Media and the Arab uprisings of 2011: Research notes

Abstract

In the opening months of 2011 the world witnessed a series of tumultuous events in North Africa and the Middle East that soon became known as the Arab uprisings. What is striking about them is not only their historical momentousness and stunning speed of succession across so many countries, but also the different ways in which media and communications became inextricably infused inside them. Indeed some have been so bold as to label them as the ‘Twitter Revolutions’ or ‘Facebook Revolutions.’ This, however, does less than justice to the media complexities involved. This essay sets out to capture something of the broader, overlapping and interpenetrating ways in which media systems and communication networks have complexly conditioned and facilitated these remarkable historical events and communicated them around the world. In this way it aims to broaden the frame of reference for future in-depth, scholarly research.

Framing international media in the face of social movements: CNN and Al-Jazeera English in the fall of Morsi

“…Problem definition as "transnational" is also important. Even though all the studies frame Egypt within the Arab Spring and not as a separate phenomenon, it is important to note that the Al-Jazeera channel is given the responsibility of constructing this definition framework (Cottle, 2011;Hale, 2013;Lim, 2013).…”

“…Causal interpretation is less uniform but two dominant causal frames in the preceding articles can be highlighted: "economic conditions" (Clarke, 2013;Hamdy & Gomaa, 2012;Seigneurie, 2012) and "lack of democracy" (Cottle, 2011;Hale, 2013;Seigneurie, 2012;Singerman, 2014). A third causal frame, at times difficult to differentiate from "lack of democracy", is the frame "human rights", that is, everyday social conditions such as the situation of women or police repression, rather than political organization and legislation.…”

“…A third causal frame, at times difficult to differentiate from "lack of democracy", is the frame "human rights", that is, everyday social conditions such as the situation of women or police repression, rather than political organization and legislation. Moral evaluation reflects an identification with the protests through the frame "legitimacy", with indicators such as justice, resistance, international recognition, engagement and nonviolence to name but a few (Cottle, 2011;Hale, 2013;Hamdy & Gomaa, 2012;Seigneurie, 2012;Singerman, 2014). Lastly, as treatment recommendation, there is the frame "change of regime" (Hale, 2013;Singerman, 2014).…”

Global Governance and Cosmopolitan Democracy: Bridging the gap between proponents and opponents

“…The advent of technology lays the groundwork for the steady flow of communication, with the spread of the Internet not only uniting most parts of the globe, but also facilitating new forms of global political participation and awareness (Castells, 2007). This is clear in the role social media had on the acceleration and contagiousness of the political and social uprisings of Egypt and Tunisia (Cottle 2011).…”

Impacts of Attitude towards Online Banner Advertisement on Brand Awareness: Insight from Persuasive Hierarchy Model

“…More importantly, online advertising has been influenced with about 5.4 declinations in the generation of revenue. Similarly, researchers have recorded that the visible progress of online advertising is not as actual (Cottle, 2011) as compared to the substantial amount of effort and resources advertisers have devoted into advertising through the digital medium. Nevertheless, the transient declination of the online advertising does not minimize the fact that online advertising is over taking the orthodox media in terms of performance and interactivity.…”