Introduction
The media has great power in society since it informs people, provides the basis upon which people make sense of new information presented to them, and focuses attention on particular issues.
For this reason, traditional media such as TV, radio, and newspaper have influenced the society greatly over the past century. However, with the huge evolution of technology and new media over the past two decades, people no longer depend entirely on traditional media. People are more skeptical about news and advertisements reported in traditional media.
Unlike traditional media in which people are only allowed to read and listen , new media offer a variety of communication channels in which new media users are allowed to interact with events and news instantly. In this essay, I will discuss the effectiveness of traditional media and social media, and how social media has a better participation in changing the world in terms of politics and human rights.
Social Media and Politics
Social media acts as a powerful agent for change when it is used to encourage people to fight against social injustices. Historically, the traditional mass media has been used as an agent of change with professional journalists acting as the society’s watchdog.
These professions have brought to the public’s attention issues that need to be dealt with and called for action. However, this great power of the traditional media suffers from too much government scrutiny and media houses that are anti-government can be penalized in authoritarian states.
Social media provides a more potent tool for encouraging people to fight against injustices. Social media can be used to encourage popular uprisings, as was the case in the Arab Spring. In Tunisia, the civil unrest was organized through social networking sites that encouraged people to protest against government oppression (Alqudsi-ghabra 154). Political change was achieved by using social media to mobilize people to fight against government injustices.
Social Media promotes political activism in people who would otherwise be apolitical. Many social media forums encourage individuals to be politically active with people being persuaded to take part in activities such as online protests or join certain online causes in order to make their voices heard. People who visit social media spaces for entertainment purposes may be drawn into discussion forums where people share opinions on political issues therefore sparking in them an interest in political discourse (Himelboim 95).
Opponents of social media as a tool for political change assert that this media promotes low-risk activism that does not motivate people to make a real sacrifice for their cause (Joseph 150). This argument has some validity since some people just propose to support certain ideals through their computer but do not take any action towards achieving the ideals.
However, social media helps people to obtain information on the political status of their country and start a debate on the topic (Joseph 152). Political change can then be catalyzed because of these functions of social media. Himelboim notes that the political awareness of people is greatly enhanced through the political discussions that take place through social media (93).
Social media helps the audience to access information that is free from bias. While traditional media sources claim that the information they provide is objective in nature, this is not always the case since the private bias of the journalist of the media house influences how the reporting is done.
Traditional media reports are structured in such a way that the recipient will form a certain pre-determined opinion on the subject. The report of scandals by a high-ranking politician may appear objective but the analysis of the issue provided by the journalist will be highly subjective. To make the matters worse, traditional media is driven by self-interest such as making a profit and expressing the sentiments favoured by the corporations that sponsor them.
The CCHR notes that new media promotes citizen journalism where individuals report events instead of waiting for the traditional media to give the information to the public (21). While the reporter’s opinion and attitude will color their reporting even in social media, the effect of this bias is tempered by the availability of many social media outlets. The audience can therefore form their own opinions on the issue based on the many different sources reporting the same thing.
Traditional media can be used as a tool of propaganda by tyrannical governments. In most cases, traditional media houses are centralized in nature with a well-defined chain of command (Joseph 151). While this centralized leadership structure is a major strength of traditional media, it poses a significant problem.
It is possible for an outside party to dictate on the reporting of the traditional media by simply commanding or corrupting the top management to express certain ideas through the media. When used for propaganda, traditional media polarizes people and makes them take stands that they may not have taken without being persuaded to. This misuse of the media is best illustrated through the case of Nazi Germany.
Hitler and his subordinates made use of traditional media to advance unpopular ideas and encourage hatred of the Jewish community. Social media is not prone to this governmental manipulation since it is run in a decentralized fashion. Anyone who wishes to use it for manipulation would have to corrupt so many independent parties to achieve this end. In most cases, the people engaged in social media are unknown to the government forces and they can therefore report without any governmental influence.
Social media is free from most of the political restrictions that traditional media suffers from. In countries experiencing authoritarian rule, the government keeps a close watch on the media outlets and regulates the information released to the public. Alqudsi-ghabra observes that in the authoritarian regime of Tunisia, the government closely controlled the traditional media (151).
