Media activism

China has strong censorship laws in place, where the press freedoms are not considered free, rather oppressive.[15] Youth in China have worked towards stronger press freedoms online and a dedication to utilizing the principles of media activism.[16] Intensive civic conversation occurs online in China.[16] Youth satirized the government through what came to be known as "the River Crab critique," in turn spurring civic conversation on the internet. Media Activists in China used their online presence and freedom to alter images, such as Marilyn Monroe, to have the face of Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong. This image was coined as Maorilyn Maoroe, which in the image is juxtaposed next to a homophone for profanity. "Maorilyn Maoroe" was an opponent to the societal River Crab, which is a pun on "harmonious," a principle that Chinese censorship was created to promote, but has failed to do so.[17]

In China, youth and other media activists have discovered and utilized new methods to indirectly criticize the political and societal environments, going around the government censorship. Social media is among the newest method of critique. Activists use "microblogs" to critique the government.[18] Blogging can therefore be seen as a media activist approach to civic participation within the bounds of government censorship.

Protesters in Egypt celebrate in Tahrir Square after President Mubarak announced his resignation.

The 2011 Arab Spring uprisings made extensive use of social media activism within the countries of Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. These nations concentrated on the ability of the society to operate social media and begin organizing a grassroots initiative for a globalized form of democracy.[19] Arab youth population are described as "opening" societies through social media in places where governments are otherwise repressive.[20]

Egyptian protesters utilized social media to reduce the difficulties and cost associated with organizing rallies and a readily-mobilized political force.[21] This facilitation of assembly through social media allowed the creation of new gateways for civic engagement where Egypt had suppressed such opportunities under emergency power for the last 30 years.[21] This facilitation of assembly through social media allowed the creation of new gateways for civic engagement where Egypt had suppressed such opportunities under emergency power for the last 30 years.[21] This uprising led to violent conflict within each of the nations, and can thus media and media activism can be viewed as a fundamental contributor to the nation's new national identity under a new rule.[19]

The Philippines was once said to have the freest press in Southeast Asia, after the ousting of Ferdinand Marcos, due to the subsequent rapid expansion of newspapers, radio stations, and programming throughout the country.[22] This has changed over the years, especially after events such as the Maguindanao massacre, where 34 journalists were killed in a single event.[23] Competing interests within traditional media also complicate the landscape of journalistic transparency—a number of the country's largest newspapers are owned by a few select families who compete in both business and politics.[22] In response, local organizations have turned to alternative forms of information dissemination. For example, indigenous groups in the Philippines have developed their online media presence in order to build international awareness of local issues—such as land grabbing—since local corporations and political powers and influence over the mainstream media.[24]

In 2010, Mary Jane Veloso, an overseas Filipino domestic worker, was arrested and convicted in Indonesia for attempting to smuggle 5.7lb of heroin.[25] She was placed on death row and was initially set to be executed. Human rights organizations claimed that Veloso was used by her recruiters as a drug mule and should be given the opportunity to defend herself in court.[26] Through a joint effort of legal advocacy and online media activism, Veloso's execution was delayed. The petition on Change.org to support her was one of the fastest-growing and most signed online petitions from the region.[27]

Media activism has a long history in the United States including the revolutionary pamphleteers of the Revolutionary War, the abolitionist press in the decades leading up to the Civil War and the socialist press during the years of the labor movement such as The Appeal to Reason which supported the presidential candidate Eugene Debs.[28]

Protestors as a part of the occupy wall street movement

The Occupy Wall Street movement, which began during the fall of 2011, is another instance were social media largely contributed to the efforts of the initiative. It was a people powered movement beginning September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattans financial district. As Occupy Wall Street sprang up in parks and under tents, one of the main issues the protesters pushed was economic inequality. Then with the winter pressing forward the police swept the protesters away. All across the country the crowds began to thin and enthusiasm diminished, and eventually the movement all but dissolved. The catch phrase that became well known by the occupants was "We are the 99 percent.” The 99 percent were referred to as the lower-income people that are struggling to make a change. This was in contrast to the 1% who were well off financially and were in control of social, political and economic levers of powers. From here it spread to cities all over the United States, and globally. The movement came about because of the popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. Its main goal was to fight against the unequal income gap and the corrupting influence of money. Although many people believed that the movement disappeared, it has instead evolved into a variety of different causes. One of Occupies largest unrecognized victories is the drive for a higher minimum wage. The occupy protests helped to motivate workers in the fast food industry in New York City to walk off their jobs in November, 2012, triggering national movement to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. This march in New York helped lead the way for tens of thousands of workers who marched in hundreds of cities asking for better paying conditions. Occupy Wall Street protesters capitalized on the tools of social media to spread awareness about the movement, to inform participants about organized meetings, rallies, and events, and to ultimately generate national news and mainstream media attention. Social media handles like Facebook and Twitter were used to bring people from all over to one place for an agreed upon cause. It started off with the small number of people who had the idea. Once the events, rallies and protests began, it gained the attention from mass media. This ultimately created a huge platform for the change these participants yearned for.[29]

