amity journal of media and communication studies

AMITY JOURNAL OF MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION STUDIES Volume 5 Number 1-2 Published in November 2015 ISSN 2231-1033

Chief Patron Dr. Aseem Chauhan Patrons Prof. S. K Dube Prof. S. L. Kothari Editorial Advisory Board Prof. Richard J. Peltz University of Arkansas, USA Prof. B. K. Kuthiala MCU, Bhopal, India Prof Sanjeev Bhanawat RU, Jaipur, India Dr. Vikas Dogra HPU, Shimla, India Ms. Ruchi Jaggi SIMC, Pune, India

Prof. Hamid Abdollahyan University of Tehran, Iran Prof. Sarah Barrow University of Lincoln, UK Dr. Sony Jalarajan Raj MacEwan University, Canada Prof. Bradley Clark Mount Royal University, Canada Prof. Pradeep Krishnatray Johns Hopkins University, USA

Prof. Vepa Rao HPU, Shimla, India Prof. Sanjay Johri Amity University, Lucknow Prof. Debashish Choudhury Amity University, Noida Dr. Sumit Narula Amity University, Gwalior Ms. Esha Jainiti Amity University, Gurgaon

Editor Prof. Manish Verma Assistant Editors Jayati M. Sharma Nithin K In-house editorial team Dr. Ashish Rao Gautam Bhattacharya Avinash Swaroop Tripathi Tanushri Mukherjee Dr. Nikhil Gouda Siby Mathews Dr. Ruchi Singh Gaur Gayatri Rai Rajesh Sharma Debastuti Dasgupta Copyright@2015 by the Amity School of Communication. All rights reserved. The views expressed in the articles are those of the contributors and not necessarily of the Editorial Board or the Institution. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of Amity School of Communication.

Contents

1

Editorial

2

The experience of Transcinema: rhythm and oscillation in the

5 7-15

participation of hybrid contemporary media art works Dr. Gabriela Pereira de Freitas 3

Digital Activism and Social Movements: How the World perceives the

16-26

Gezi Movement Dr. Ece Baban and Dr. Ebru Güzel 4

Writing dramas on television news and on the Internet: Evolution of

27-34

an emotional rhetoric Bérénice Mariau 5

How do Private Colleges in United Arab Emirates Use Facebook to

35-39

Promote their Extracurricular Activities? Dr. Amr Assad 6

The Factors affecting the tendency of youth to consume marijuana in

40-54

the age of pervasive media Dr. Mahin Sheikh Ansari and Mitra Godarzi 7

Corporate Response Strategies: Indian Brands Manage Negativity on

55-65

Social Dr. Smeeta Mishra 8

Mobile Media Penetration: Growing trends in 4 centrally backward

66-74

districts of Uttar Pradesh Shirin Abbas and Dr. A.K. Singh 9

New Media and Data Usage Policy: Celebrating Participation and

75-80

Challenging Policies Aanchal Sharma 10

Media Accountability on Digital Platforms: The Role of Audience Bhanu Bhakta Acharya

81-92

11

The evolution of Symbolic Economy and its prospects in India

93-96

Ankit Kumar Singh 12

Deconstructing Desires: A Critique of Heteronormativity in Rituparno Ghosh’s Films Omkar Bhatkar

97-106

Amity Journal of Media & Communication Studies 2015, Vol. 4, No. 1 – 2

Copyright 2015 by ASCO Amity University Rajasthan (ISSN 2231 – 1033)

Editorial Amity Journal of Media and Communication Studies started journey of academic engagnement during first edition of ICMCS in 2011. Now Amity School of Communication, Jaipur with support of Amity University brings out second edition of ICMCS to rerevisit and update the status of the field of media and communication. The issues related with rise of social media was the major area of discussion during the first editon. After four years, we are now living and communicating midist of data and networks. The concepts like “digital natives” and “big data” came to prominence in the media academia and practice. This issue of Amity Journal of Media and Communication Studies is combined of selected papers from ICMCS 2015. The power of digital communication has seen a dramatic shift in the language craft, information access, consumer behavior and overall communication patterns. Information travel has never been so fast and effective. Breaking the geographical boundaries and cultural enforcements; digital media is being proved as an effective weapon for the change. It has redefined the power structure of socio-political space. These media reforms and restructuring have raised various challenges, concerns and opportunities at the same time. International Conference on Changing Paradigm of Media Landscape in the Digital Age 2.0” is an effort to address issues regarding digital revolutions.

Amity Journal of Media & Communication Studies 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1 – 2, 7-15

Copyright 2015 by ASCO Amity University Rajasthan (ISSN 2231 – 1033)

The experience of Transcinema: rhythm and oscillation in the participation of hybrid contemporary media art works Dr. Gabriela Pereira de Freitas Associate Professor University of Brasília Email ID: [email protected] In this article we will investigate the hybrid nature of the dialogue established between different languages, so characteristic of the works of contemporary media art, making an interpretative analysis of two works of this genre: Hee Won Lee’s Infinity III (2012-2013) and Rosângela Rennó’s Experiência de Cinema (2004). In this sense, we’ll observe the presence of the oscillation feature in these works, which are mediated by a subjective and plural rhythm that brings out the existing gaps and breaks in these dialogues, where the participant of the art work can interfere. Our goal is to understand how such a dynamic alters the man's relationship to the image, constituting a new form of cinema, called by Katia Maciel (2009) as Transcinema, in the context of greater entanglement of relations between the Arts and Communication (Santaella, 2007). We will seek to understand this concept by establishing relationships between image theories found in Deleuze (1991, 1997, 2007) — mainly from the notions of Time-Image, Crystal-Image, The fold and The becoming — and Aby Warburg (as cited in Sierek, 2009) — bringing the concepts of Energy Field, Ghost-Images, Suspension and Oscillation —; of Perception (MerleauPonty, 2011) and Time Subjectivity (Bachelard, 1963) — questioning the idea of Duration —, establishing a dialogue with the theory of Rhythmanalys (as cited in: Cunha, 2012).

Keywords: Transcinema; Oscillation; Rhythm; Hybridity; Media Art

INTRODUCTION

of media and the entertainment industry in general, or intervene in their distribution channels to propose qualitative alternatives to media. The term includes the experiences of dialogue, collaboration and critical intervention in mass media communication. [...] Art with technological intervention as well as forms that occur in fields not yet fully mapped, such as the collaborative creation in networks or interventions in virtual spaces, etc.” (Machado, 2010, p.7). Besides the nature of media art itself, the artist is always pushing the limits, “he creates the possible at the same time he creates the real, while executing his work” (Bergson, 1999, p.118). Thus, we believe the Arts — specially media arts installations — by incorporating media and multimedia resources, anticipate uses and processes that will late be adopted by Communication itself, in a mediatic becoming of the Arts, as proposed by Ivana Bentes (2006). So, if we want to investigate the contemporary and its manifestations, we find in the Arts a fruitful field. As highlights Giorgio Agamben (2009), the contemporary coincides not only with the

We are going through a time of transition from an aesthetics of form to an aesthetics of flow (Arantes, 2008). Therefore, in this article our observation will be directed to the Arts, as they allow the aesthetic experience and thus constitute the proper object of philosophical aesthetics itself (Pareyson, 2001). Because we believe in the intense dialogue between the Arts and the Communication, we are led to make an even more specific focus by choosing new media art works to constitute our corpus. Media art incorporates different communication media as a founding technique to its performance, elaborating an ontophany 1 characteristic of contemporary times, as we will discuss ahead. To Arlindo Machado, media art can be defined as: “forms of artistic expression that appropriate technological resources

