This chapter outlines the promise of the Internet for activists, reflecting on its use by radical... more This chapter outlines the promise of the Internet for activists, reflecting on its use by radical media projects and social movements, focussing in the first instance on the fate of Indymedia. It then moves to consider through the lens of political economy how the economics of media, state repression and the rise of social media helped marginalize Indymedia. At the same time it shows how social media, whilst enormously useful for protest movements have become dragnets through which activists can be monitored and pursued, drawing on a range of examples from both the " Arab Spring " as well as protests in liberal states, focussing on the UK..
This study examines the potential of and limits to the use of the internet as a public sphere, es... more This study examines the potential of and limits to the use of the internet as a public sphere, especially the claim that the Internet is or can be a public sphere. Whilst a number of studies have debated whether or not the internet is a public sphere, here Salter undertakes a conceptual analysis of public sphere theory and the socio-structural context in which public spheres are situated, thus drawing on the wider corpus of Habermas's work to paying special attention to the thesis of 'colonisation'. Salter shows how activists must create radical public spheres through both communication and action, as well as through engagement with the technologies - they must form the technologies themselves, resisting processes of economic and state colonisation. The limits to the use of the Internet as a public sphere are not, however, inherent features of the technology itself, but pertain to its use under a system in which certain social practices and institutions have priority over others. Under these conditions, the use of the Internet as a radical public sphere takes place as a continual struggle against dominant forms of use.
While many studies of the web and related technologies of communication have focused on its use, ... more While many studies of the web and related technologies of communication have focused on its use, there has been little engagement with the structural properties of the web and related technologies from a broadly social theoretic point of view. This article analyses pressures on the technological development of the web from the perspective of the Habermasian concepts of colonization and juridification. On this analysis, legal and quasi-legal tendencies can be seen to restrict the uses and development of the structures of the world wide web, as I will show with the use of several case studies.
This chapter publishes research into the student movement against austerity and cuts, focusing sp... more This chapter publishes research into the student movement against austerity and cuts, focusing specifically on the occupation at the University of the West of England.
This chapter originated as a paper delivered to the workshop 'Internet: structure and use'... more This chapter originated as a paper delivered to the workshop 'Internet: structure and use', London Metropolitan University, September 2003. It has been extensively cited as an intervention on 'Habermasian' theorising of the Internet, democracy and the public sphere, for example, in Fuchs (2006) in Morgan, K. et. al. (eds.) The Internet Society II. Southampton/Boston. WIT Press, and it was critically referenced in Thomas, P. (2006) 'The Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS) Campaign' International Communication Gazette, 68(4), (2006) as containing important observations on the role of the APC in shaping the Internet. It has also been referenced as a key intervention in applying social movement theory to media technologies by Fenton (2007) 'Contesting global capital', in Cammerts, B. & Nico C., (eds.) Reclaiming the Media: Communication Rights and Democratic Media Roles, European Communication Research and Education Association. It has ...
This paper drew on practical experience of participating in 'Indymedia', a 'radical m... more This paper drew on practical experience of participating in 'Indymedia', a 'radical media' project to facilitate 'independent' online 'citizen journalism', and a conference paper delivered to the First European Communication Conference: 50 Years of Communication Research, Past and Future, Amsterdam, Nov. 2005. This has been cited in: Adams, D. (2006) Journalism, citizens and blogging. In Proceedings 2006 Communications Policy and Research Forum (2006), University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Australia
Grounded in intersubjective participatory action research, the people and dancefloors project has... more Grounded in intersubjective participatory action research, the people and dancefloors project has sought to produce a space for the co-creation of knowledge about dancefloors and drug taking, building a platform for developing insights from the positionality of current drug users. Through film, it provides hermeneutic insight while legitimising their voices. In this paper, we share some reflections as researchers/users/activists arising from our involvement in the project. To begin with, we reflect on the motivations for the project, and the epistemic suppositions that animated it. This is followed by conversational style interviews where we re-evaluate our position in light of the project, with a particular focus on the tensions that drug use introduces between professional, personal and political domains in our lives. These reflections are useful to people who use drugs and hold privilege by nature of their social and cultural position. While questioning the silencing of personal experiences in relation to drug use, we also react to some of the traditional tendencies of academia, including institutionalised individualism, which isolates researchers and discourages them from finding political collectivity, and the subjectivist/objectivist dichotomy, which supports a tendency to objectify research participants while removing the self from the equation. Despite the challenges that arise from disentangling our multiple experiences and identities, our intersubjective dialogue inspires deeper learning about ourselves and each other, encouraging us towards a more openly political stance.
