Public Spheres and Mediated Social Networks in the Western Context and Beyond (Palgrave Global Media Policy and Business)

Social media is said to radically change the way in which public communication takes place: information diffuses faster and can reach a large number of people, but what makes the process so novel is that online networks can empower people to compete with traditional broadcasters or public figures. This book critically interrogates the contemporary relevance of social networks as a set of economic, cultural and political enterprises and as a public sphere in which a variety of political and socio-cultural demands can be met. It examines policy, regulatory and socio-cultural issues arising from the transformation of communication to a multi-layered sphere of online and social networks. The central theme of the book is to address the following questions: Are online and social networks an unstoppable democratizing and mobilizing force? Is there a need for policy and intervention to ensure the development of comprehensive and inclusive social networking frameworks? Social media are viewed both as a tool that allows citizens to influence policymaking, and as an object of new policies and regulations, such as data retention, privacy and copyright laws, around which citizens are mobilizing. Foreword 6 Contents 8 List of Tables 14 Chapter 1: Introduction 15 Bibliography 22 Part I: Theory and Practice 24 chapter 2: Social Media, Public Sphere and Democracy 25 Introduction 25 The Traditional Public Sphere and the Mass Media 27 The Traditional Paradigm: The Public Sphere and the Media as the ‘Fourth Estate’ 27 The Decline of the Traditional Public Sphere 28 The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: The Fifth Estate 29 The Globalisation of the Public Sphere 30 The Democratisation of the Public Sphere 32 Democratic Deficit: Putnam’s Concept of Social Capital 33 Social Media and the Public Sphere: John Keane’s Cautious View 36 The Internet’s Contribution to Politics: Bang’s Theory 37 The Public Interest and Media Governance 39 Social Media and Democracy 40 Unstructured Participation 40 Unreliable Information 41 Censorship 42 Corporate Online Activity and Privacy Concerns 43 Absence of Critical Discussion 45 Conclusion 46 Bibliography 47 chapter 3: The Political Economy of Social Media 50 Introduction 50 Media Market Shifts 54 Political Economy and the Role of the State 56 The Growth of Social Media 58 Political Economy, Social Media and Corporate Activity 61 The Audience as a Commodity 63 Public Service versus Public Choice Philosophies 64 Social Media Policy Challenges: Intellectual Property Rights, Electronic Surveillance and Privacy Issues 66 Conclusion 70 Bibliography 73 chapter 4: Western Media Policy Frameworks and Values 76 Introduction 76 Media Governance and the Public Interest 77 Media and Communications Policy in the USA 80 Federal Communications Commission 82 The FCC, Media Ownership Rules and Media Mergers 83 The FCC and Convergence Policies 85 Media and Communications Policy in the UK 87 The Setting Up of Ofcom 88 Media and Communications Policy in the EU 91 Ongoing Transformations of the European Media Landscape 93 Self- and Co-regulation 95 Prioritising the Economic Imperative 96 Conclusion 99 Bibliography 101 Part II: Western Liberal Democratic Traditions, Grassroots Politics and the Social Media 104 chapter 5: Modern Political Communication and Web 2.0 in Representative Democracies: The United States and the British Experience 105 Introduction 105 US Presidential Elections: The Internet from the Periphery to the Centre of Campaign Operations 107 Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential Campaign and the Realisation of a Hybrid Media Campaign: Message, Spectacle and Outreach 110 MyBo 112 The British Experience: The ‘First Internet Campaign’—Predictions and Party Pretensions 115 UK Party Philosophies and the Practical Employment of the Social Media in the 2010 General Election Campaign 116 The Social Media and the Mass Media: News Stories, Twitter Feeds, Journalistic Blogging and the Online Coverage of the UK Prime Ministerial Election Debates 120 The Social Media and the 2015 UK