                                                             1

Ontophany means the form beings (Ontos) manifest themselves (Phaïnô) in the world. The term was first used in 1952 by Mircea Eliade in the sense of « manifestation of the being » in his book « The sacred and the profane ». Vial (2013, p. 98) 7

creating

current time. It belongs to the contemporary one who can distance himself from the current to perceive it, just like artists do. We stress that the aesthetic discussion about media art and communication becomes increasingly necessary face the technological wonder that dims all other types of discussions. We highlight that we are interested in the interaction that constitutes the participant's experience with the work (through technological devices). In this situation we believe there is a production of subjectivity that founds one of the many subjects of contemporary times (Parente, 1993).

interactive

environments

through

immaterial images. The visitor’s participation is a crucial part of the whole process of what Katia Maciel calls situation-cinema, well understood by the

concept

Transcinemas

she are

proposes hybrid

of

forms

Transcinema. between

the

experience of the visual arts and film that create a space for sensory involvement of the viewer. They represent cinema as interface, as a space where we can go through. (Maciel, 2009, p.17) The relationship established between man and

Therefore, we turn our attention once again to

machine in an immersion and interaction situation,

contemporary media art. The importance of the

as happens in the case of Transcinema, leads to new

subject in the participant-work relationship leads us

forms of subjectivity production, as highlighted by

to understand that, in addition to the contact with

André Parente (1993, p.14), in which the participant

the image on a flat interface, such as the screen of a

often starts its participation from a virtual point of

monitor, for example, the participant, in this case, is

view, promoting a migration, as also pointed out by

asked to enter the image and walk through the art

Parente, from a representative model (painting,

work. He finds himself surrounded by it, making

photography and film) to a simulation model of the

part of it.

electronic image and the synthetic image. These

The participant then generates an experience while

images are open to continuous transformation, only

experimenting the art work with his own body.

to be completed by the participation of an interactor.

These are art works constituted as installations that

They are liquid, fluid and unstable images that

build real spaces of interaction through tangible or

occupy a space in which time is relative, only

intangible environments. The work, then, is always

perceived in the duration of the participant’s

unfinished

experience — as we can find in Deleuze’s conception

complete

because it,

even

the if

participant

needs

momentarily, for

to

of time-image 2 .

every

interaction with a different individual also generates

TIME - IMAGE

different responses and configurations.

An important feature of time-image is its state

MEDIA ART AND HYBRID

remaining

In the field of media art these processes are hybrid,

actualization and the mountainous actual. This is an

and have the objective to cause various sensory

between

different

possibilities

of

                                                            

experiences in the work’s observer-participant.

2

In his book Imagem-Tempo. Cinema 2, Deleuze (2007) explains the concept of time-image in relation to modern cinema edition methodologies, which breaks with temporal linearity, making edition itself evident by the spectator’s perception and opening possibilities to the creation of a rather subjective then chronological time.

Immersive spaces are built, where, too often, we see the use of the projection feature, so characteristic of cinema. The projection appropriates this space, 8

image not only constitute by its mobile aspect, but

intermediate realm: a world of ghosts”(Sierek, 2009.

also by its multidimensional aspect. We pay special

p.76).

interest in the gaps between different languages

Sierek (2009, p.133) points out that, for Warburg, the

which constitue this type of image, leaving spaces of

images that make up these art works can be

passages from a state to another. These images are

understood as spaces of thought, that "[...] are born

many times generated by the light from projectors,

in the space of distance between the self and its

so characteristic of media art works.

environment, but which will then settle on the

Despite its luminous aspect and the continuous,

image as an instrumental energy”. These energetic

bold shape impression we have of a light ray, the

images end up becoming increasingly liquid and

image it forms is actually intermittent,, just like the

opaque, moving between different levels of reality

images from the first cinema projectors. And so

and moving away from their representational

should it be, since its constitution is supported by

transparency, as proposed by Warburg. At that

the same gaps that make those hybrid relations between languages and

point, the image is transformed, according to the

media possible. In this

author, and becomes a social switch since there is

sense, these images can also be recognized by the

interaction between it and who looks at it.

aspect of oscillation. Thus, in this article we investigate how this oscillation manifests itself and

This divergent aspect is more characteristic of the electronic image as the classic image tended to convergence, according to Deleuze (as cited in Sierek, 2009, p.139). Thus, the multiplication of parameters becomes possible, which results in more spatio-temporal modulation opportunities, dissolving the boundaries between the actual and the virtual. Therefore, the idea of oscillation, in Warburg, and the idea of time-image, or crystalimage, in Deleuze’s (2007, pp. 88 – 90), approach. In the experiments in media art, this constant switch feature in images occurs also among the images proposed by the art work and the images of thought — or mental images — created by the participant at the time of interaction, generating an image as intangible as visible only to him who experiences the work, being invisible to others. Every interaction gives rise to a unique and ephemeral crystal-image. In an installation presented at Némo Festival 3 , held at the Espace Centquatre in Paris in 2013, I could experience the feeling of a hybrid perception, built from this clash of images offered by the art work and those who inhabit the mind, which are also as indistinct as the oscillating warburguian images.

how it is perceived, in order to understand the impact of this feature in the flow established between image and subject or between art work and participant, transforming traditional cinema in transcinema. Karl Sierek (2009), in his book, Les images oiseaux, Aby Warburg et la théorie des média, says that for Warburg, image oscillation is the result of their contradictory energies, forming a bivalent energy field that constitute an image and alternates rhythmically between light and shadow as well as from virtual to real. These images are many times precarious, fluorescent, wavering and indeterminate (Sierek, 2009, p.135). Bind to dream images, nebulous and undefined, and, just like them, they form a category of survival, as called Warburg: “[...] hesitating between presence and absence, these images are part of what is and what was, at the time

                                                            

of the gaze and reveal figures belonging to this

3

9



stimulation to reach a physical experience as the

Infinity III (2012 - 2013) 4 , by Hee Won Lee 5 , is a video installation in which moving images of points of light are projected on the wall and on the floor, trying to create a sense of immersion in the participant by occupying two dimensions of the physical space. We enter the dark cave of the installation, where the projector lights are highlighted. Upon entering, the first perception is of flashing bright spots in a very rapid pace.

body is inserted into the time and space of the installation. The trigger for the disturbing aspect may vary depending on the participant. Be the dizziness caused by the speed of the images and lights flashing, or the strangeness of a rhythmic, synthetic and electronic sound that sometimes sounds at high volume, or a combination of both.

The impact of the sound is also quite noticeable at

According to Merleau-Ponty it is often difficult to

first contact, as this manifests itself as a wave,

limit the sensory experience into a single record

creating a kind of sound vibration which takes us

since it spontaneously spills over into every other

even more into the artist intended context. As we set

senses.

in the art work, we realize that these points are vector graphics that represent virtual migratory

At this level, the ambiguity of the experience is such

birds passing, sometimes in flocks, filling the entire

that a hearing pace makes cinematic images merge

space of the projection, sometimes isolated, one

and give rise to a perception of motion in which, if

here, other there, highlighting the space of shadow

we haven’t had any auditory support, the same

and opening time for contemplation, according to

succession of images would be too slow to cause a

the artist’s proposition.

stroboscopic movement. The sounds change the consecutive images of the colors: the more powerful

The rhythmic sound makes us follow the beating of

sound intensifies, the mute makes them falter, a low

wings of birds as well as the gaps between

sound turns color blue darker or lighter. (Merleau-

overflights of such groups of birds. Sometimes the

Ponty, 2011, p.305)

volume increases, accompanied by an acceleration in the motion of bright spots. Here, the visual

ART WORK AND SENSORY EXPERIENCE

oscillation is accompanied by a sonic oscillation. In

So the sensory experience of the art work

moments of vertigo, the volume is high, the noise

strengthens its oscillatory character in which spaces

intensifies. In times of peace, the opposite occurs,

are open for transits of senses, perceptions and

what intensifies the space-time perception of the

meanings. It is probable that for much of the

installation: "[...] in Infinity III I wanted to take the

participating public of the work — as happened to

viewer to a destabilizing spatio-temporal experience,

me — the feeling of being in the midst of a flock of

even disturbing, in the image of nature’s vertigo.