International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics, 2020
This article considers how media production is framed by class experience, and how this framing m... more This article considers how media production is framed by class experience, and how this framing mediates exclusion. Drawing on research on ‘poverty porn’ the article presents an analysis of how experimental exclusion is operationalized in media representations before moving the analysis to consider the framing of an additional exclusion that afflicts mainly working class people ‐ that which comes with the status of prisoner and convict. Here, poverty porn becomes prison porn and we find a double exclusion. After noting the shortcomings of a number of prison documentaries in the framework of Third Cinema, the article finishes with a proposal, based on the production of a prison film made by the author, to more adequately represent such marginalized classes, finishing with a reflection on the perseverance of exclusion.
cooperation agenda’ aimed at protecting copyright holders conflicts with the principle of net neu... more cooperation agenda’ aimed at protecting copyright holders conflicts with the principle of net neutrality and specifically threatens the openness of the Internet. Chapter 8 asks an important question: should Internet industry act ‘as policeman, judge and jury’ (p. 112) in connection with what Internet service providers could be asked to do in relation to blocking orders. The issue is complex as content platforms providers’ legal responsibility is not clear when it comes to distasteful, offensive or socially unacceptable content – or such that could be found unacceptable by some commercial organisations and civil society groups. In some cases, it is not clear how to balance deletion requests with the public interest, as, for example, regarding brutal footage associated with the Syrian conflict. In her penultimate chapter, Horten discusses cloud services used for storing material which users can access from anywhere. Horten sees here a new ability to control the storage and accessibility of information, which entails yet another level of structural power in the future of the Internet. In the conclusion, Horten invites the reader to consider whether politics shape the Internet or the Internet shapes politics. Her own opinion is that the Internet shapes politics using its structural power which is not overt, aggressive or threatening but is exercised ‘by presenting choices, by opening of shutting off opportunities’ (p. 11). Horten’s own view of the future of the Internet is this: ‘The “open Internet” will still exist, but it will be a luxury for those who can afford it’ (p. 146) which means that people on low income who are now able to participate in online activities via a laptop or a smartphone will be excluded from the wider Internet community and will gradually lose their voice – unless the Internet is better regulated in the interest of all humankind. Horten’s important book is beneficial for all Internet users, especially as a warning to those digital natives who use social networking facilities without exercising caution. The text is deceptively easy, with its flowing narrative and the use of contractions such as ‘I’ve’ (p. vii) and ‘weren’t’ (p. 2) instead of ‘I have’ and ‘were not’. It is, however, packed with specialised information that requires close reading if it is to be properly understood. The book would have benefited from having an introduction and a clear signposting of the progression of the discussion.
Social life is mediated in numerous ways. Ideas, social interaction and practical activity are al... more Social life is mediated in numerous ways. Ideas, social interaction and practical activity are all mediated in part by communication or media technologies. Whilst it would be folly to suggest that media technologies mediate most people’s entire experience of political and intellectual life, it is the case that the presence of these technologies in people’s lives is such that they cannot be ignored. To a degree the capacity of media technologies to facilitate critical political and intellectual engagements is limited by the context of their production and use. However, in this chapter I argue that a paradigm shift, the ‘cultural’ or ‘linguistic turn’ filtered through to media and cultural studies, often has the effect of sidelining the question of production. Consequently, the role of the intellectual changes from a producer of media messages to at best an interpreter, and at worst nothing at all. The ideas behind the postmodern elements of the cultural turn were, in part, a response to the perceived reification of ideology as a concept and to a supposed understanding of media communications as ‘hypodermic’. This is to say that postmodern media and cultural studies stylised the Marxist understanding of media as one in which capitalists transmitted their one-sided messages to a passive audience, which then accepted them. In contrast to this, the postmodernists ‘empower’ audiences by arguing that they actively produce meanings in a process of negotiation, often rejecting or transforming intended meanings.
Siapera/The Handbook of Global Online Journalism, 2012
This chapter looks the role of online citizen journalism in a variety of contexts, regarding in p... more This chapter looks the role of online citizen journalism in a variety of contexts, regarding in particular the treatment of "radical" and "grassroutes" journalism during times of crisis and considering how the responses of the state compare in different circumstances.
The paper resulted from a conference on the work of philosopher, Alasdair MacIntyre. It considers... more The paper resulted from a conference on the work of philosopher, Alasdair MacIntyre. It considers MacIntyre's distinctions between institutions and practices in the context of media organisations. It considers journalism as a practice and argues that media institutions ...
