Megan Boler (ed.): Digital Media and Democracy: Tactics in Hard Times (2008)
Filed under book | Tags: · activism, alternative media, democracy, internet, journalism, mass media, media activism, politics, tactical media, technology, youtube
In an age of proliferating media and news sources, who has the power to define reality? When the dominant media declared the existence of WMDs in Iraq, did that make it a fact? Today, the “social web” (sometimes known as Web 2.0, groupware, or the participatory Web)—epitomized by blogs, viral videos, and YouTube—creates new pathways for truths to emerge and makes possible new tactics for media activism. In Digital Media and Democracy, leading scholars in media and communication studies, media activists, journalists, and artists explore the contradiction at the heart of the relationship between truth and power today: the fact that the radical democratization of knowledge and multiplication of sources and voices made possible by digital media coexists with the blatant falsification of information by political and corporate powers.
The book maps a new digital media landscape that features citizen journalism, The Daily Show, blogging, and alternative media. The contributors discuss broad questions of media and politics, offer nuanced analyses of change in journalism, and undertake detailed examinations of the use of Web-based media in shaping political and social movements. The chapters include not only essays by noted media scholars but also interviews with such journalists and media activists as Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, Media Matters host Robert McChesney, and Hassan Ibrahim of Al Jazeera.
Publisher MIT Press, 2008
ISBN 0262026422, 9780262026420
464 pages
PDF (updated on 2014-8-29)
Comment (0)Naomi Sakr (ed.): Women and Media in The Middle East. Power Through Self-expression (2004)
Filed under book | Tags: · civil society, feminism, film, gender, islam, journalism, literacy, mass media, middle east, public broadcasting
Is today’s changing media landscape in the Middle East empowering women? This is the first book to address the dynamics of media ecology and women’s advancement in the contemporary Middle East. The book spans both the region and media forms, from Iran’s women’s press, via Maghrebi women filmmakers and Egyptian political films, Palestinian TV and Hezbollah’s TV station, Al-Manar. It takes as its starting point the diverse experiencees and multi-layered identities of women and treats media institutions and practices as part of wider power relations in society. By analysing media production, consumption and texts, it reveals where and how gender boundaries have been erected or crossed.
Publisher I.B.Tauris, 2004
Volume 41 of Library of modern Middle East studies
ISBN 1850435456, 9781850435457
Length 248 pages
Video For Change. A Guide For Advocacy And Activism (2005)
Filed under book | Tags: · activism, human rights, independent media, journalism, mass media, media activism, video
Pictures from Abu Ghraib showed the power of the amateur image to grab the world’s attention. The Asian tsunami, caught on camcorder, brought home the reality of what had happened more than any news report ever could. Around the world the increasing availability and affordability of technology has fuelled the world of social justice video activism. Film-making — at its best — has the power to change the way people think, and create real social change, and now the tools to do it are more accessible than ever before. This book shows how activists and human rights campaigners can harness the power of images and stories for their own purposes — it’s a step-by-step guide to the handicam revolution.
Written by leading video activists, and staff of the world-renowned human rights organization WITNESS, this practical handbook will appeal to experienced campaigners as well as aspiring video activists. It combines a comprehensive analysis of what’s going on in this growing global field with a how-to primer to doing it yourself.
Video for Change is packed with real-life stories from the fray, how-to guidance, and easy-to-use exercises. Clear and accessible, it provides a crash course in the basics of social justice video documentation and advocacy. The authors cover every aspect of filmmaking from technical guidance to strategic and ethical issues, making it indispensable for both amateur and professional filmmakers.
Readers are shown how to plan, film, edit and distribute; they are shown how to adopt an effective strategy so that their video makes a difference. The book is unique in that it also covers the practical ethics and responsibilities of social justice video-work and offers a global range of real-life stories to learn from.
Edited by Sam Gregory, Gillian Caldwell, Ronit Avni, Thomas Harding
Preface by Peter Gabriel
Published by Pluto Press, 2005
ISBN: 9780745324128
344 pages
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