"6

birds has stimulated also the resumption of a similar feeling related to an image that is already part of the

The experience proposed by the artist goes from kinesthetic

to

synesthesia,

promoting

cinematographic and cultural imaginary of the

sensory

twentieth century: the birds attack on the character

                                                            

Melanie Daniels in Hitchcock's film (1963). Several

4

Retrieved from < http://vimeo.com/81414949 >. 5 Hee Won Lee (1978 – ). < heewonlee.com >  6 Retrieved from < http://heewonlee.com/site.html> 

times, when the sound increased, accompanied by 10

the intensification of the movement of scintillating

This oscillation between internal and external

birds, the will to take the hands to the face emerges,

images that unfolds during perception and gives life

as Melanie does in the film. It was even possible to

to the aesthetic experience, is characterized by a

see, while experimenting the installation, a mother

border movement — as it exists in the becoming,

approaching her small son, passing one arm in front

according to Deleuze. We must "be inside and

of his face. Sierek also points out that, according to

imagine what is outside; be in the exterior and think

Warburg, the image has a historical mobility,

the inside" (Venturelli, 2011, p.163). In the context of

perceived in times of suspension when it is possible

contemporary society of information, we end up

to notice the transformation of image’s kinetic

transiting more comfortably around these limits,

energy to a vibrant static one. This is the moment of

since

the sensory experience — also aesthetic — in which

technology, is little by little making us get used to

oscillating breaks succeed and when the Muse of

transit in the field of abstraction, or of what is not

Memory intervenes (Sierek, 2009, p.182). The

palpable. Indeed, today we have increased the

memory brings past images, survivors who inhabit

awareness of the role of mental images in the

our mind and constantly mix to our perception of

perception of these experiences than centuries ago,

the present.

when the exterior image was imposed in a

data

virtualization,

driven

by

digital

predominant way, without us realizing the dialogue That is how the aesthetic sensation is formed, which

that existed with our own internal images.

may also be comprised, among other ways, by

Digital virtualization, according to Edmond Couchot

affection. For Bergson (1999, p.60), there is no

makes the subject, the object and the image share

perception without affection: "The affection is what

identical properties, abolishing hierarchies and

is mixed from the inside of our body to the image of

amplifying the hybridization between them, turning

external bodies". Therefore, without memory, i.e.,

the borders more fluid, if not abolishing them

without the subjective contribution to perceptual

completely: "The subject is not in a distance of the

process, we would only have the object, that is,

image anymore; in the face to face of dramatic

matter (Bergson, 1999, p.74).

representation, he plunges into it [...] The interfaced

The artist, by proposing the participation of the

subject is, from now on, more path that subject”

observer, appropriates this dynamics and plays with

(Couchot, 1998, p.229, emphasis added).

it, even unconsciously, at the time of thinking about

In this scenario, the subject-I (that Couchot calls

the experience, "creating a unique universe consisted

sujet-je), becomes a subject-us (sujet-on), seeking

of everything in the real world or the imagination”

what Deleuze and Guattari (1997) call a becoming-

(Venturelli, 2011, p.163). In Infinity III, we have

imperceptible 7 , or “becoming world” like everyone

feelings alternating between calm contemplation of

                                                            

flying birds and disturbing impulses of covering the

7

About that concept, Deleuze and Guattari say “In this sense that becoming everybody, is to be part of the world in a becoming dyanamics, it is to turn one world into worlds, finding its neighbourhoods and zones of indiscernibility. (DELEUZE & GUATTARI, 1997, p. 73)

face in the middle of an uncontrolled flock of birds à la Hitchcock. 11

else. We can thus understand how the feeling

been lost. In the book O essencial em Ritmanálise,

manifested in the characteristic oscillation of this

Rodrigo Sobral Cunha (2012) also got in touch with

kind of aesthetic experience leads to the search for

the little material found assigned to Lucio dos

coexistence or communion. On this sense, Merleau-

Santos.

Ponty (2011, p291) says, "Every time I experience a

According

feeling, I think that it concerns not to my being, that

rythmanalysis thought emerges of the longing to

of which I am responsible and which decide, but

understand

another I that already took part around the world,

fundamental intuitions of speculative and scientific

that already opened himself to some of its aspects

thought that simultaneously satisfy "the best

and synchronized to them”.

Heraclitien Inspiration on Bergson and the highest

Deleuze (1991, p.51) also refers to the Baroque

math vision requirements on the real of Louis de

concept of fold to refer to this dual characteristic of

Broglie”. The rythmanalysis is born dialectic in

the subject, which is both an I and us. The fold "is

origin, while trying to cover opposing inspirations.

updated in intimate folds of the soul and takes place

However, reflecting the thinking of Heraclitus, this

in the pleats that matter gives rise to, always in the

dialectic seeks harmony. For Lucio dos Santos it is

exterior". The fold explains the dynamics of crystal-

the rhythm that gives harmony to the opposites,

image or time-image and makes the becoming

constituting the very power of existence and

possible. The fold is also a type of oscillation that

unifying

occurs between the inside and the outside. In media

psychology.

art, we can extend its action to an oscillation that

To discuss the ontology of rhythm, rhythmanalysis

occurs between the opposites in harmony.

approaches the issue of time. In this context, time

To maintain harmony in the passage from one state

can only be understood from a plurality of concrete

to another, since it is a hybrid work, this oscillation

times under and a multiform vibration, expanding

should follow a rhythm, intrinsic to its very nature

the horizon of the passages, in which life and

and necessary to the perception of what is mobile by

thinking become rhythmic. Overcoming the notion

the insertion in the movement itself. To better

of replication, rhythmanalysis is much closer to an

understand the ontology of that rhythm, how we

authentic sense of rhythm, which implies a constant

insert in it and therefore in motion itself, we will

renewal.

discuss below on the concept of rhythmanalysis.

Maffesoli (1998, p.60) points out how, since ancient

to

the

Cunha,

the

convergence

principle

of

foundation

sense

physics,

of

of

certain

biology

and

Greece, the sense of rhythm is linked to both the

RYTHMANALYSIS: A TRANS DIALETIC

static and the dynamic, through the term éon, and

From Bachelard studies on duration we can get in

bringing a quote from Werner Jeager, he explains:

touch

the

"rhythm is what imposes a link to different motions,

rythmanalysis, dating back to the Luso-Brazilian

it is the one that contains the flow of things". The

philosopher Lucio Alberto Pinheiro dos Santos,

author continues his thought by saying that the flow

given that the original writings on the subject have

would not be a "disorder with no horizon, but a

with

the

first

thoughts

about

12

‘point of attachment’ that is put in dynamics."

Bergson's formula: time is hesitation" (1963, p.35). To

Rhythm is therefore also flow by allowing the

Bachelard (1963, p.19) the decisive times of time are

passages between overlapping times, which cover

its discontinuities and thus he proposes his

both rest and movement in constant oscillation.

discontinued Bergsonism.