This chapter outlines the promise of the Internet for activists, reflecting on its use by radical... more This chapter outlines the promise of the Internet for activists, reflecting on its use by radical media projects and social movements, focussing in the first instance on the fate of Indymedia. It then moves to consider through the lens of political economy how the economics of media, state repression and the rise of social media helped marginalize Indymedia. At the same time it shows how social media, whilst enormously useful for protest movements have become dragnets through which activists can be monitored and pursued, drawing on a range of examples from both the " Arab Spring " as well as protests in liberal states, focussing on the UK..
This study examines the potential of and limits to the use of the internet as a public sphere, es... more This study examines the potential of and limits to the use of the internet as a public sphere, especially the claim that the Internet is or can be a public sphere. Whilst a number of studies have debated whether or not the internet is a public sphere, here Salter undertakes a conceptual analysis of public sphere theory and the socio-structural context in which public spheres are situated, thus drawing on the wider corpus of Habermas's work to paying special attention to the thesis of 'colonisation'. Salter shows how activists must create radical public spheres through both communication and action, as well as through engagement with the technologies - they must form the technologies themselves, resisting processes of economic and state colonisation. The limits to the use of the Internet as a public sphere are not, however, inherent features of the technology itself, but pertain to its use under a system in which certain social practices and institutions have priority over others. Under these conditions, the use of the Internet as a radical public sphere takes place as a continual struggle against dominant forms of use.
While many studies of the web and related technologies of communication have focused on its use, ... more While many studies of the web and related technologies of communication have focused on its use, there has been little engagement with the structural properties of the web and related technologies from a broadly social theoretic point of view. This article analyses pressures on the technological development of the web from the perspective of the Habermasian concepts of colonization and juridification. On this analysis, legal and quasi-legal tendencies can be seen to restrict the uses and development of the structures of the world wide web, as I will show with the use of several case studies.
This chapter publishes research into the student movement against austerity and cuts, focusing sp... more This chapter publishes research into the student movement against austerity and cuts, focusing specifically on the occupation at the University of the West of England.
This chapter originated as a paper delivered to the workshop 'Internet: structure and use'... more This chapter originated as a paper delivered to the workshop 'Internet: structure and use', London Metropolitan University, September 2003. It has been extensively cited as an intervention on 'Habermasian' theorising of the Internet, democracy and the public sphere, for example, in Fuchs (2006) in Morgan, K. et. al. (eds.) The Internet Society II. Southampton/Boston. WIT Press, and it was critically referenced in Thomas, P. (2006) 'The Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS) Campaign' International Communication Gazette, 68(4), (2006) as containing important observations on the role of the APC in shaping the Internet. It has also been referenced as a key intervention in applying social movement theory to media technologies by Fenton (2007) 'Contesting global capital', in Cammerts, B. & Nico C., (eds.) Reclaiming the Media: Communication Rights and Democratic Media Roles, European Communication Research and Education Association. It has ...
This paper drew on practical experience of participating in 'Indymedia', a 'radical m... more This paper drew on practical experience of participating in 'Indymedia', a 'radical media' project to facilitate 'independent' online 'citizen journalism', and a conference paper delivered to the First European Communication Conference: 50 Years of Communication Research, Past and Future, Amsterdam, Nov. 2005. This has been cited in: Adams, D. (2006) Journalism, citizens and blogging. In Proceedings 2006 Communications Policy and Research Forum (2006), University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Australia
Grounded in intersubjective participatory action research, the people and dancefloors project has... more Grounded in intersubjective participatory action research, the people and dancefloors project has sought to produce a space for the co-creation of knowledge about dancefloors and drug taking, building a platform for developing insights from the positionality of current drug users. Through film, it provides hermeneutic insight while legitimising their voices. In this paper, we share some reflections as researchers/users/activists arising from our involvement in the project. To begin with, we reflect on the motivations for the project, and the epistemic suppositions that animated it. This is followed by conversational style interviews where we re-evaluate our position in light of the project, with a particular focus on the tensions that drug use introduces between professional, personal and political domains in our lives. These reflections are useful to people who use drugs and hold privilege by nature of their social and cultural position. While questioning the silencing of personal experiences in relation to drug use, we also react to some of the traditional tendencies of academia, including institutionalised individualism, which isolates researchers and discourages them from finding political collectivity, and the subjectivist/objectivist dichotomy, which supports a tendency to objectify research participants while removing the self from the equation. Despite the challenges that arise from disentangling our multiple experiences and identities, our intersubjective dialogue inspires deeper learning about ourselves and each other, encouraging us towards a more openly political stance.