Traditional media outlets are forced to stick to the regulations and avoid any inappropriate content. This is not the case with social media, which is characterized by high mobility and lack of a well-defined network. Social media activists can therefore operate outside of government control and foster greater political changes in their country.
The interactive nature of Social media gives individuals a platform through which they can engage in conversation with others and therefore forms political opinions. Traditional media is characterized by being one-way; with the audience being passive recipients of information doled out to them by the reporters.
Himelboim elaborates that “Information flows in one direction via traditional media (newspapers, television), allowing audiences only to consume information” (94). In this kind of relationship between the information provider and recipient, critical through is not encouraged since there is no meaningful exchange.
Social media acts as a facilitator of mass conversation among the many receivers of the information and this leads to meaningful debates. Himelboim states that online social media is gaining popularity as a public forum for political discussions with more people consuming political content using this medium (93). Joseph notes that it is this social media attribute that has caused some governments to take steps to monitor, limit, and even block social media forums (155).
Social Media and Human Rights
Social media can report more freely on human rights issues in a country. Historically, the society has relied on traditional media to bring human right issues to the public’s attention. By publicizing human rights violations, the media has helped elicit reactions and positive changes.
However, this reporting by the traditional media is greatly regulated by legal obstacles that sometimes make it impossible to address human rights violations by the incumbent government. Social media can exploit the lack of regulations to highlight human rights issues. Alqudsi-ghabra corroborates this point by revealing that a creative use of the lack of legal obstacles can help journalists tackle issues that would never be addressed by the traditional media (153).
Social media has provided the means through which oppressed people can highlight their problems and gain the support and assistance of the international community. Some human rights violations occur since the victims do not have the power to speak out on their own behalf.
While the traditional media has in the past tried to give voice to the victims, it could only deal with few cases. Social media is available to most people and they can articulate their own issues and solicit for action from the relevant authorities (the Cambodian Center for Human Rights 3). By using social media tools such as tweets that reach a global audience, local activists can expose the human rights violations going on in their country to the international community.
The timely nature of social media tools makes them very useful for the task of monitoring human rights issues. Most human rights violations occur in secret and the victims keep suffering in silence.
By the time the violations are made public by traditional media, very little can be done and there may not be evidence of the violations. This point is reinforced by Joseph who observes that in 1982, “the Syrian army apparently massacred tens of thousands of residents of the town of Hama in roughly one month and the world did not learn of the killings until much later” (154).
Social media assist to overcome these limitations of traditional media by providing real time information from activists or even the victims of human rights abuses. For example, the tweet feeds of a jailed Bahrainian human right activist’s daughter provide a window into the human rights issues in the country at the present time (Joseph 153).
Social media assists in the prosecution of human rights abusers. Traditionally, the perpetrators of human rights abuse have been able to avoid facing justice because of lack of evidence. The words of the victims in many cases are the only evidence available. The CCHR asserts that while evidence is of great importance, many human right cases only rely on the testimony of witnesses (3).
Without more evidence, the case may be dismissed and the human rights abusers walk free. Social media helps remedy the situation by allowing witnesses to document and publish the evidence of human rights abuses as the crimes happen. This video or photographic evidence offers solid proof and it can be used in the criminal justice system.
Conclusion
This paper set out to argue that social media is a more effective in promoting political and human rights activism than traditional media. The impact of social media on society is quickly increasing even as a marked decline in traditional media’s reach is experienced. This paper has highlighted how social media gives citizens the opportunity for political and human rights participation.
It has noted that social media does not suffer from problems such as government censorship, propaganda, and media bias that are inherent in traditional media. Social media should therefore be promoted in all countries since it increases participation in changing the world in terms of politics and human rights.
Works Cited
Alqudsi-ghabra, Taghreed. “Creative Use of Social Media in the Revolutions of Tunisia, Egypt & Libya.” International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences. 6.6 (2012): 147-158. Academic Search Complete. Web.
Cambodian Center for Human Rights. New Media and the Promotion of Human Rights in Cambodia, Phnom Penh: Cambodian Center for Human Rights, 2012. Print.
Himelboim, Itai. “Social Media and Online Political Communication: The Role of Interpersonal Informational Trust and Openness.” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. 56.1 (2012): 92–115. Academic Search Complete. Web.
Joseph, Sarah. “Social Media, Political Change, and Human Rights.” Boston College International & Comparative Law Review. 35.1 (2012): 145-188. Web.