Global Communities Capstone Project Advisor: Caitlin Haugen Media Literacy in the Wake of Political Uprising: A Case Study of Iran and Egypt Andrea Glauber Global Communities Capstone Project Advisor: Caitlin Haugen 27 April 2011

Introduction What is media literacy? A 21st-century extension of basic literacy Result of Web 2.0 (Facebook, Twitter, blogs) Necessary for effective citizen journalism Key traits: Access Contact  usage Analysis Critical conversation Evaluation Navigate bias Content Creation Effective communication (Livingstone 2-3)

Media Literacy Why is it important? “relationship among textuality, competence, and power” (Livingstone 20) Ability to produce accurate media New facet of democratic participation Producers and consumers are one and the same Communication between sources becomes necessary

Web 2.0 “social media” Key ideas Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc. Individual production/user-generated content Consumers become the media Power of the crowd Influence in numbers Data on epic scale Accessibility of information Easy participation Simple interface (Anderson 14)

How are they related? Web 2.0 Media Literacy Open communication “architecture of participation” (Anderson 19) Service improves as it populates User-friendly interface  network grows Usage leads to interpretation/self-teaching Content generation

Citizen Journalism Traditional  public  interactive  participatory  citizen journalism (Nip) Journalism always moving toward higher goal of engaging citizens (Nip) Through evolution, audiences (consumers) become reporters (producers) Made possible by Web 2.0 New format of democratic participation Society’s “gatekeepers”

How did it develop? Web 2.0 Citizen Journalism Rapid communication Easy access Community-based Source of inspiration and ideas Infinite network Produced in key moments Open to public Modified collaboration among producers

Iran’s Media: A Briefing Traditional media (TV, newspapers, radio) monitored by state Modern media (Internet, Web 2.0) free from state control 10.6% of Iran’s 70 million population has Internet access This makes up 38.7% of the entire Middle East population 700,000 blogs Persian one of the most popular languages of the blogosphere

Egypt’s Media: A Briefing Minister of Information can forbid publication of anything that may “threaten public stability and peace” (Saab 522) Press Law No. 96: state controls media in states of emergency Has been in control since assassination of President Sadat in 1981 State of emergency declared by President Mubarak; lasted 30 years Journalists still seen as “guardians of society” (Saab 541)

How was citizen journalism used during political uprising? Case Study: Iran 2009 How was citizen journalism used during political uprising? First social media revolution From Dictatorship to Democracy by Gene Sharp Western journalists banned from providing coverage Most of narrative told from bottom-up in terms of social hierarchy Citizen journalists were themselves the stories being covered Monitoring events, engaging in critical conversations

How was citizen journalism used during political uprising? Case Study: Egypt 2011 How was citizen journalism used during political uprising? Gene Sharp Protestors collaborated and planned in advance Increased international intervention Internet blackout Considered human rights violation Google-Twitter partnership navigated censorship

Similarities Iran 2009 Egypt 2011 Assistance of Gene Sharp’s From Dictatorship to Democracy Social networking provided crucial information to outside world International support and solidarity for movements Attempted government shutdowns of media Prohibition of Western journalists in Iran Internet blackout in Iran and Egypt

Differences Iran 2009 Egypt 2011 Less planning No international collaboration State hostile toward citizens No prior social media revolution experience 2 years of preparation Sparked by Tunisia No history of military abuse of citizens Had ability to observe protests in Iran 2009 and learn from them

What do these uprisings tell us about media literacy? Conclusion What do these uprisings tell us about media literacy? Media literacy becoming the future of literacy Web 2.0 not the future, but the present Citizen journalism unsure, but still in existence These technologies are useful beyond mere communication Online community-building Future of democratic participation Ordinary citizens  power

Thank you.