International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics, 2020
This article considers how media production is framed by class experience, and how this framing m... more This article considers how media production is framed by class experience, and how this framing mediates exclusion. Drawing on research on ‘poverty porn’ the article presents an analysis of how experimental exclusion is operationalized in media representations before moving the analysis to consider the framing of an additional exclusion that afflicts mainly working class people ‐ that which comes with the status of prisoner and convict. Here, poverty porn becomes prison porn and we find a double exclusion. After noting the shortcomings of a number of prison documentaries in the framework of Third Cinema, the article finishes with a proposal, based on the production of a prison film made by the author, to more adequately represent such marginalized classes, finishing with a reflection on the perseverance of exclusion.
cooperation agenda’ aimed at protecting copyright holders conflicts with the principle of net neu... more cooperation agenda’ aimed at protecting copyright holders conflicts with the principle of net neutrality and specifically threatens the openness of the Internet. Chapter 8 asks an important question: should Internet industry act ‘as policeman, judge and jury’ (p. 112) in connection with what Internet service providers could be asked to do in relation to blocking orders. The issue is complex as content platforms providers’ legal responsibility is not clear when it comes to distasteful, offensive or socially unacceptable content – or such that could be found unacceptable by some commercial organisations and civil society groups. In some cases, it is not clear how to balance deletion requests with the public interest, as, for example, regarding brutal footage associated with the Syrian conflict. In her penultimate chapter, Horten discusses cloud services used for storing material which users can access from anywhere. Horten sees here a new ability to control the storage and accessibility of information, which entails yet another level of structural power in the future of the Internet. In the conclusion, Horten invites the reader to consider whether politics shape the Internet or the Internet shapes politics. Her own opinion is that the Internet shapes politics using its structural power which is not overt, aggressive or threatening but is exercised ‘by presenting choices, by opening of shutting off opportunities’ (p. 11). Horten’s own view of the future of the Internet is this: ‘The “open Internet” will still exist, but it will be a luxury for those who can afford it’ (p. 146) which means that people on low income who are now able to participate in online activities via a laptop or a smartphone will be excluded from the wider Internet community and will gradually lose their voice – unless the Internet is better regulated in the interest of all humankind. Horten’s important book is beneficial for all Internet users, especially as a warning to those digital natives who use social networking facilities without exercising caution. The text is deceptively easy, with its flowing narrative and the use of contractions such as ‘I’ve’ (p. vii) and ‘weren’t’ (p. 2) instead of ‘I have’ and ‘were not’. It is, however, packed with specialised information that requires close reading if it is to be properly understood. The book would have benefited from having an introduction and a clear signposting of the progression of the discussion.
Social life is mediated in numerous ways. Ideas, social interaction and practical activity are al... more Social life is mediated in numerous ways. Ideas, social interaction and practical activity are all mediated in part by communication or media technologies. Whilst it would be folly to suggest that media technologies mediate most people’s entire experience of political and intellectual life, it is the case that the presence of these technologies in people’s lives is such that they cannot be ignored. To a degree the capacity of media technologies to facilitate critical political and intellectual engagements is limited by the context of their production and use. However, in this chapter I argue that a paradigm shift, the ‘cultural’ or ‘linguistic turn’ filtered through to media and cultural studies, often has the effect of sidelining the question of production. Consequently, the role of the intellectual changes from a producer of media messages to at best an interpreter, and at worst nothing at all. The ideas behind the postmodern elements of the cultural turn were, in part, a response to the perceived reification of ideology as a concept and to a supposed understanding of media communications as ‘hypodermic’. This is to say that postmodern media and cultural studies stylised the Marxist understanding of media as one in which capitalists transmitted their one-sided messages to a passive audience, which then accepted them. In contrast to this, the postmodernists ‘empower’ audiences by arguing that they actively produce meanings in a process of negotiation, often rejecting or transforming intended meanings.
Siapera/The Handbook of Global Online Journalism, 2012
This chapter looks the role of online citizen journalism in a variety of contexts, regarding in p... more This chapter looks the role of online citizen journalism in a variety of contexts, regarding in particular the treatment of "radical" and "grassroutes" journalism during times of crisis and considering how the responses of the state compare in different circumstances.
The paper resulted from a conference on the work of philosopher, Alasdair MacIntyre. It considers... more The paper resulted from a conference on the work of philosopher, Alasdair MacIntyre. It considers MacIntyre's distinctions between institutions and practices in the context of media organisations. It considers journalism as a practice and argues that media institutions ...
