Evolution of revolution

Globally governments and traditional institutions of the mass media are battling to come to grips with the impact of the relatively recent explosion of what has generically become known as the social media driven on the back of electronic networks. Its roots can, however, be traced back at least 40 years to Iran and the overthrow of the Shah of Iran.

In the late 1960s to mid 1970s the Ayotollah Khomeini residing then in France, where he was in exile, used the mass distribution of messages on magnetic tape to mobilise dissent among the population over the repressive rule of the Shan. The cassette recordings gave him the means to overcome the Shah’s stranglehold over the flow of information and formal communication infrastructure.

On the back of the new generation of electronic communication technology and the network of social media, from cellphone text messaging to Facebook, Twitter,You Tube, Flickr and blogging, things seem to have come a full circle in that country.

In mid-2009 the world’s eyes became focused on Iran when questions were raised after Ahmadinejad was declared the winner over rival Mousavi in that country’s presidential elections. The abnormalities and potential vote-tampering resulted in massive protests that engulfed the Islamic nation.

As the Iranian government was clamping down on information and enforcing censorship, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and You Tube became the primary medium for bringing information out and spreading notes between dissidents. Key moments in the crisis, like the death of prominent dissidents, were recorded and spread like wildfire, creating an avalanche of support for protesters.

Although it has not led to the overthrow of the Iranian government, according to expert observers it helped dramatically to shift the political climate and the tipping point could be close.

How the social media has also become an instrument of involvement of other interested powers is illustrated by the fact that when networks became overloaded the US government reportedly became involved in scheduling Twitter’s downtime.

Recent events have also seen the important positive role these networks can play in times of distress caused by, among others, natural disasters. After a magnitude 7.0 earthquake devastated Haiti, social media became the means for people to spread the word. It was also used to launch a charity text-message campaign to mobilise relief.

Last week we reported on how texting was used to mobilise the population of Mozambique for protests against rising food prices. It is, however not only in under-developed and developing nations that the social media is confronting governments and societies with new challenges. Not even the United States is escaping.

The phenomenon of how a small-time pastor, Terry Jones of Gainesville, Florida – plying his particular brand of hate on the fringes of society – in the space of a few weeks could gain global prominence illustrated some of the dangers to society if its filters do not function properly.

Jones’s attempts to organise a Burn the Koran Day at one point generated 13 000 separate articles on Google News compared to 8 000 on US President Barak Obama’s first press conference in four months.

His efforts solicited comments from Obama and the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, General Petraeus. The president of the country with the world’s largest Muslim population,, Susila Bambang Yudhowona of Indonesia even described Jones as a threat to world peace.

Jones was propelled to this level of prominence when his messages on the social media networks was picked up by the traditional mass media. Within a few weeks he was interviewed more than 150 times!

There are already ample signs that the Jones incident will become a subject for academic studies and debates on the challenges that the social media pose to the traditional media in terms of both ethics and the prominence given to fringe groups and personalities. It would seem, however that in the end the overall picture emanating from mass-media coverage placed Jones in proper perspective and created the platform for leaders to voice their condemnations. It also alerted the broader community to the dangers involved in the actions of people like him.

To what extent the free flow of information, rather than attempts at control and censorship, can ensure balance seems to be indicated by the  first tentative research into  the impact on the general election in the United Kingdom earlier this year.

It would seem that the impact of the social media was limited and that the open use of the mass media in the form of televised debates between leaders played a much more prominent role. The television debates changed the voting intentions of millions of people, while social media merely complemented and amplified ithem, according to research done by Deloitte.

There is not a single example in history where attempts to control the flow of information or to institute censorship have worked in the long run. Social media has, if anything, improved the ability to measure the pulse of society. The challenge to both governments and the traditional media is to listen, adapt and learn how to manage the new reality.

In this South Africa is no exception. The media can be the ally of those in authority – if they stick to the rules of the game. If you try to cheat – and that is what improper control and censorship is – the fans (citizens) will eventually turn their backs on you and maybe even wreck the stadium.

Piet Coetzer, Editor