Merleau-Ponty (2011, p.567) also believes that the

Resuming, the thought of rhythmanalysis can say

synthesis of time is a transitional synthesis, and

that it turns itself to the game between stillness and

there wouldn’t be another way to accomplish it but

movement. Rhythmanalysis seeks to make it

to live the transition itself. Lucio dos Santos, as we

possible the “still trip” through the sensation of

have seen, proposes that this transition should be

suspension. In this sense, we bring to notice the

experienced through rhythm. The rhythms, in turn,

installation

when alternate, make noticeable the hesitation,

Rosângela Rennó, which makes us experiment the

which holds the opposite points of this movement,

experience of hesitation or interruption. To this end,

"opposites marry, then separate, to re-marry:

a key part of its operation is based on rhythm. The

melancholic waltz and languid vertigo" (as cited in

video

Cunha, 2012).

projection of photographic images on a volatile

Rhythmanalysis shows itself as a continuous

screen — a smokescreen that remains in the space of

possibility of an undefined becoming, which

only eleven seconds. The gap between projections

assumes the hesitation or break through a self-

lasts thirty seconds. Smoke and image appear and

oscillating operation. This is the central idea that

disappear simultaneously, giving the feeling that the

calls attention in Bachelard’s rhythmanalysis and

image is so ephemeral and elusive as the water

that he will use in his book La dialetique de la durée

vapor screen that supports it. The artist aims to

(1963) to oppose Bergson’s thesis of continuity of

question the notion of "mirror of truth " that is

time. According to Bachelard, Bergson sees in the

attributed

dialectic a slowdown of intuition that he, in turn,

documentary photography. So she chose images that

believes is necessary for its own renewal. In both, we

refer

perceive a connection of thought to the notion of

photography, such as Crime, War, Family and Love,

movement as well as the appreciation of the

giving rise to four "movies" that alternate during the

intuition issue, though their methods differ.

projections: "Thriller", "War Movie ", "Family film "

For Bachelard (1963), saying that an action lasts

and " Love film. "

steadily, quite simply, is to refuse to describe it in

The gap between the projection of an image and the

detail. He opposed to this thinking, the need of

next one is greater than the display time of the

rhythm between yes and no; the uncertain life,

image itself, which creates an expectation and at the

ephemeral, refused and resumed, in which, among

same time, in addition to the fluid characteristic of

the passages, lies, spread by the time, the dialectic of

the vaporous support, generates a questioning about

being and of nothingness. Thus, "we give full

the materiality of the previous image: Did I actually

meaning sometimes ontological and temporal, to

see it? But what did I really see? The pictures are not 13

Experiência de Cinema (2004) of

installation

to

to

consists

photography

classical

themes

of

an

—

of

intermittent

mainly

to

documentary

clear and belong to the intermediate realm in which

CONCLUSION

Warburg says ghost images inhabit — they oscillate

Therefore, we realize the importance of the hybrid

in time between projections and also in the very

oscillation, noticeable by a rhythmic dynamics.

instability of the screen. Instables, these images only

Nonetheless,

give a glimpse of the supposed "documentary

polyphony, depending on the situation, plurality

reality" they carry. They become images in mist

itself, however multiple that is, is governed,

which blend with the dimension of the dreams.

ultimately, by a single rhythm. According to

The oscillation of these dreaming images, that find

Bachelard, the true poetic rhythm is constituted by a

their foundation in hesitation, allows, according to

grouping of shades: "There is only one truly

Bachelard (1963, p.96), to establish a link between

independent rhythm that drives all others. As

the perception of time lived and of time thought,

secondary rhythms, that is, absolutely controlled by

naturally not synchronized: “To dream is to

the rhythmic tonic we find at first the sounds, then

decouple the overlapping times".

the durations” (Bachelard, 1963, p.124).

These images are also characterized by their

individual and subjective perception. Hence that we

They are engendered in the transitioning lapses

emphasize

between multiple points and only then they may be

simplifications,

polyphonic”

despite

(Bachelard,

of

the

dialogue

visual arts, video, film, photography, installation,

the becoming of a plurality is polymorphic, just like is,

importance

hybrid image from different languages such as

plurality may last, may evolve, may become. And

melody

the

established by contemporary media art, creating a

subject to the dynamics of becoming: "Only a

a

or

between external and mental images, resulting in

characteristics.

of

polymorphism

personal memories that make possible the clash

also to shape, to material, to language, among other

becoming

the

This unique rhythm is linked to the experiences and

hybridization, not only due to time plurality, but

the

despite

performance (among others), constituted of breaks

all

or gaps, where the participant can enter in the midst

1963,

of visual and meaning oscillations, leading him to

p.122).

enjoy the experience of Transcinema.

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cultura contemporânea. Rio de Janeiro: MauadX, pp. 91-108

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Amity Journal of Media & Communication Studies 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1 – 2, 16-26

Copyright 2015 by ASCO Amity University Rajasthan (ISSN 2231 – 1033)

Digital Activism and Social Movements: How the World perceives the Gezi Movement Dr. Ece Baban Assistant Professor Okan University Email ID: [email protected]

Dr. Ebru Güzel Assistant Professor Okan University Email ID: [email protected] Internet activism (also known as online activism, digital campaigning, digital activism, online organizing, electronic advocacy, cyberactivism, e-campaigning, and e-activism) is the use of electronic communication technologies such as social media, especially Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, e-mail, and podcasts for various forms of activism to enable faster communication by citizen movements and the delivery of local information to a large audience. From Occupy to Uncut, from the Arab Spring to the Slutwalk movement, few questions about recent activism raise as much controversy as the role of the internet. This study covers two main issues; one of them is the way activists use the new media and the second is how the new media affects the globalization of social activities. The study investigated the Arab Spring, the Occupy Wall Street and the London Revolt as examples of digital activism in the world. The study also offers the Gezi Parkı events as an example from Turkey. It mentions some groups such as Occupy Gezi New York Action Group, Occupy Gezi Deutschland, Occupy Gezi Milano that were formed to use the new media to promote digital activities. These groups that are formed on facebook have investigated the use of the new media according to Morozov's new media strategies. Keywords: Digital Activism, Social Media, Social Movements, Occupy Gezi

“To radically shift regime behavior we must think clearly and boldly for if we have learned anything, it is that regimes do not want to be changed. Every time we witness an act that we feel to be unjust and do not act, we become a party to injustice.“ (Julian Assange, Conspiracy as Governance, December 2, 2006).

the internet. The influence area of digital activism has increased due to the globalization and the internet. The fact that the digital activism became a part of our daily lives began with the emergence of Wikileaks by the late 2010. The fact that especially activists who were be in search of democracy used social media platforms together with Arab Spring process to make their voices heard showed how effective was the digital activism experienced at the present day. After the addition of Occupy Wall Street! 'actions and London riots, it became possible to see occupation movements that become widespread by globalization on different topics in almost every country.

DIGITAL ACTIVISM HISTORY Digital activism history is concurrent with internet history. Digital Activism is the fact that individuals, by benefiting from the rapid propagation characteristics of the network structures and information technology, intend and execute actions which can grow independently from the center on cases, thoughts or events social and / or political issues such as freedom of expression, human rights or the environment that they defend or react, and the main objective of which is to be able to produce high public voice and momentum. Due to the growing technological infrastructure along with the globalization, people have become easier to reach

There are three defining principles of social movements: The common identity of the movement, anti-motion and social objective criteria (Castells, Touraine). According to Manuel Castells, these 16

concepts should be understood as follows. Identity corresponds to what the movement is and on behalf of whom does it speak; anti corresponds to the main enemy defined by the movement; social objective corresponds to social order or the form of social organization that the collective action of the movement wants to ensure in its historical horizon.

media platforms used by people to be organized, was one of the outstanding hashtags (Ntvmsnbc, 2011). People of all age groups participated in the action, and the age group constituting the majority was between 15-35 years. The most important reason that there were more participants from this age group was the fact that they used the internet more frequently. While those who participated in the movement were walking, they also shared the movement on social sharing sites by using the internet, and they conveyed what they experienced and felt and the photos they took to the world via the internet. The movement of don't touch my internet gained globosity due to social platforms on the Internet.

