When the Dutch journalist Joris Luyendijk first published his book Hello Everybody in 2006 , Facebook was only at the beginning of its rise to the mass-medium that it is today. The same applies for Twitter. It was only at its starting point; with its launch in July 2006 (Crunchbase, 2011) it had significantly less than 12,000 users in November 2006. Consequently, journalists adapted the methodology of their work to these new forms of social (mass) communication. A study by the George Washington University (USA) in cooperation with the public relations company Cision confirms this assumption. Sixty-five percent of all journalists examined said that they used Social networks as sources for their daily work (Bates & Sullivan, 2010). This indicates that also the way of reporting about the Middle East might have changed; that correspondents adapted to the new tools which they got and use them actively for their reporting.
One of the most prominent journalistic pieces on the revolution in Egypt which used sources from the social media landscape in order to reconstruct the course of the Egyptian revolution is the BBC documentary “How Facebook Changed the World” (Husain, 2011), first broadcasted on 5 September 2011 on BBC 2 (BBC, 2011).
This paper examines, firstly, the problems a researcher is confronted with writing about journalist’s source mix in order to explain the paper’s specific approach to the topic. Secondly, the paper investigates the role of social media in journalism, how the use of social media as a source is legitimized and how much credibility is given to social media as sources by journalists. Thirdly, the use of social media as sources is considered, using the example of the BBC documentary in order to lastly analyse the advantages and disadvantages of social media in journalist’s source mix. For this purpose the analysis of Luyendijk is taken as a basis. This paper only focuses on the part about the Egyptian revolution in the documentary; all other parts are not subjects of the analysis.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The Invisibility of Sources
3. Social Media as the Voice of “the People”
4. Social Media Activists as Narrators
5. The Issue of Credibility
6. Conclusion
7. References
8. Appendix
Research Objectives and Topics
This paper examines how the integration of social media activists as journalistic sources distorts the representation of reality within media coverage, using the 2011 Egyptian revolution as a case study. It specifically investigates whether social media platforms can bypass traditional journalistic filters or if they are subject to similar limitations, ultimately assessing the credibility and representative nature of these new digital voices.
- The role of social media as a surrogate for "the voice of the people."
- The journalistic selection and portrayal of activists as primary narrators.
- The impact of traditional filters—fear, censorship, and funding—on digital activism.
- The contrast between online-centric depictions and the reality of communication in non-digital spaces.
- The credibility and representativeness of digital elite versus traditional journalistic sources.
Excerpt from the Book
4. Social Media Activists as Narrators
The BBC documentary (Husain, 2011) narrates the course of the Egyptian Revolution through the eyes of its protagonists. Already the choice of the protagonists sets a certain angle to the events of January and February 2011. Therefore, it is important to note that all of the interviewees are oppositional political activists and all of them have made a significant appearance in Social Media, before and during the revolution. Namely the documentary’s Egyptian protagonists are Shady Ghazali-Harb (a young Egyptian physician, blogger and leader of the “Coalition Youth Revolution”), Waleed Rasheed (a member of the “April 6 Youth Movement”), Nawara Negm (a blogger and journalist) and blogger Asmaa Mahfouz.
All of these activists played an important role in political movements in Egypt, but this is not the only role in which they are shown. An even more important role, in which each of them is presented, is the role of the Social Media activist. The documentary puts its protagonists into this role by using different stylistic means:
Firstly, all of the protagonists are constantly visually connected to their appearances in Social Media. The activists Ghazali-Harb and Negm are introduced by showing their blogs and a Twitter account of their movement (@6AprilYouth). Therewith their appearance is justified by the role they played in Social Media. They were chosen, because they were "writing blogs calling for revolutionary change in Egypt" (Husain, 2011). Later, a statement of Negm is introduced by showing parts of the Facebook page of the April 6 Youth Movement and in this way the impression of a connection between Social Media and the interviewee is created. Furthermore, Husain says: ”Using their Facebook pages, the activists set the date for their protest: January, 25th”, accompanied by pictures of the Facebook page of activist Asmaa Mahfouz. The imagery of the documentary is striking: It does not show meetings or internal discussions of the political groups it is concerned with, neither does it include scenes showing the protagonists as part of the protests, instead it portraits primarily their online activism.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: This chapter establishes the context of social media's rise in journalism and defines the paper's focus on the BBC documentary regarding the Egyptian revolution.
2. The Invisibility of Sources: This section discusses the problem of hidden sources in journalistic work and explains the necessity of focusing on a documentary where source usage is transparent.
3. Social Media as the Voice of “the People”: This chapter analyzes the notion of social media as a bypass for censorship and a platform for citizen journalism.
4. Social Media Activists as Narrators: This chapter examines how the chosen protagonists in the documentary are framed primarily through their digital activities, creating a specific, potentially distorted, narrative of the revolution.
5. The Issue of Credibility: This chapter applies Joris Luyendijk’s journalistic filters to social media sources to determine if they are more credible than traditional ones in a dictatorial context.
6. Conclusion: The conclusion synthesizes the findings, noting that social media activists are not immune to the same pressures as traditional sources and that relying on them can lead to a distorted reality.
7. References: A comprehensive list of academic and media sources utilized throughout the paper.
8. Appendix: Provides supplementary visual data, specifically a chart illustrating Twitter user growth.
Keywords
Social Media, Egypt Revolution, Journalism, Journalistic Sources, BBC Documentary, Citizen Journalism, Censorship, Credibility, Political Activists, Joris Luyendijk, Digital Activism, Media Representation, Middle East, Arab Spring, Online Narrative
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research paper?
The paper focuses on how the use of social media activists as primary journalistic sources shapes and potentially distorts the depiction of the 2011 Egyptian revolution in Western media.
What are the central themes discussed?
The central themes include the transition of journalistic methods, the credibility of social media as a source, the impact of government censorship, and the representation of digital versus real-world protest movements.
What is the primary research objective?
The primary objective is to investigate whether social media sources offer a more authentic, uncorrupted account of events in dictatorships compared to traditional journalistic sources.
Which scientific approach does the author use?
The author performs a qualitative analysis of a specific media piece (the BBC documentary "How Facebook Changed the World") and applies a theoretical framework of journalistic filters proposed by Joris Luyendijk.
What topics are covered in the main body?
The main body covers the rise of social media in news reporting, the selection of activists as protagonists, the application of Luyendijk’s 'filters' to social media, and the contrast between internet-based and traditional communication flows.
Which keywords best characterize this work?
Key terms include social media, journalistic sources, Egypt revolution, censorship, credibility, digital activism, and media representation.
How does the author evaluate the "voice of the people" claim regarding social media?
The author argues that while social media allows for individual expression, the "prominent voices" often represent a digital elite rather than the entirety of the population, thereby potentially distorting the perceived reality of the revolution.
Does the paper conclude that social media effectively bypasses censorship?
The paper concludes that while social media can weaken censorship, it is not immune to state monitoring and repression, and activists remain vulnerable to the same "filters of fear" found in traditional media environments.
- Quote paper
- Maiko Schaffrath (Author), 2011, ‘Facebookers’ vs. ‘Donor Darlings’, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/181790
