ECREA16-Abstract

Saturday, November 12

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CDE15

NewMedia and Independent Journalism

PP 544

Resisting Censorship: Iranian Professional Journalists’ Use of Digital Media as an Alternative Channel

B. Ranji

University of Oslo, Media and Communication, Oslo, Norway

How do Iranian Journalists use digital media to circumvent the restriction they face in their daily job? How do Iranian journalists use digital media to chal‑

lenge the mainstream media publishing? How does the personal and professional lives of Iranian journalists- for instance their safety- become affected by

digital media usage? This study explores the use of digital media by professional Iranian journalists, working in media in Iran, as an alternative channel,

and the opportunities and challenges digital media present to these professionals. Iran is not a free country: media are controlled by the government, and

journalists restricted in what they can do and subject to censorship. Nor does Iran have freedom of expression on the Internet. Yet, some Iranian journalists

use digital media to bypass the limitations imposed on them in their daily job in establishedmedia, also communicate what is censored or underrepresented

in the mainstream media. However, the online activities of journalists are kept under surveillance, which poses sever safety risks on them. Most previous

literature on digital media uses by journalists has focused on free or partly free context. This study’s importance concerns the particular condition of Iran as

a non-democratic context. The study will make a theoretical contribution to the knowledge related to journalism and alternative media in countries under

non-democratic regimes, particularly Iran. Although Iranian journalists face several challenges, there is a lack of research in how they contend with these

challenges on an everyday basis. The findings will also help Iranian journalists gain a better understanding of their situation and help them to take steps

to strengthen themselves so that they can operate more freely and with less fear. The empowerment of journalists is an essential factor for journalistic

freedom of expression – if journalists are not safe and secure they cannot operate professionally and provide public interest content. Also, independent

journalism is an important element of civil society, so the empowerment of Iranian journalists will lead to the authorization of a civil society that accelerates

and strengthens the process of democracy.The key conceptual theoretical framework for this study is“alternative media”. Much of the existing literature has

addressed the antagonistic relationship between alternative and mainstream media, and conceptualized alternative media as counter-hegemonic media,

a counterpoint to mainstream media. I also review the theories of alternative media as a form of resistance to state power with regard to Iranian context.

Moreover, I review the literature on digital media as the latest platforms for alternative journalism practices, particularly in non-democratic contexts with

regard to the freedom of expression and safety of journalistsThe aim of the research is to gain an understanding of the journalists’experiences and practices.

So, the method for collecting the data is face to face and semi-structured interviews with about 40 journalists who work either as employees or freelance

journalists in reformist news outlets in Iran. I will analyse the data by the thematic analysis method which includes coding, looking for themes, finding

relationships, and categorizing themes for theory building.

PP 545

Activist Media and the '20 Cents Uprising' in Brazil: How Grassroots Coverage on Social Media Put into Question TV Globo Historical

Dominance in Brazilian Public Opinion

M. Canavarro

University of Porto, Communications / Informatics Engineering, Porto, Portugal

Based on qualitative interviews and Facebook content analysis, this paper will: 1) describe the Brazilian grassroots media ecology linked to popular political

mobilisation in/after 2013; 2) analyse the role of "collectives identities" on Facebook in spreading information on social media during the "June Journeys";

3) Identify and describe situations when grassroots narrative on demonstrations conflicted with mainstream coverage; 4) Analyse the consequences for

both activist media and mainstream media during/after dealing with described conflicts. Our theoretical ground is based on the concept of Technopolitics

(Toret et al, 2013;Toret & Calleja, 2014) and related concepts, such as "Collective Identities" and "3-layer ecology". Accordingly toToret et al,Technopolitics is

the "tactical and strategic use of digital tools and collective identities online for organization, communication and collective action". Castells (2012) affirms

that political connections "include online and offline social networks, as well as networks formed previously and during the movement actions". He has

highlighted that "mass self-communication" practices characterize a current scenario of communication of many to many (Castells, 2009) which allows

people's and collective's uneasiness and opinions to have a large-scale reach and to increase their autonomy in relation to restricted circuits of mass media

and political institutions. The linkage between physical spaces and digital environments contribute to redefine both technologies and social movements.

Therefore "the ability of activists to combine activity on social networks with the taking of urban spaces helps them to generate amplifying feedback loops

and to push from different sides potential mass media as well as police cordons that treat to isolate them" (Toret & Calleja). These loops and feedbacks in‑

volving online collective action, street mobilisation and mass media coverage generate a 3-layer ecology. In Brazil, the online collective action was triggered

by collective identities created to dispute the coverage on popular demonstrations with traditional mainstream media. To show this conflictual relation

between activist media and corporate news streams we will focus on describing and analysing a bunch of situations involving the main media outlet in

Brazil, TV Globo, and the grassroots media.