All around the world, riots resulting from different social problems of the countries have broken out and continue to break out. It is possible to see these riots and various social explosions in Latin America, mass demonstrations of European working class, the youth actions and immigrants' riots, riots of the Arab peoples, the mass strikes took place in Greece and the events took place in England. Riots make trouble, wounds, inequality and injustice which are rendered invisible a current issue and lead to public debate. Examples of digital activism were organizing on social media platforms and arose on the streets. Streets are places where the demand for justice emerges in its purest form. In order to understand the concept of digital activism, Gezi Park protests seen after the protest of "Don't touch my internet" in Turkey with some of the digital activism movements that occurred in the world will be examined.

Another movement of don't touch my internet took place on January 18, 2014. On social media platforms, people were invited to go out on January 18 at 18:00 and to be organized in different cities in Turkey to say stop internet censorship with the #18Ocak18DeSokaklara hashtag. Aslo, RedHack group gave support to the riot via Twitter. The identity of this riot was composed of group of people of all ages who protested against restrictions and censorship. The movement emerged to protest the prevention of internet users' right to freedom of expression and access to information. The social objective is to ensure that internet usage and open and unfiltered access are seen as a basic human right as in international organizations. The movement of don't touch my internet is evaluated in the new social movements in terms of its aims, values and organization. The movement of don't touch my internet that we discuss as an example of digital activism in Turkey is involved in type of Internetenabled activism from types of digital activism. During this movement process, people organized protests and walkings and held demonstrations. The people, who used social media platforms in order to organize, had the entry into force of the law postponed due to the protests they carried out. In brief, the movement of don't touch my internet which was initiated for internet censorship as the first digital activism movement in Turkey took place with dozens of participants and was successful. The

DIGITAL ACTIVISM AND GEZI MOVEMENT IN TURKEY In Turkey, the most crowded movement among those held by organizing via social sharing networks for the first time was the "Do not touch my Internet movement" which took place in 2011. By the decision of BTK (information and communication technologies authority), people who oppose the ban and censorship on the Internet achieved a wide support and took a joint action on May 15, 2011. Against the system which would bring a new filter to the Internet said to be implemented in August 22, 2011, hundreds of thousands of Internet users set up Facebook and Twitter groups, organized on these platforms and protested in the street. Simultaneous demonstrations were held in a total of 28 provinces in Turkey and then in 3 countries (Germany, Austria, the Netherlands) with the globalization of demonstration abroad. #22agustos, which was used to draw attention to the filtering that would begin on August 22 on Twitter which is one of the social 17

movement of don't touch my internet is evaluated in the new social movements in terms of its aims, values and organization. Tens of thousands of people organized via internet and performed their actions on the street. This is also an important example of the actual digital activism in Turkey in terms of the fact that the online action was implemented in an offline environment.

event. Social media is a tool which accelerates an effect very quickly and ensures its concentration and increase in its power. Also, the fact that the number of people who use social media in Turkey is great leads to great effect. Taksim Gezi Park resistance instantly found its supporters in the virtual world dominated by social media platforms. People took to the streets and formed large masses due to social media. Due to the fact that the mainstream media did not include this event, activists followed the information flow on computers and even on mobile phones, not from the mainstream media such as radio and television. Therefore, mainstream media was protested by the activists. In the first phase, images of violence executed by the police to the activists spreaded around the country and world via Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. When analyzed the numerical data of Gezi Park resistance via Facebook and Twitter in general, 7,920,511 messages were shared via Twitter with #direngeziparkı hashtag during Gezi Park process. Outside of #direngeziparkı hashtag, hashtags that carried the name of the city in cities out of İstanbul in Turkey. (#direnankara, #direnantakya, #direnadana, #direnekişehir etc.) The number of messages used during Gezi Park events that these hashtags reached was 23.9 million (İnsanhaber, 2013).

OCCUPY GEZI Gezi Park movement began in Taksim, İstanbul at the end of May in 2013 and then became a global movement by spreading all around the world. On May 27, 2013, while constructional works were performed for the pedestrianization project which was approved by Municipal Council on Taksim Square, a portion of Gezi Park's wall was destroyed, and in addition, these trees were removed under the scope of implementing Taksim pedestrianization project. Because of this reason, Taksim solidarity group began action. Waiting to prevent the removal of trees in Gezi Park, the group set up tents. The demolition works were stopped on May 28, 2013 over against this action, however, intervention of the police against activists was very harsh in the upcoming days. As a result of the harsh intervention to the activists, the people who protested against police violence further organized and became a large crowd of people. Although Istanbul 6th Administrative Court announced that they granted a motion for stay of execution about Topçu Military Barracks project on May 31, 2013, actions throughout the country continued increasingly. Due to the fact that the intervention of the police to the activists on May 31 on which the events gained speed created reactions on social media platforms, Gezi Park action which began as an environmental movement did not remain limited in just Taksim Square, it spreaded into different provinces in Turkey and then all around the world from Taksim, İstanbul (İnsanhaber, 2013). It is possible call Gezi Park process as a centerless movement in which there was a substantial participation in Turkey for the first time according to new social movement theory. It is an undeniable fact the spread of the Internet and information technologies had effect in the occurrence of this

According to the research carried out by New York University Laboratory of Social Media and Political Participation, 2 million messages were tweeted on Twitter related to Gezi Park on May 31 Friday between the hours 16:00 and 00:00. While 90% of these tweets were from Turkey and 50% of them were from İstanbul, 68% of them were written in Turkish (Hürriyet,2013). When analyzed some of the groups formed on Facebook about Gezi Park in Turkey, the group formed under the name of “Diren Gezi Parkı” (https://www.facebook.com/geziparkidirenisi) received 645,878 likes. Another example is that the group formed under the name of “Taksim Gezi Parkı Derneği” (www.facebook.com/taksimgeziparkidernegi ) was involved among the groups most followed during Gezi Park process with 94,188 likes. 18

When we look at the hashtags shared on Twitter between the dates May 31 to June 29, 2013;

#cnnmoveyourdirtyhandsfromturkey, #bumilletsiziaffetmez, #cevapver #askerkışlanadön,#başbakankiminlegörüşsün,#refer andumahayır,#türkiyesokakta #kabataşeşkiyalarıbulunsun,#yalancıprovokatörler, #parklarbizimdir,#evinedön,#polisevinedön, #budahabaşlangıçmücadeleyedevam,#doktorumad okunma, #worldmediagotoankara, #bugüngünlerdenankara, #1milyonyarintaksime, #duranadam, #direnduranadam, #standingman, , #hepimizçarşıyız, #1milyonyarınkazlıçeşmeye, #1milyonbugüntaksime, #bugünmilyonlarkazlıçeşmede, #ihsaneliaçıkadestekoluyoruz, #ülkesinisevenadam, #hiçzamanıdeğil

