Director’s Blog

Essays

This is an edited version of an essay by Polis Summer School student Victoria Yates.

The idea of globalization is not new, despite many of the modern connotations attached to the term. The creation of the printing press created much the same revolution in communication, connecting people for the first time in a wide manner beyond traditional dialogical contact. (more…)

No Regrets

Tony Blair’s resolute, unchanging, self-affirming appearance at the impotent Chilcot Inquiry reminded us of the Politician’s Virility Dilemma. If they change their minds or admit fault then they are seen as weak. If they stick to their guns they are seen as strong but wrong. We in the media and the public can enjoy 20-20 hindsight while those who make history are doomed to live in it.

As Paul Staines so crisply put it, the Chilcot Inquiry will change nothing and nobody will change their minds. Indeed, “for the political classes [the Blair hearing at Chilcott] is the Super-Bowl of political self-justification.”

Of course, many journalists and voters have changed their minds about the invasion of Iraq. Or at least, there has been a remarkable re-framing of the story. It is often ignored that at the time just about everyone thought it likely that Saddam had WMD – that wasn’t really the issue. The argument was over what to do about it. And the real damage was done not by the invasion but the aftermath. I don’t remember anyone talking about that at the time, though now everyone claims they knew we were unprepared for the Post-Saddam situation. (more…)

Does the use of new social media technology in the protests in Iran this year herald a new politics too? Will networked journalism turn into networked politics?

This is a paper I wrote for the LSE Taiwan Research Programme conference on comparative approaches to the idea of Justice.

It looks at how violence is represented in the contemporary news media and asks how the nature and effect of that representation may be transformed as journalism changes. It will use the case study of Neda Agha-Soltan who was killed during the 2009 protests in Iran over the Presidential elections. It will examine how the video of her death was created and then mediated by various citizen journalists and then by international corporate media and how it was used as a political tool. It will explore how the public participation and connectivity of this kind of Networked Journalism alters the nature of news communication. It will also consider whether that makes a difference to the moral or ethical claims of news communication as suggested by Professor Roger Silverstone (2006). In other words, in what ways are new media technologies and practices altering the relationship between citizens and the idea of justice?

(more…)

Reporting war is getting more dangerous, difficult and complicated but working with citizen journalists is one way of getting around the censorship, lack of resources and danger. That was the verdict of four top TV journalists reflecting on the coverage of the Gaza conflict a year ago at a Polis panel debate.

I was surprised by the degree to which the ‘traditional’ reporters embraced the potential of citizen journalists as informal correspondents or stringers and as a source of material.  When the chap from citizen photojournalism site Demotix got up to make his case he found he was pushing at an open door.

Jeremy Bowen (BBC Middle East Editor) and  Alan Fisher (Al Jazeera) were both subject to the Israeli exclusion of journalists from Gaza during the invasion 12 months ago. Sherine Tadros (Al Jazeera English) was actually inside because her channel had a staffed bureau in Gaza. Louise Turner made the superb Unseen Gaza programme that told the story of how the media was excluded and the effect on the reporting of the conflict. (more…)

Terrorists love the Internet. Al Qeda is one of the Web’s most successful political organisations. So it is important that we pay attention to what the extremists say online. A research fellow working with Polis was watching as an Al Qeda operative made threats that sought to influence last week’s German election. What is fascinating is how they adopted their style to suit the medium and to have an impact on a modern European electorate. Here is Mina Al-Lami’s article written with Ben O’Loughlin – it was published in full at OpenDemocracy.

The jihadist style-journey: Germany’s election and after  

Mina Al-Lami & Ben O’Loughlin 

The general election in Germany on 27 September 2009 has seen the Christian Democratic Party (CDU) again emerge as the largest party, giving Angela Merkel the opportunity to extend her term as chancellor and head a new governing coalition (probably with the Free Democratic Party [FDP] led by Guido Westerwelle). The election campaign was unusual in that foreign affairs, and especially Germany’s military role in Afghanistan, played a prominent role – and in a way that has serious domestic-security consequences. (more…)

When the BBC refused to show the Disaster Emergency Appeal for Gaza last year it was accused of cowardice and even partiality towards the Israelis. But is there an ethical and even humanitarian case for the line taken by the BBC in defence of its journalistic values? Polis Summer School student Lindsay Page here examines the moral arguments and asks whether the BBC actually made the right decision according to cosmopolitan principles.

Lindsay Page

Mediating a ‘managed disaster’: the BBC and the DEC’s Gaza crisis appeal by Lindsay Page

On January 27, 2009, nine days after a unilaterally declared ceasefire between Israel and militant groups in Gaza, Palestine, much public and media attention – both mainstream and citizen-generated – concerned the BBC’s decision not to air a Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC)’s appeal for aid to Gaza.  Public groups instantly (more…)

If you really want to know what is happening in Iran, go online. Tonight, the brilliant Lindsey  Hilsum from Channel 4 News had an exclusive interview with an opposition politician and great pictures of her in the heart of the swelling demonstrations. But she was unable to file a commentary or join Jon Snow live for the programme because of technical obstacles and Iranian restrictions.

Meanwhile, Sky News were live in London with their Twitter correspondent who was, at least, able to direct viewers to the plethora of Iranian correspondents linked through the microblogging service. (more…)

What’s it like to be from a country under the global media spotlight? How does it feel to be told that you are part of the Axis of Evil or even that you must “unclench your fist”.  This article is by an Iranian who helped with the translation of the recent BBC documentary series, Iran And The West, which explored the role of Iran in global politics  over the  last 30 years. Here Bahareh explains what it is like to see the world watching and judging your country through the media – and what it felt like to be part of a programme that sought to tell the wider story. (more…)

I urge you to go the BBC’s iPlayer and catch up with Iran And The West. This is history documentary of the highest order by the legendary Brooke Lapping, with star producers such as Norma Percy, Brian Lapping and Dai Richards.

It tells the compelling story of Iran’s revoution three decades ago and the way that relations between Washington and Tehran seem to have been at the centre of international affairs ever since. (more…)

Channel 4′s excellent documentary on the Israeli media blockade of Gaza was on so late last night that it was probably unseen by many people.

That’s a shame because Jon Snow’s Dispatches Special was an outstanding piece of media analysis. (more…)