International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics, 2020
This article considers how media production is framed by class experience, and how this framing m... more This article considers how media production is framed by class experience, and how this framing mediates exclusion. Drawing on research on 'poverty porn' the article presents an analysis of how experimental exclusion is operationalized in media representations before moving the analysis to consider the framing of an additional exclusion that afflicts mainly working class people-that which comes with the status of prisoner and convict. Here, poverty porn becomes prison porn and we find a double exclusion. After noting the shortcomings of a number of prison documentaries in the framework of Third Cinema, the article finishes with a proposal, based on the production of a prison film made by the author, to more adequately represent such marginalized classes, finishing with a reflection on the perseverance of exclusion.
The level of democracy in a given site can be measured by the degree of participation in decision... more The level of democracy in a given site can be measured by the degree of participation in decision-making afforded to ordinary people. So, an 'extensive' democracy may afford, for example, effective participation to workers in a factory, or to workers, parents and children ...
This article seeks to analyze the communication structures of journalism and public relations, us... more This article seeks to analyze the communication structures of journalism and public relations, using the communication ethics of Jürgen Habermas. The intention is to use this analysis to draw attention to the differences between journalism and public relations in the interests of good journalism and in the interests of democracy. I do not deny that public relations is an inevitable part of the communications order but rather that, contrary to some recent suggestions, it is with good reason that good journalists reject the use of public relations techniques in their own practices. The article ends with the suggestion that journalists need to defend their practice in policy and a clearly articulated self-understanding. K E Y W O R D S communication structures democracy discourse ethics ethics Habermas intersubjectivity public relations
Philosophers have considered the problems of knowledge, information and technology for millennia.... more Philosophers have considered the problems of knowledge, information and technology for millennia. The industrial revolution, the development of capitalism and the Enlightenment intensified the significance of the analysis of these 'resources'. Certainly by the time Karl Marx had conducted the bulk of his studies on capitalism, it became clear that we could think of none of these things as 'neutral' given their embedding in specific historical contexts. Considerations of the implications of technological development animated important strands of 20th-century philosophy. Inspired by Marx, members of the Frankfurt School were among the most influential thinkers on these issues. Marcuse, Adorno, Horkheimer and Benjamin considered the impact of technology, both as R E V I E W E S S AY 8 3
This study analyses the discursive framing of the British government’s economic policies by BBC N... more This study analyses the discursive framing of the British government’s economic policies by BBC News Online. Specifically, it focuses on the coverage of the government’s Comprehensive Spending Review in 2010, in which the details of the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s broader ‘austerity’ agenda were released. Using frame analysis informed by critical theory, we analyse three online BBC features and compare their framing of the economic crisis – and the range of possible policy responses to it – with that of the government’s. In addition, we analyse editorial blogs and training materials associated with the BBC’s special ‘Spending Review season’; we also situate the analysis in the historical context of the BBC’s relationship with previous governments at moments of political and economic crisis. Contrary to dominant ideas that the BBC is biased to the left, our findings suggest that its economic journalism discursively normalises neoliberal economics, not necessarily as desirable, but certainly as inevitable.
This article analyses BBC News Online's reporting of the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela, usin... more This article analyses BBC News Online's reporting of the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela, using a sample from a broader selection of 304 articles published on BBC News Online between 1998 and 2008. Against the BBC's stated commitment to professional values, we find that the BBC's organizational culture is underpinned by a liberal nationalist worldview, which limits its interpretive capacities. The analysis notes that the liberal nationalism underpinning BBC News Online's reporting limits the interpretive capacities of journalists. The ideologically dominant national history of Venezuela (the exceptionalism thesis) forms an interpretive framework, which synchs with the BBC's general conceptualization of the forms and function of a nation state and thus prevents adequate understanding of the present. Consequently, the coverage of contemporary Venezuelan politics masks the underlying class conflict, instead identifying Chavez, who has emerged seemingly from nowhere, as the key agent of political crisis. The BBC's reliance on a narrative of the disruption of national unity allows it to take sides in the conflict whilst apparently remaining neutral.
This article considers the truth value of the BBC's reporting of the invasion of Iraq in the cont... more This article considers the truth value of the BBC's reporting of the invasion of Iraq in the context of Hannah Arendt's consideration of the US invasion of Vietnam. Arendt theorized that the 'Pentagon Papers' exposed a new approach to truth and lies – the 'modern political lie' at the heart of modern politics. In this article, Arendt's concept of the modern political lie is examined and comparisons made with Iraq. A case study of the BBC's coverage of the invasion is used to argue that its reporting did not necessarily lie about Iraq, nor did it necessarily create a discursive representation separate to the physical actions of the protagonists. Rather, it appears that strategic considerations on the part of the invading powers changed the factual texture on the ground, which reporting failed to keep up with.