#direngeziparkı, #occupygezi, #geziparkı, #direngezi, #geziparkiicintaksime, #direngeziparki, #geziparkıcanlabaşla, #türkiyemdireniyor, #direngazi #sesvertürkiyebuülkesahipsizdeğil, #bubirsivildirenis, #oyunagelmetürkiyem, #provokasyonagelmiyoruz, #tayyipistifa, #direnankara, #sesverturkiye, #tayipistifa, #direnbeşiktaş, #şiddetidurdurun, #hükümetenot, #izmitdireniyor, #direnizmir, #çözümolur, #medyagreve, #cnnntvhabertürküboykotediyoruz, #direndersim, #tayyipsanagülegüle, #atatürkiyikivarsın, #1milletuyanıyor, #eylemvakti #abdullahgülgöreve, #opturkey, #büyüktürkiyeiçinvarız, #tayyipiyikivarsın, #genelgrev, #genelgrevedavet, #delilimvar, #ülkeniçinsağduyuluol, #sonarzum, #24saatiçindeistifaet, #kavgayakargaşayahayır, #garantidenparanicek, #polisevedönsün, #mehmetayvalıtaşölümsüzdür, #bizdeğilpolisevedönsün, #bubirdostlukçağrısıdır, , #bumilletbuoyunagelmez, #kaybedenülkemizolur, #tabiatkanunutasarısınahayır, #artıktürkiyemsakinleşsin, #evrenselbarışadoğru, #provekeyegelmetürkiyem, #kesinliklebugün, #olimpiyatstadındaomuzomuza, #imamhatiplioyunagelmiyor, #türkiyeiçinkardeşlikvakti, #70milyonduadayız, #miraçkandilimizmübarekolsun, #eyvallahgezim, #direnrize, #direntürkiye, #türkiyedenözürdileyin, #dahagüzelsintürkiye, #çapulculartakipleşirse, #direnhayattv, #trtözürdileyecek, #wearegezi, #akgönüllülertakipte, #sehitkomisermustafasari, #zamankardeşlikzamanıtürkiyem, #weareerdoğan, #direnturkiyetayyipgeliyor, #provokatörbaşbakanistemiyoruz, #direntürkçe, #türkiyeseninledikdureğilme, #flamasızgezi, #ankarabaşbakanınıkarşılıyor, #türkiyebaşbakanınınyanında, #provokatörtayyip, #mehmetalialaborayanındayız, #provokatörünlüleriboykotediyoruz, #boykotbaşlıyor, #direngeziseninleyiz, #provokatörlereuyma, #tayyipyalanları, #tayyibiyedirmeyiz, #direneskisehir,

When considered the progress of the process on Twitter; it is seen that messages which spreaded just through hashtags at the beginning continued without any title in the later stages of the process due to the fact that everyone was aware of the issue. When analyzed the data obtained from #direngeziparkı survey carried out by Istanbul Bilgi University, it was observed that 39.6% of those who supported protest during Gezi Park process were between 19-25 years old, and 24% of them were between 26-30 years old. 75.8% of people participated in the action through going out to streets. This data reveals the importance of social media platforms for digital activism once again. Both the demographic characteristics of those who participated in Gezi Park movement and the ideological of environmentalism effective in joining movement are in accordance with the ideology of the new social movement. While telling old and new social movements, we emphasized that new social movements separated from the old social movements at 3 points by Pakulski (Coşkun, 2006, s.137). One of these was the concept of generation. It was emphasized that the generation that performed old social movements was X generation (those born between 1960-1980) and the generation that performed new social movements was Y generation (those born between 1980-2000). As a result of the survey carried out by 19

Bilgi University, it was revealed that activists supporting the action were in Y generation, and this result confirmed Pakulski's approach.

the massive formation of these events. It developed out of demands such as freedom, democracy and human rights.

"New social movements are considered a movement that includes members of the middle class who support a leaderless democratic forms of participation in terms of its 'structure' emphasizing on quality of life and lifestyles rather than focusing on the issue of economic redistribution in terms of 'ideology and objectives'" (Coşkun, 2006, s.11).

Social objective, while environmental volunteers and activists, who did not want the Topçu Military Barrack planned to be built in the place of Gezi Park and the cutting of the trees, who wanted that Gezi Park should be located in its place and who rejected the destruction of green areas for the sake of new places, on the other hand the majority participated in protests wanted to express their demands and dissatisfactions against oppressive and authoritarian governments in Turkey.

According to Larana, new social movements show the emergence of new and previously insignificant dimensions (Coşkun,2006, s.22).

Occupy Gezi movement presented images conforming to the description of a new social action movement. Gezi Park actions did not take place just on squares. General organizational forms of new social movements follow a form of organization trying to provide public and media support in line with the objectives of the movement rather than political parties. Gezi Park resistance did not have a leader. There was no political party behind the events. The people organized via social media platforms rebelled against the government's attitude and the police's violence. Events reached a new dimension starting from the environmental movement. Therefore, Gezi Park movement should be evaluated within the new social movements.

The problems related to identity more associated with the cultural issues. These problems are often problems related to quality of life. When analyzed the new social movements, more cultural problems are encountered as in the example of Gezi Park. Gezi Park is considered within the context of break theory as it carries decentralized and non-hierarchical forms of organization and identity orientation demands which are one of the features of the new social movements. In this regard, the ideas of thinkers such as Habermas, Touraine, Melucci and Castells gain importance. The identity of the groups particapated in Gezi Park resistance, when we evaluate the Gezi Park movement according to three defining principles of social movements which was adopted by Manuel Castells from Alain Touraine in order to better understand or make sense about the event. The identity of the movement was composed of people from all ideologies, identities and age groups. According to Ayata (Aktaran Kongar, Küçükkaya, 2013), those people who participated in the action did not have sharp ideological opinions but they had political views. People who participated in Gezi Park actions were there to protest against authoritarian management. Therefore, Ayata describes the Gezi Park movement as "new middle class" democracy movement.

As an example that we can evaluate as a new social movement in Occupy Gezi movement, we can discuss the open-air library built by the insurgents with their hands. The library was formed after Yitik Ülke Yayınları started a campaign on Twitter. As a result of the campaign which spreaded through the message of "Gezi Park should remain as a park, a beautiful library should be opened. We can give support by giving books, brotherhood should win. Is it difficult? Here is the Free Library that we want it to be built in Gezi Park." on Twitter, a library was created with bricks and the books of every kind and opinion began to be offered as free whoever want (Yolcu, 2013).

Anti-movement began against the violence applied by police to the young people with green environmental awareness. However, the social problems experienced today in Turkey had role in

Gezi Park movement is a global movement, and was born as anti-globalization as some movements we 20

us in moving our country to true democracy. "(Cumhuriyet, 2013).

discussed above. It arose as a environmental movement, and then, the severe intervention and cruelty showed by the police to environmentalists people stirred up the public opinion and led to the change of the movement's nature.

When we look at the results of the campaign, it was aimed to raise 53 thousand 800 dollar donation. However, more than the expected donation was raised and it reached 108,371 dollars. It is understood from this campaign that people can support actions due to the different types of activism without going out to streets.

Gezi Park actions are good example in terms of globalization of digital activism in Turkey. It is also possible to see the two types of activism of digital activism in Gezi Park as internet-enabled and internet-based. As an example for online application type located in the high level of internet-based activism , we can show international signature campaign organized on website change.org (https://www.change.org/tr/kampanyalar/monok l-polis-%C5%9Fiddetine-son-verilsin-contre-laviolence-policiere-a-istanbul) .

People now make their voices heard to the whole world due to the new communication technologies. In order to understand the national and international dimensions of Gezi Park actions, how the action become globalized will be described through examples discussed on Facebook which is one of the social media platforms. Facebook was very effective in terms of organization in countries seeking for democracy and in different social events.

This campaign is an example of Internet-based activism to say stop to the violence of the police in Gezi Park resistance in Taksim.

Users on Facebook, thanks to the groups they open or join, clearly put forward their political views and create some kind of organization by reaching out to people in their thoughts or becoming popular and gaining supporters. Many protests take place through these groups on Facebook. In this regard, Facebook became a kind of "virtual" democracy platform (Aktaran Cumhuriyet, 2008). For these reasons, Facebook, which has the effect of stirring up crowd of people and on which the testimony of the people in the event are reflected, was selected as the sample area.

