ◽  
The Media ◽  
Market Driven ◽  
The Public Sphere

Abstract As traditional media in Germany have lost their relevance in the digital age, so has the perpetually embattled authority of film criticism diminished. The article addresses current debates about the state of criticism while critics are confronting the collapse of the media having traditionally defined their work. What does it mean that writing on film is supposed to function as the “taste tester for cultural gastronomy” (Wolfram Schütte)? Do social media marginalize critical expertise? How does film criticism work under the omen of changing concepts of the public sphere? The article discusses the prospects of film criticism “at a time when the architectonic, mythic, and social unity of film is no longer self-evident and has ceased to function hegemonically” (Georg Seeßlen). What does it mean that “writing about the audiovisual must change” and young film critics open up spaces to win back film criticism as a counterbalance to market-driven film policies?

scholarly journals AMPLIFICATION OF ISLAMIC DOCTRINES IN HADITH MEMES PROHIBITION OF WOMEN TRAVELS WITHOUT A MAHRAM ON INDONESIAN SOCIAL MEDIA

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 230
Author(s):  
Miski Miski
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Classical Literature ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Contemporary Context

This paper is a netnographic study of hadith memes prohibition women from traveling without mahram on Indonesian social media. there are three main questions that are in focus: 1) how does classical literature record hadiths related to this theme? 2) how does this hadith exist in memes on Indonesian social media? 3) how did this phenomenon give birth to the amplification of Islamic doctrine? By using content analysis, this study shows: 1) the hadith in this theme is a hadith that is widely known among the Companions of the Prophet and the gatherers of the hadith, and is considered mutually reinforcing, 2) on social media, the hadith exists in various memes; besides the media factor, also the factors of its users which still carry theological aspects, 3) the massive spread of memes in this theme triggers the creation of the Islamic doctrine, and has an effect on the neglect of other more essential aspects of Islamic doctrine. This study also found that the existence of the meme hadith is a re-actualization of classical discourse that is intended as resistance to a variety of religious social phenomena that are deemed deviant, especially in relation to women's freedom in the public sphere. To this point, it must be acknowledged that the memes that are spread are methodologically problematic or irrelevant in a contemporary context. Beyond these findings, the existence of memes with different interpretations but in limited quantities and intended as a counter to memes that have been widespread will further enrich the discourse of hadith studies. Keywords: hadith, memes, netnographic study, mahram

scholarly journals Upadek retoryki, wzlot erystyki, czyli piękna teoria i niecne praktyki

2021 ◽  
Vol 13(49) (1) ◽  
pp. 73-84
Author(s):  
Tomasz Goban-Klas
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Classical Rhetoric ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Media ◽  
In Memoriam ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Political Scene

The contemporary political scene, especially the public debate, is dominated by eristic forms of argumentation, i.e., verbal fights per fas et nefas — by any persuasive means, not only regardless of ethics and respect for dignity of adversary, but also regardless of the adequacy of arguments. Although classical rhetoric is not considered by everyone (following Plato’s example) as the best means of achieving the truth (here the Socratic dialectic and dialogic method are considered more appropriate), the effective and honest rhetoric is based on reliable arguments, although it does not avoid pathos, and therefore emotions. Social media do not improve, but worsen the quality of public debate, and in turn, the constantly increasing flood of insignificant, not to mention even false media information, does not form a conscious citizen, but a political ignorant. Father Professor Leon Dyczewski, with his life-long scientific and didactic activity in the field of media and journalism, criticized this trend of degradation of the media, the public sphere and journalism, even at a time when it was not dominant, but inferior, or rather marginal. Especially now, his works deserve all the more remembrance and continuation not only as a form in memoriam, but also in the form of a creative and updating continuation.

scholarly journals Social Media and the Public Sphere

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Fuchs
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The Public ◽  
Inaugural Lecture ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The University

Social media has become a key term in Media and Communication Studies and public discourse for characterising platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, LinkedIn, Wordpress, Blogspot, Weibo, Pinterest, Foursquare and Tumblr. This paper discusses the role of the concept of the public sphere for understanding social media critically. It argues against an idealistic interpretation of Habermas and for a cultural-materialist understanding of the public sphere concept that is grounded in political economy. It sets out that Habermas’ original notion should best be understood as a method of immanent critique that critically scrutinises limits of the media and culture grounded in power relations and political economy. The paper introduces a theoretical model of public service media that it uses as foundation for identifying three antagonisms of the contemporary social media sphere in the realms of the economy, the state and civil society. It concludes that these limits can only be overcome if the colonisation of the social media lifeworld is countered politically so that social media and the Internet become public service and commons-based media.Acknowledgement: This paper is the extended version of Christian Fuchs’ inaugural lecture for his professorship of social media at the University of Westminster that he took up on February 1st, 2013. He gave the lecture on February 19th, 2014, at the University of Westminster.The video version of the inaugural lecture is available at:https://vimeo.com/97173645

scholarly journals Social Media and the Public Sphere

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Fuchs
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The Public ◽  
Inaugural Lecture ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The University

Social media has become a key term in Media and Communication Studies and public discourse for characterising platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, LinkedIn, Wordpress, Blogspot, Weibo, Pinterest, Foursquare and Tumblr. This paper discusses the role of the concept of the public sphere for understanding social media critically. It argues against an idealistic interpretation of Habermas and for a cultural-materialist understanding of the public sphere concept that is grounded in political economy. It sets out that Habermas’ original notion should best be understood as a method of immanent critique that critically scrutinises limits of the media and culture grounded in power relations and political economy. The paper introduces a theoretical model of public service media that it uses as foundation for identifying three antagonisms of the contemporary social media sphere in the realms of the economy, the state and civil society. It concludes that these limits can only be overcome if the colonisation of the social media lifeworld is countered politically so that social media and the Internet become public service and commons-based media.Acknowledgement: This paper is the extended version of Christian Fuchs’ inaugural lecture for his professorship of social media at the University of Westminster that he took up on February 1st, 2013. He gave the lecture on February 19th, 2014, at the University of Westminster.The video version of the inaugural lecture is available at:https://vimeo.com/97173645

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