This profile looks at how students at the University of the West of England (UWE) undertook direc... more This profile looks at how students at the University of the West of England (UWE) undertook direct action in protest against the British government’s cuts to educational funding in the higher education sector. Situating the in the broader context of the struggle against cuts to education, the authors observed the organisation of students, interviewing them and holding focus groups to get a full picture of the growth of the movement and the UWE occupation. The profile considers the motivations of participants, the impact participation had on individuals and explains the effectiveness of the occupation in a number of aspects. The research found that the occupation played an important role in the broader anti-cuts movement, in publicising the cuts agenda and mobilising resistance against it.
Media studies is a subject area that has struggled to define and defend itself. Academic interest... more Media studies is a subject area that has struggled to define and defend itself. Academic interest in media developed largely as a response to the different uses of technological developments such as photography, cinema, radio and television. Language, image and text have, of course, always been important to human beings, but it was at a specific conjuncture that specific media, communications and cultural studies came into being. Early studies of media were concerned with 'effects' and we can find the reasons for this in two concerns: investigating the potential for commercial and political propaganda and the concern for social stability. Such studies were not, however, considered to be 'media studies', but were grounded in existing disciplines such as sociology 1 and psychology 2 that were themselves new disciplines at the time. Whilst some of the earlier studies on the effects of cinema, music and television considered them to be quite determinate, between the 1930s and 1950s in the USA a liberalpluralist view of the media developed, which claimed that 'effects' theories were too simplistic. Instead, it proposed that audiences respond to media representations, using the media for their own gratification, rejecting messages of which they do not approve. 3
Social life is mediated in numerous ways. Ideas, social interaction and practical activity are al... more Social life is mediated in numerous ways. Ideas, social interaction and practical activity are all mediated in part by communication or media technologies. Whilst it would be folly to suggest that media technologies mediate most people's entire experience of political and intellectual life, it is the case that the presence of these technologies in people's lives is such that they cannot be ignored. To a degree the capacity of media technologies to facilitate critical political and intellectual engagements is limited by the context of their production and use. However, in this chapter I argue that a paradigm shift, the 'cultural' or 'linguistic turn' filtered through to media and cultural studies, with the effect of sidelining the question of production. Consequently, the role of the intellectual changes from a producer of media messages to at best an interpreter, and at worse nothing at all. The ideas behind the postmodern elements of the cultural turn were in part a response to the perceived reification of ideology as a concept and to a supposed understanding of media communications as 'hypodermic'. This is to say that postmodern media and cultural studies stylised the Marxist understanding of media as one in which capitalist transmitted their one-sided messages to a passive audience, which then accepted them. In contrast to this, the postmodernists 'empower' audiences by arguing that they actively produce meanings in a process of negotiation, often rejecting or transforming intended meanings. The problem, however, is that the so-called 'active
While many studies of the web and related technologies of communication have focused on its use, ... more While many studies of the web and related technologies of communication have focused on its use, there has been little engagement with the structural properties of the web and related technologies from a broadly social theoretic point of view. This article analyses pressures on the technological development of the web from the perspective of the Habermasian concepts of colonization and juridification. On this analysis, legal and quasi-legal tendencies can be seen to restrict the uses and development of the structures of the world wide web, as I will show with the use of several case studies.
This paper to considers some of the systematic problems and constraints faced by academics teachi... more This paper to considers some of the systematic problems and constraints faced by academics teaching and researching in the field of journalism and journalism studies. To do this, I draw on MacIntyre's philosophical concept of practice, applying it to the practice of journalism and the practice of academia, which I argue here have many commonalities. This conceptualisation of the practical activities of journalists and academics also takes account of their factual dependence on institutions. MacIntyre argues that although institutions should be considered to be necessary, in bureaucratic capitalist social systems they tend to pursue external goods at the cost of the goods internal to the practice. Practices thus become corrupted as institutions orient them to the pursuit of external goods. I argue that both journalists and academics are subject to similar processes of institutional domination, or colonisation, and that because of this, the capacity study, teach, and then practice a critical journalism adequate to a properly democratic community is stymied. The most significant problem on this analysis is that processes of colonisation are not discrete, they are systematic, extensive and commonly experienced. Consequently it is inadequate to consider discrete forms of resistance to these problems and constraints. Instead, I argue, we must consider common and collective forms of resistance. Resumen Este artículo considera algunos de los problemas y las limitaciones sistemáticas a las que se enfrentan los académicos que enseñan e investigan en el área del periodismo y de los estudios de comunicación. Para ello, me baso en el concepto filosófico de MacIntyre de práctica, y lo aplico a la práctica en el periodismo y en la academia, donde argumento que hay similitudes. Esta forma de conceptualizar las actividades prácticas de los periodistas y los académicos también tiene en cuenta su dependencia de las instituciones. MacIntyre argumenta que, aunque las instituciones son necesarias, en los sistemas sociales capitalistas burocráticos Journalism in the Academy tienden a perseguir bienes externos al coste de los bienes internos a una práctica. Así, las prácticas se corrompen en la medida que las instituciones las orientan hacia los bienes externos a las mismas. Defiendo que tanto los periodistas como los académicos están sujetos a procesos similares de dominación o colonización y que, por estos motivos, la capacidad de estudiar, enseñar y después, practicar un periodismo crítico adecuado a una comunidad verdaderamente democrática queda en entredicho. El problema más significativo de este análisis es que los procesos de colonización no tienen límites concretos, son sistemáticos, amplios y vividos como una experiencia común. Consecuentemente, no resulta apropiado considerar formas de resistencia específicamente delimitadas ante estos problemas. En cambio, argumento que debemos considerar formas comunes y colectivas de resistencia.