Another example; Prime Minister said in the program he participated on Haberturk television that "There is a trouble called Twitter. Here we see the exaggeration and full of lie. I think the thing called social media is the very devil of the community and society at the moment." Soon after this speech, Anonymous hacked the web site of the prime minister's office to protest the brutality of the police in actions in Turkey in general (BİA News Desk,2013). This example is an example of Hacktivizm type which is in low level of internetbased activism of digital activism. We can give the fundraising campaign which was initiated by Murat Aktihanoğlu, Oltaç Ünsal and Duygu Atacan at indiegogo.com donation site with the slogan of “Full Page Ad for Turkish Democracy in Action: OccupyGezi for the World” that Gezi Park activists wanted to announce their objective to the world through publishing as a full-page ad in New York Times or the Washington Post newspapers as an example to the type of Internet-based activism. The aim of the campaign was described as follows: "We want the world learn that is happening in Turkey from Turks in person. We want the world support

OCCUPY GEZI NEW YORK Occupy Gezi New York Action Group (https://www.facebook.com/OccupyGeziParkiNY C ) Facebook page was created on May 31, 2013 when the events began in Taksim Gezi Park. 4.356 people liked the group page. The group determined its aim as the support for democracy, the right to have peaceful meeting, freedom of expression, protection of human rights and civil freedom in Turkey and drawing the attention of public opinion and the media against the disproportionate use of force by the police in Turkey. Occupy Gezi New York Action Group reported that they were in compliance with Taksim solidarity platform. 21

The aim of the group stating that they wanted to draw the attention of public opinion and media to human rights in Turkey, the protection of civil freedom and the disproportionate use of force should be evaluated within the strategy of 'to attract public's attention to a certain problem' which is one of benefiting from the new media strategies of Morozov. The group set out its basic principles as criticizing the Government of Turkey's attitude towards civil rights by supporting the protection of democracy, freedom of expression, human rights and civil freedom in Turkey and acting in solidarity with people in the process of Gezi Park in Turkey.

describing the situation in Turkey" (https://www.facebook.com/OccupyGeziParkiNY C ). When looking at the news in Sözcü newspaper (2013), we see the news; "The call was made to wear black clothes while going to work and schools in order for the people to support the resistance through the Facebook event called Black Monday". When we look at the report within the group we dealt with in New York, it is possible to see that a movement in Turkey became globalized and took place in World. Another sharing of status was made on June 7, 2013. In the notification, people who would participate in the action in Zuccotti Park on June 8, 2013 were asked to come there by wearing the uniforms of football teams in Turkey and to bring pots and pans to make noise.

It exemplifies to new social movements within the scope of aim and basic principles of the group. New social movements give particular importance to personal identity and autonomy against central control in terms of their objectives and values.

According to news in Milliyet newspaper (2013), sports fans of 4 big teams also supported the Gezi Park movements that took place in İstanbul on June 8, 2013. The sports fans of Beşiktaş, Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe and Trabzonspor walked together to the Taksim Square to support the action in Gezi Park. As is seen, the same actions that took place in Turkey were used also in Gezi Park actions in New York within the same time period.

In the timeline of the group, 66 photos related to Gezi Park were shared between the dates May 31 and June 29. 48.48% of these photos are related to actions took place for in Gezi Park New York Zuccotti Park and Union Square. 21.12% of them were composed of caricatures related to Reccep Tayyip Erdoğan and Gezi Park process. 10.6% of them were the photos for the announcement of gathering in Zuccoti Park or Union Square. 19.70% of them were the photos reflected from the action in Taksim Gezi Park.

Events were held at different times through Occupy Gezi New York Action Group. An event29 was initiated with the title of #ResistIstanbulAthensNYC #ResistEverywhere Saturday 12PM on May 31, 2013, Taksim Gezi Park events began in İstanbul. The call was made to announce the date of the event as June 8, 2013 and the place of the event as New York Zuccotti Park at 12:00 p.m. The following sentence summarizes the aim of this call.

There were 14 shares of state in the group. Shares of state were composed of press release, calling for people to take photos and videos in actions they participate, reminding the time and days of the actions to Facebook users before actions, supporting people in Turkey, the rules that protestors would obey with the call for participate in actions.

"In Gezi Park, for the immediate end of the police violence, for our freedom of thought and expression, for freedom of demonstration and meeting, for our press freedom, for our belief in freedom, for an impartial judiciary, for the protection of our unique natural beauties, for solidarity and unity without regarding race, religion, language, gender, origin, nationality discrimination, for a modern and fully independent Turkey, for our Turkey! Please join us,

To give examples from the shared status notifications; In the notification shared in Occupy Gezi New York Action Group on June 3; It was said that "Attention of the Turkish activists in New York !!! If you have opportunity to wear in black, then wear black clothes, because the people in Turkey will wear black clothes in the action, don't write scornful things on posters and carry pictures

22

build a shopping center faced with the violence of Turkish police after a while. The teargas and pressurized water that the police used and the use of excessive force on demonstrators led dozens of protesters being hospitalized without any legal basis. The media which was directly controlled by the Turkish government ignored the events in Gezi Park and even the flow of information was prevented. Please share this message in order for the world to become aware of the police state created by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and AKP government. The Turkish democracy needs your help. Thank you!" (https://www.facebook.com/OccupyGeziDeutschla nd/timeline ).

hear our voice, and share your concerns and our concerns! #occupyGeziNYC #OWS 30” ". When we look at another example, an event titled “Protest In Solidarity with the Turkish Resistance on SUNDAY 12:00” was created within the group on June 2, 2013. The action took place in front of the Turkish consulate in New York with the participation of 514 people. When we look at another example, an event titled “Protest In Solidarity with the Turkish Resistance on SUNDAY 12:00” was created within the group on June 2, 2013. The action took place in front of the Turkish consulate in New York with the participation of 514 people. 903 people reported that they would participate to the event (https://www.facebook.com/events/203630689790 372/?ref=23 ) titled “Solidarity Event with the people of Turkey” on June 22, 2013. For the event, the following notifications were published and Facebook users spreaded them. Notifications on Facebook were written in different languages.

According to data on the group which was opened on Facebook with the name of Occupy Gezi – Deutschland, group members and Facebook users had the opportunity to reach at the aims of the group, notification in the group and activities created. The notification published on the group's page was on Facebook page in 8 different languages. We will see in further examples that this notification was determined as the common goal of all actions performed on Gezi Park in abroad.

Facebook group which was opened with the name of Occupy Gezi New York Action Group transferred the Gezi Park actions took place in Turkey to New York, America, and by means of this group, people living in America communicated with each other and organized through this group to hold demonstrations. In order to draw attention to Gezi Park actions that took place in Turkey, some of the actions that took place in the United States in New York had the same characteristics with the actions that took place in Turkey. Therefore, actions that took place in Turkey arose in New York, and the Gezi Park movement is a globalized action within this example we discussed.

72 photos were shared when we look at the timeline of the group page between the dates May 31 to June 29, 2013. 53% of these photos were the photos of the actions in Gezi Park. 14% of them were the caricatures drawn related to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Gezi Park process. 22% of them were related to actions performed for Gezi Park in Germany. 11% of them were photos published for notifications. Videos, photos and information shared within the group by Facebook users provided the easy access to data and being together. 9 shares of status were made in the group. As an example of the shares of these statuses, information about the places, hours and cities of the events to be held in Germany were shared by photos. The place and hours of the events to be held in different cities of Germany on the same day were reported to other group members by the share of status of "Please share a photo of the city on your profile" (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.522

OCCUPY GEZI – DEUTSCHLAND Occupy Gezi – Deutschland group (https://www.facebook.com/OccupyGeziDeutschla nd?fref=ts ) was created on Facebook on June 2, 2013, and had 2,623 likes. Group describes itself as follows: “Caution! Turkish democracy needs you!” "The peaceful demonstrations that began with the removal of trees in Taksim Gezi Park in order to 23

impression both in the world and in social media, while people were commenting about the photo as it became the symbol of the resistance on Twitter, Reuters news agency used that photo as cover photo on Facebook50. The photo was liked by 5.775 people and shared by 24.494 people on Facebook. Women who affected by this photo showed solidarity in Turkey and abroad wearing red clothes. This example we discuss became one of the most important indicators of the fact that this movement reached at a global scale.