Black Lives Matter, a campaign against violence and systemic racism towards African Americans, has been influenced strongly by Social Media Activism with leaders, hashtags, and policy proposals brought forward because of Social Media. The hashtag #blacklivesmatter was created in 2013 by Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi after the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the murder in Florida of seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin.[30] Garza wrote a Facebook post titled "A Love Note to Black People" in which she said: "Our Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter.” Once the hashtag was formed, it has been a rallying cry for various organizing efforts across the country centered on Black lives.[31]

It is a movement that brings the African American community together. It is a campaign that does not promote violence but instead unity. There can be both negative or positive views on the movement due to the way the media affects people. This movement began in 2013 when people started hash tagging #BLM, #BlackLivesMatter, and #equality on Twitter, Facebook, and many social media platforms. In response to the visible violent acts against Black communities more than 50 organizations from across the country have come together to fight this unfairness based on color. Today this is still an issue, and in some peoples' opinion media does not have a positive effect on BLM. It causes people to riot and build more hatred for each other instead of the whole concept of unity. Sometimes the media, which has fake news can take things out of context, in result people will have an upsetting reaction.

African Americans use Twitter at a higher rate than their white counterparts with 22 percent of online blacks using the service in 2014 compared to 16 percent of online whites.[32] Hashtags such as #OscarsSoWhite, #handsupdontshoot, and #icantbreathe have sprung up as offshoots in the social movement and have helped create a subculture on the website that some have called “Black Twitter”.[33] Jelani Cobb, professor of Journalism at Columbia University, has argued that that “Black Twitter” has been as vital to Black Lives Matter as television was for the Civil Rights Movement.[34]

Citizen reporting on platforms such as Twitter and Facebook help drive the coverage of traditional media on stories of violence, discrimination, and harassment.[35]

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was a form of media activism that swept through online communities to bring awareness to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, a fatal disease which causes damage to a person's motor functions through the break down of nerve cells.[36] The challenge involves pouring a bucket of cold water over a person's head, and donating to the ALS Association. It began in July 2014, when Chris Kennedy first challenged his sister, Jeanette Senerchia, to participate in the challenge. Senerchia was inspired to partake in order to support her husband who had previously been diagnosed with the disease. Soon the challenge became widespread across mainstream media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.[37] The challenge picked up a mass following due to the amount of lives touched by the disease and the desire to see progress in the fight against ALS. The accumulation of donations made by supporters of the cause resulted in as much as $115 million being donated to the ALS Association in an effort to find a cure and bring awareness to the cause.[38]

Joseph Kony was the leader of Uganda's Lords Resistance Army (LRA) in 2012. He was accused of abducting over 60,000 Ugandan children, turning the boys into brainwashed killing machines and the young girls into sex slaves. He killed anyone who stood in his way. In 2012, an American charity named "Invisible Children" took Kony's actions and turned them into a short film, posting it on YouTube. It was the fastest growing viral video of all time, receiving over 100 million views in the span of 6 days. Kony had been wanted by the International Criminal Court since 2005 for crimes against humanity. After gaining so much attention from social media sites like YouTube and Twitter, the U.S. finally declares the LRA a terrorist group in 2008. They even sent 100 of their own troops to support Uganda in tracking Kony and taking him down. Hundreds of thousands of people tweeted with the hashtag "#stopkony". The Kony video resulted in never before seen international efforts to end Africa's longest lasting issue. The video incorporated people form all over the world who probably had no idea this problem was occurring otherwise. It proved that if people knew about an issue and were given the opportunity to help, they in fact would.[39] Social justice campaigns have been using new media strategies to communicate to the public. Things like online distribution, podcasts and the new cultural norm of social media have been fused with the traditional rallies, protests and lobbying efforts and have created a new type of change that is somewhat convenient for its followers.[40] These new social platforms have made it possible for the public to be both the consumer and producer of media, making their efforts for change reach numbers of people at never before seen speed, like the Kony video.

Today nearly 32 percent of Venezuelan internet-users utilize social media on regular basis.[41]

Most recently, social media has been used politically to achieve success during elections, including the 2012 re-election campaign of President Hugo Chávez and the 2013 presidential campaign between Nicolás Maduro and Henrique Capriles Radonski. Social media was used to organize rallies and political platforms and affected campaign content.[42] Opposition candidate Capriles used social media as an activist approach to "drum up" support and connect with voters politically.[43] This form of media activism connected most dominantly in the Venezuelan youth population—a generation considered to be tech-savvy.[42]

On March 14, 2013, Lourdes Alicia Ortega Pérez was imprisoned by the Scientific Penal and Criminal Investigation Corps of Venezuela for tweeting a message that was considered "destabilizing to the country".[44]

Rotuman in Fiji, the Rotuman people are deemed the minority, causing vast outmigration of nearly 80 percent of the population. Digital communication is relied on heavily to conserve the Rotuman culture.[45] The communication aspects of digital media are of great benefit. The use of digital media allows the Rotuman people to remain in touch and conserve their culture.