General Election: The Political Parties’ Hybrid ‘Old’ and ‘New’ Media Information Campaigns 121 Sentiment Analysis: Micro-Targeting versus Community Organising—The Competing Conservative and Labour Parties’ Social Media Tactics 124 Conclusion 126 Bibliography 127 chapter 6: The Public Sphere and Network Democracy: The Arab Spring, WikiLeaks and the Edward Snowden Revelations 132 Introduction 132 The Democratic Values of the Internet: From the Dutiful Citizen to the Networked Individual 135 The Networked Society and Social Revolution 137 The Arab Spring: The Tunisian and Egyptian Social Media Revolutions 141 WikiLeaks, Afghanistan and Iraq War Logs, Cablegate and Edward Snowden’s National Security Agency Revelations 144 A Critique of the Social Media: Individualism, Unreliability, Polarisation and the Reconfiguration of Political Power? 149 Conclusion 152 Bibliography 154 Chapter 7: Public Diplomacy 2.0 and the Social Media 157 Introduction 157 PCD: Propaganda and Public Relations 159 Public Diplomacy 2.0: The Facilitation of a ‘Conversation’—Cultural, Democratic and Soft Power 161 Public Diplomacy and the USA: The Bush Doctrine, the ‘Shared Values Initiative’ and the War on Terror 164 James K. Glassman and Public Diplomacy 2.0 165 Barack Obama’s Digital Diplomacy: Twenty-first Century Statecraft—Dialogue and Outreach 167 UK Public Diplomacy 2.0: Nation Branding and Global Outreach 171 The Social Media and NGOs: Mobilization, Agenda-Setting and Online Campaigning 173 The KONY 2012 Campaign 174 Conclusion 176 Bibliography 179 Part III: The Rise of the BRICS and On-line Interest 182 Chapter 8: Russia and China: Autocratic and On-line 183 Introduction 183 Internet and Social Media Take-up in Russia and China 184 Internet and Social Media Take-up in Russia 184 Internet and Social Media Take-up in China 186 Russia and China: The Historical and Political Context 189 From the Soviet Union to Putin’s Russia 189 The Traditional Media and the Role of the ICT in Social Movements 192 Internet Regulation and Online Censorship 195 The Gated China 197 Internet Censorship 201 Conclusion 204 Bibliography 206 Chapter 9: India and South Africa; Post-colonial Power, Democratization and the Online Community 208 Introduction 208 India and South Africa: Historical and Political Context 210 India and South Africa: Escalation of the Internet and the Take-up of the Social Media 211 Online Political Communications within India and South Africa 214 The Social Media and Election Campaigns in India and South Africa 216 The 2014 Indian Lok Sabha Parliamentary General Election and the Social Media 217 The South African Perspective: The 2014 National Assembly General Election 219 Social Movements, Protests and Censorship on the Internet in India and South Africa 222 India: Online Dialogues about Political Corruption, Protests and Social Reform 222 South African Social Movements and Electronic Communications 225 Online Censorship and Free Speech in India and South Africa 226 Conclusion 229 Bibliography 231 Chapter 10: Japan, South Korea, Brazil: Post-industrial Societies; Hard and Software 234 Introduction 234 East Asia and Latin America: The Historical, Economic and Political Context 236 Japan 240 The Digital Media Environment 240 Japan’s Social Media Landscape 241 Social Networking Through a Crisis: The Role of Social Media in the 2011 Japan Earthquake and Tsunami 243 Social Media and Political Campaigning 245 South Korea 247 Korea’s Social Media Landscape 248 Internet Regulation 249 Election Campaigns and Social Media 251 Brazil 253 Online and Social Media 253 The Changing Social and Political Landscape 254 The Use of Social Media in Brazilian Elections 257 Conclusion 260 Chapter 11: The Social Media and the Middle East 262 Introduction 262 The Middle East: Historical and Political Context 264 The Middle East Social Media Penetration, Economic Opportunity and Online News Provision 266 The Social Media and Political Movements: Opportunities and Repression in Iran and Turkey 269 The 2014 Gaza Dispute and the Social Media: Israel Defense Forces versus Hamas 273 Terrorists and Social Media: ISIS, Holy War and a Worldwide Caliphate 277 The Online Marketing of Brand ISIS: The ‘One Billion Campaign’, ‘Cool Jihad’ Twitter Trending and International Recruitment 280 The Online Battleground: The Removal of ISIS’ Social Network Accounts and Its Response 282 Conclusion 283 Bibliography 285 Chapter 12: Conclusion 289 Bibliography 291 Index 292 Social media is said to radically change the way in which public communication takes place: information diffuses faster and can reach a large number of people, but what makes the process so novel is that online networks can empower people to compete with traditional broadcasters or public figures. This book critically interrogates the contemporary relevance of social networks as a set of economic, cultural and political enterprises and as a public sphere in which a variety of political and socio-cultural demands can be met. It examines policy, regulatory and socio-cultural issues arising from the transformation of communication to a multi-layered sphere of online and social networks. The central theme of the book is to address the following questions: Are online and social networks an unstoppable democratizing and mobilizing force? Is there a need for policy and intervention to ensure the development of comprehensive and inclusive social networking frameworks? Social media are viewed both as a tool that allows citizens to influence policymaking, and as an object of new policies and regulations, such as data retention, privacy and copyright laws, around which citizens are mobilising. Petros Iosifidis is Professor in Media Policy at City University London. He is author of six books and numerous articles in refereed journals. He is Editor of theInternational Journal of Digital Television and Co-Editor of the Palgrave Global Media Policy and Business Book Series. Mark Wheeler is Professor of Political Communications at London Metropolitan University. He is the author four books including Politics and the Mass Media(Blackwell, 1997), European Television Industries (British FiIm Institute, 2005) (with Petros Iosifidis and Jeanette Steemers), Hollywood: Politics and Society(British Film Institute, 2006) and Celebrity Politics (Polity, 2013). He has contributed to numerous peer reviewed articles to academic journals and has written many chapters in collected editions Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Introduction....Pages 1-9 Front Matter....Pages 11-11 Social Media, Public Sphere and Democracy....Pages 13-37 The Political Economy of Social Media....Pages 39-64 Western Media Policy Frameworks and Values....Pages 65-92 Front Matter....Pages 93-93 Modern Political Communication and Web 2.0 in Representative Democracies: The United States and the British Experience....Pages 95-121 The Public Sphere and Network Democracy: The Arab Spring, WikiLeaks and the Edward Snowden Revelations....Pages 123-147 Public Diplomacy 2.0 and the Social Media....Pages 149-173 Front Matter....Pages 175-175 Russia and China: Autocratic and On-line....Pages 177-201 India and South Africa; Post-colonial Power, Democratization and the Online Community....Pages 203-228 Japan, South Korea, Brazil: Post-industrial Societies; Hard and Software....Pages 229-256 The Social Media and the Middle East....Pages 257-283 Conclusion....Pages 285-287 Back Matter....Pages 289-297 Introduction -- Part I. Theory And Practice. Social Media, Public Sphere And Democracy -- The Political Economy Of Social Media -- Western Media Policy Frameworks And Values -- -- Part Ii. Western Liberal Democratic Traditions, Grassroots Politics And The Social Media. Modern Political Communication And Web 2.0 In Representative Democracies : The United States And The British Experience -- The Public Sphere And Network Democracy : The Arab Spring, Wikileaks And The Edward Snowden Revelations -- Public Diplomacy 2.0 And The Social Media -- -- Part Iii. The Rise Of The Brics And On-line Interest. Russia And China : Autocratic And On-line -- India And South Africa ; Post-colonial Power, Democratization And The Online Community -- Japan, South Korea, Brazil : Post-industrial Societies ; Hard And Software -- The Social Media And The Middle East. Petros Iosifidis, Mark Wheeler. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.