This paper considers the question of whether journalism can be considered to be a social practice... more This paper considers the question of whether journalism can be considered to be a social practice. After considering some of the goods of journalism the paper moves to investigate how external goods can corrupt the practice and make it somewhat ineffective. The paper therefore looks to consider ways in which the goods claimed have been better served in 'radical' journalism. Bristol Independent Media Centre is then evaluated as an example of an active project in which the goods of community are pursued through an inclusive form of participatory journalism.
International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics, 2015
This article investigates the methods of hegemonic framing of the NSA/GCHQ surveillance scandal i... more This article investigates the methods of hegemonic framing of the NSA/GCHQ surveillance scandal in a television interview of the journalist Glenn Greenwald on the flagship BBC Television news magazine Newsnight. Having uncovered the greatest mass surveillance project in human history, much of the mainstream media and indeed many academic studies have focused on the debates over the ethics and responsibilities of the journalists and news organizations involved. This research investigates how a television news interviewer inflects the story and directs attention to a series of ‘public concerns’, articulated primarily by those who caused the scandal and mediated through the journalistic voice. The main focus for this article is how a television news interviewer fails to articulate a set of concerns, instead being led by the newspaper mediation of those in authority.
While many studies of the web and related technologies of communication have focused on its use, ... more While many studies of the web and related technologies of communication have focused on its use, there has been little engagement with the structural properties of the web and related technologies from a broadly social theoretic point of view. This article analyses pressures on the technological development of the web from the perspective of the Habermasian concepts of colonization and juridification. On this analysis, legal and quasi-legal tendencies can be seen to restrict the uses and development of the structures of the world wide web, as I will show with the use of several case studies.
Philosophers have considered the problems of knowledge, information and technology for millennia.... more Philosophers have considered the problems of knowledge, information and technology for millennia. The industrial revolution, the development of capitalism and the Enlightenment intensified the significance of the analysis of these 'resources'. Certainly by the time Karl Marx had conducted the bulk of his studies on capitalism, it became clear that we could think of none of these things as 'neutral' given their embedding in specific historical contexts. Considerations of the implications of technological development animated important strands of 20th-century philosophy. Inspired by Marx, members of the Frankfurt School were among the most influential thinkers on these issues. Marcuse, Adorno, Horkheimer and Benjamin considered the impact of technology, both as R E V I E W E S S AY 8 3
International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics , 2015
Framing Glenn Greenwald: Hegemony and the Nsa/ GCHQ surveillance scandal in a news interview abst... more Framing Glenn Greenwald: Hegemony and the Nsa/ GCHQ surveillance scandal in a news interview abstraCt This article investigates the methods of hegemonic framing of the NSA/GCHQ surveillance scandal in a television interview of the journalist Glenn Greenwald on the flagship BBC Television news magazine Newsnight. Having uncovered the greatest mass surveillance project in human history, much of the mainstream media and indeed many academic studies have focused on the debates over the ethics and responsibilities of the journalists and news organizations involved. This research investigates how a television news interviewer inflects the story and directs attention to a series of 'public concerns', articulated primarily by those who caused the scandal and mediated through the journalistic voice. The main focus for this article is how a television news interviewer fails to articulate a set of concerns, instead being led by the newspaper mediation of those in authority.
This study analyses the discursive framing of the British government’s economic policies by BBC N... more This study analyses the discursive framing of the British government’s economic policies by BBC News Online. Specifically, it focuses on the coverage of the government’s Comprehensive Spending Review in 2010, in which the details of the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s broader ‘austerity’ agenda were released. Using frame analysis informed by critical theory, we analyse three online BBC features and compare their framing of the economic crisis – and the range of possible policy responses to it – with that of the government’s.
