Convergence of old and new media & revolutions

On the topic of convergence of new and old media, two key things come to mind. In 2015 a series of protests against alleged racist/sexist behaviors by the staff of the University of Missouri were spawned by social media posts (Gutierrez, 2015), and in the Arab world, what has become known as the “Arab Spring” that occurred in the years of 2010 to 2012 has been credited a large part to social media (Arab Spring, 2017).

According to a Wikipedia article on the topic of the Arab Spring and social media, protest and street demonstration occurred in Morrocco, Bahrain, Algeria, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman and Sudan – along with “minor protest” in Djibouti, Mauritania, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, and Somalia wit the battle cry of Ash-sha’b yurid isgat an-nizam (“the people want to bring down the regime’). These protests have been credited for the Tunisian Revolution that led to the ousting of their countries president in January of 2011. Social media played a role in the Arab Spring as it enabled communication and collaboration among the protests. They used it to organize, disseminate and raise global awareness (Arab Spring, 2017). While social media in this case was powerful, I feel that it was the traditional media who helped the information share along to a significant extent. In the case of either new or old media, I feel that they needed one another to be an effect of change. Had they worked alone, I don’t see as great of an impact.

According to a Kansas City Star article, a “revolution” amongst college students was started in had already Columbia, Mo., near the campus of the University of Missouri in the Fall of 2015. According to the article, social media played a role in those protest that then spread across the country where the students demanded more fair treatment in a variety of areas and concerns (Gutierrez, 2015).

In both of these cases, I feel that the convergence of the old and the new medias led to the power of communicating the concerns of the protest. And again, I sustain my claim that had the two medias operated in isolation without the other, the power and impact would not has been as great.

Arab Spring (2017) . Social media and the Arab Spring . February 2017 . retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media_and_the_Arab_Spring

Guitierrez, L. (2015) . University of Missouri protests gave birth to dozens more across the U.S., powered by social media . November 24, 2015 . The Kansas City Star . retrieved from http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/national/article46268740.html