Making the News: Movement Organisations, Media attention and the public agenda - 18 views
started by Jannicke Rye on 25 Mar 12
started by Jannicke Rye on 25 Mar 12
Start a New Topic » « Back to the Net 308/508 Internet Collaboration and Organisation S1 2012 group
According to the article, scholars have come to see the news media as playing a pivotal role in shaping whether social movements are able to bring about broader social change. And by drawing attention to movements` issues, claims, and supporters, the news media can shape the public agenda by influencing public opinion, authorities, and elites.
The article asks why some social movement organisations are more successful than others at gaining media coverage, and what organisational, tactical and issue characteristics enhance media attention.
The article states that media attention flows through a variety of channels, including television, the Internet, radio, and movement-generated and other specialised sources. Mainstream media sources are important because of their wide distribution and status.
The article goes on to talk about what it is that drives media attention, and protest and collective action in the news.
The article contains a detailed analysis of local environmental organisations in North Carolina, which I did not find that interesting, but other parts of the article were good.
I think that this article relates well to Christopher Meyer's blog post, Modern Heroics: The Story of Kony 2012, because he talks about the notion of 'change' as a strategy for inducing collaboration, while Andrews and Caren explore how the collaboration becomes successful through media attention (Andrews & Caren, 20p. 842).
The Kony 2012 video, created by Jason Russel, was launched on a Web 2.0 self-publishing platform called Vimeo, and from there has spread through a variety of channels, including television, the Internet, radio, and movement-generated sources. Meyer's observes that while the video started on an outside media flow, because of Russel's strategic elements, it soon overflowed into mainstream media channels. Andrews and Caren continue the information spreading processes by saying that mainstream media (as the gatekeeper) allows the public sphere "an amount of visibility" to the Kony 2012 video and by doing so "increased it's potential to diffuse" which has enabled global distribution and status (Andrews & Caren, 20p. 842).
Once Kony 2012 was given major media coverage, it gained major media attention. Media institutions are not neutral channels; they are shaped by "organisational, economic, political, social, and cultural forces that influence their practices" (Andrews & Caren, 20p. 843). Due to these issues, the influence and shaping of public opinion, in relation to Kony 2012, is a complicated and biased equation but Andrews, Caren, or Meyers can all conclude that such successful media attention means that campaigns social movement was able to generate thoughts about social change.
References
Andrews, Kenneth & Caren, Neal. (2010). Making the News: Movement Organisations,
Media Attention, and the Public Agenda. American Sociology Association, 75(6), 841
866. Retrieved March 31, 2012, from ProQuest Database
Meyer, C. (2012). Modern Heroics: The Story of Kony 2012. Working Wider Blog. Retrieved
from http://www.workingwider.com/strategic_innovation/modern-heroics-the-story-
of-kony-2012/
The source information is highly reliable, as it is an article published in a peer-reviewed journal. It is also quite recent, being publishing in 2010. However, while the article is highly relevant to social movements, it is not specifically about online collaboration and organisation of social movements, making it a little less relevant. Since the article is relatively recent, the internet is mentioned, but still doesn't take a primary role in discussion.
I found the article somewhat useful, as it relates to the topic of online activism. This article discusses the media's significant role in spreading information. The article is reasonably useful to the overall collaborative online resource project, though the lack of web focus may hurt it's usefulness a little.
For the Anonymous movement, the tactic of drawing media attention by confrontational actions is probably most notably exemplified by Project Chanology. Underwood (2009) discusses at length the way in which online mobilisation was conducted in order to stage worldwide protests against the Church of Scientology. Although such protests would gain the attention of passers-by and other individuals situated around protest sites, global media exposure was more likely to further the cause of Project Chanology in raising awareness of the issues surrounding Scientology. The same principle would apply to large-scale online activities involving similar Anonymous movements. The use of DDoS attacks and the like to disrupt the operations of websites often raises the attention of major media organisations, which could in turn raise awareness for the movement driving the confrontational actions.
Although not strictly relevant to online based organisation, this article does provide relevant context for explaining the attention-seeking behaviours of online activism movements such as Anonymous.
Andrews, K., & N. Caren. (2010) Making the News: Movement Organisations, Media Attention, and the Public Agenda. Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/pqdweb?did=2527572391&sid=1&Fmt=6&clientId=22212&RQT=309&VName=PQD
Underwood, P. (2009). New Directions in Networked Activism and Online Social Movement Mobilization: The Case of Anonymous and Project Chanology. OhioLINK ETD Center. Retrieved from http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi/Underwood%20Patrick%20C.pdf?ohiou1244228183