In addition, we analyse editorial blogs and training materials associated with the BBC’s special ‘Spending Review season’; we also situate the analysis in the historical context of the BBC’s relationship with previous governments at moments of political and economic crisis.
Contrary to dominant ideas that the BBC is biased to the left, our findings suggest that its economic journalism discursively normalises neoliberal economics, not necessarily as desirable, but certainly as inevitable.
This profile looks at how students at the University of the West of England (UWE) undertook direc... more This profile looks at how students at the University of the West of England (UWE) undertook direct action in protest against the British government's cuts to educational funding in the higher education sector. Situating the in the broader context of the struggle against cuts to education, the authors observed the organisation of students, interviewing them and holding focus groups to get a full picture of the growth of the movement and the UWE occupation. The profile considers the motivations of participants, the impact participation had on individuals and explains the effectiveness of the occupation in a number of aspects. The research found that the occupation played an important role in the broader anti-cuts movement, in publicising the cuts agenda and mobilising resistance against it.
This chapter outlines the promise of the Internet for activists, reflecting on its use by radical... more This chapter outlines the promise of the Internet for activists, reflecting on its use by radical media projects and social movements, focussing in the first instance on the fate of Indymedia. It then moves to consider through the lens of political economy how the economics of media, state repression and the rise of social media helped marginalize Indymedia. At the same time it shows how social media, whilst enormously useful for protest movements have become dragnets through which activists can be monitored and pursued, drawing on a range of examples from both the " Arab Spring " as well as protests in liberal states, focussing on the UK..
It is perhaps unsurprising that the theoretical constructs of one of the most important social ph... more It is perhaps unsurprising that the theoretical constructs of one of the most important social philosophers of the present time have been applied to the study of the Internet. These theoretical constructs offer not only a clear factual explanation of how democracy has become subverted, but also, more recently, a normative guide out of the impasse envisioned by his predecessors. Habermas (1996) has recently attempted to apply his vast theoretical framework to a proposal for a constitutional democracy. In so doing, he has attempted to provide an explanation of how flows of influence may be organized so as to allow the most extensive democratisation as possible, without that democracy becoming subverted by systemic imperatives. It has seemed clear for some time now that the informal layers of political society identified by Habermas have suffered a communicative deficit that may well be filled by a medium such as the Internet
This chapter considers some of the legal issues facing citizen journalists, especially those enga... more This chapter considers some of the legal issues facing citizen journalists, especially those engaged in “radical” or activist reporting, in an online context. It suggests that the conceptualization of the citizen journalist must consider the status of this type of journalism in relation to law, the application of which is especially challenging in an online environment that is said to transcend jurisdictions. The extent of legal provisions recognizing citizen journalists as being privy to special protection are in dispute, though there appears to be a growing recognition of their claim to substantive rights as citizens and as journalists. In this chapter, I shall argue that state authority and law is adapting—if rather slowly—to take account of changes in international relations (or globalization) with important implications for citizen journalism’s forms and practices deserving of close attention.
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Papers by Lee Salter
by critical theory, we analyse three online BBC features and compare their framing of the economic crisis – and the range of possible policy responses to it – with that of the government’s. In addition, we analyse editorial blogs and training materials associated with the BBC’s special ‘Spending Review season’; we also situate the analysis in the historical
context of the BBC’s relationship with previous governments at moments of political and economic crisis. Contrary to dominant ideas that the BBC is biased to the left, our findings suggest that its economic journalism discursively normalises neoliberal economics, not necessarily as desirable, but certainly as inevitable.
education, the authors observed the organisation of students, interviewing them and holding focus groups to get a full picture of the growth of the movement and the UWE occupation. The profile
considers the motivations of participants, the impact participation had on individuals and explains the effectiveness of the occupation in a number of aspects. The research found that the occupation
played an important role in the broader anti-cuts movement, in publicising the cuts agenda and mobilising resistance against it.
In addition, we analyse editorial blogs and training materials associated with the BBC’s special ‘Spending Review season’; we also situate the analysis in the historical context of the BBC’s relationship with previous governments at moments of political and economic crisis.
Contrary to dominant ideas that the BBC is biased to the left, our findings suggest that its economic journalism discursively normalises neoliberal economics, not necessarily as desirable, but certainly as inevitable.
protection are in dispute, though there appears to be a growing recognition of their claim to substantive rights as citizens and as journalists. In this chapter, I shall argue that state authority and law is adapting—if rather slowly—to take account of changes in international relations (or globalization) with important implications for citizen journalism’s forms and practices deserving of close attention.