822314449562.1073741839.507965195935274&type=1 ). Hamburg: 18.00 – Türkische Konsulat, Mainz 14.00 Uhr - am Höffchen, Köln: 12.00 Uhr – Bahnhofvorplatz, Berlin: 15.00 Uhr Kottbusser Tor, München: 12.00-20.00 Uhr – Geschwisterscholl Platz, Frankfurt: 14.00 Uhr Myzeil, Nürnberg: 13.00 Uhr – Plärrer, Düsseldorf: 13.00 Uhr vor dem türkischen Konsulat, Essen: 14.00 Uhr – Willy Brand Platz, Mannheim: 15.00 – Am Marktplatz, Dortmund: 10.00 Uhr am Bahnhof, Stuttgart: 15.00 – Türkische Konsulat, Bochum: Husemannplatz 18 Uhr, Krefeld: 17.00 Uhr vor dem Saturn, Kassel: 15.00 Uhr- Am Citypoint, Siegen: 15.00 Uhr- Vor dem Apollotheate

When we look at the actions through the examples analyzed on Facebook group which was opened with the name of Occupy Gezi – Deutschland group and the individual groups of Facebook users, the examples discussed such as the use of red female symbol, which was used in Gezi Park actions in Turkey, in actions that took place in Germany, and the realization of pan -pans action used in protests during Gezi Park action in Turkey are a sign for the fact that Gezi Park action became globalized.

Shares of events were made through Occupy Gezi – Deutschland group at different times and on different days and places. When we analyze some of them, we see that 317 people reported that they would participate in the event with the name of “WUPPERTAL DEMO 03.06.13 18Uhr CITY ARCADEN OCCUPY GEZI” (https://www.facebook.com/events/317653661700 501/?ref=22 ) which was organized to protest in Arkaden at 18,00 in the city of Wuppertal in Germany by the Facebook user named Güngör Mentese. The video shot by Chris Olsen who was one of those people supporting Gezi Park in Wuppertal was uploaded in this Facebook group, and this revealed that also in Germany Gezi Park actions were taking place.

OCCUPY GEZI MILANO This group joined Facebook on May 31, 2013 with the name of Occupy Gezi – Milano name (https://www.facebook.com/OccupyGeziMilano?fr ef=ts ) . 997 people liked this group. When analyzed the shares within the group on the basis of the dates between 31 May-29 June 2013, 10 video sharing, 6 activity formations, 7 news sharing, 2 link-sharing to watch live broadcasts and 4 shares of status are seen 87 photos were shared in the timeline of the group. When we look at these photos; 72% of them were the photos concerning the protests for Gezi Park in Milano. 23% of them were photos reflecting the actions in Taksim Gezi Park. 5% were related to the notification. Events created in this group opened with the name of Occupy Gezi – Milano. Group members and Facebook users were provided with the opportunity to reach the all information concerning the actions by the shares of news and photos about the events in Turkey. This approach exemplifies the strategy of 'accessibility and accurate information' which is one of the strategies that activists use and which was discussed by Morozov in his study called activism and new media.

A sit-in protest took place in Kottbusser Tor Square in the district of Kreuzberg of Berlin on June 6, 2013. Many people came together in this square to act in solidarity with the resistance in Turkey, and to protest the oppressive policies and practices of the AKP government and police violence like in a festive. The video of the action is found on sharing site Youtube. During Gezi Park actions, symbols of resistance emerged such as Vendetta Mask of Occupy Wall Street. The "Red Woman" (Red Woman: Ceyda Sungur) photo which was taken between a police and insurgent became one of the symbols of resistance (Reuters). Photos created a tremendous 24

RESULT

An event was created in the group on June 1, 2013 with the name of “Occupy Gezi - Parco Sempione, Milano”(https://www.facebook.com/events/50451 3039604638/ ). People gathered in Parco Sempione at 15.00 p.m.

21st century has gone down in history as a century in which societies challenged in economic, political and social events on a global scale. Digital activist movements, which began Zapatistalar and continued with WikiLeaks events, have become social actions which threaten the regimes and dictators and take place all around the world against the injustices, along with the Arab Spring. It was revealed, once again, the role of social media platforms in protests that took place during Gezi Park actions in Turkey, and the action became globalized and created reactions in the world through social media tools. Regarded as an example of digital activism and social movements, Gezi Park actions were examined through three different international Facebook groups, and how the actions become globalized in the world was tried to be explained

According to news on Bianet (2013), people gathered and walked out in Milano Parco Sempione Park and, by notifications they published in Italian, they gave information about the events that took place in İstanbul and in different cities, and they made calls for international support with the slogan of "Turkish democracy needs you". On June 2, 2013, an event called “Occupy Gezi – Parco Sempione, Milano 2. gün” (https://www.facebook.com/events/136392456557 532/?ref=22 ) was created by Seda Sözügeçen. 93 people reported that they would participate in the event to be held in Parco Sempione Park at 15.00 p.m.

When analyzed the starting points of the actions that we call as Occupy Wall Street, London Rebellion, the Arab Spring in the world and Don't Touch my Internet and Gezi Park movement in Turkey, the common characteristic of the actions that they are in search of identity.

On June 6, 2013, it was reported that the event called “#OccupyGezi Solidarity from Milano 06.06.2013” (https://www.facebook.com/events/658181567528 804/?ref=22 ) , which was created by ‘OccupyGezi Milano’ group, would be held in Castello Sforzesco, Milano at 19.00 p.m, and 1,816 people stated that they would participate.

Digital movements should take place in the streets and squares to be implemented. Digital activist actions such as Occupy Wall Street, London Rebellion, the Arab Spring and Gezi Park were organized through digital communications and spreaded throughout the world. These actions were not only the organized via digital communication, they gained significance as actions in the street. Social media tools such as Youtube, Twitter and Facebook which are used to implement digital activism have varied in terms of the form of message transfer and the target that the message is directed.

16 people reported that they would participate in the event called “#OccupyGezi Solidarity PICNIC MUSICALE” which was held by Occupy GeziMilano group in Giardini in Transito between the hours 13,00- 20,00 on June 9,2013. On June 12, 2013, the event group called “#OccupyGezi - Milano sbarca in Università! Dalle strade di Istanbul ancora si alza un grido di rivolta”70 was created by Occupy Gezi- Milano group. 22 people reported that they would participate in the event that would begin in Università Statale di Milano at 15,00.

When considering the results of the Gezi Park action in Turkey; firstly, the government perceived the Gezi Park actions as a protest made against them, put a ban on Twitter, issued an order to police to shoot in Gezi Park Events, overlooked the fact that many young people were hit by police and beaten to death, and tried to put obstacles for those who went out streets with culture of fear and violence and who

On June 21, 2013, an event was created by Occupy Gezi- Milano group in order to perform action called “ #duranadam Milano” in front of the T. C. Milano Consulate at 18,45. 303 people confirmed their participation in the event. 25

shared on social media. As Gezi Events were regarded as a threat by the government, it is impossible to say that these events has created a real

common consciousness or caused a change in the government's oppressive and autocratic approach.

REFERENCES Bauman, Z. (1998). Globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge Press

muhalefet. Barış Çoban (hzl.).Toplumsal hareketler ve radikal medya. (s. 43-63). İstanbul: Kalkedon Yayınları.

Castells, M.& İnce M. (2006). Manuel Castells ile söyleşiler. (Kılıç E. Çev.) İstanbul: İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları

Çoban, S. (2009). Küreselleşme, direniş, ütopya yeni toplumsal hareketler küreselleşme çağında toplumsal muhalefet. Barış Çoban (hzl.).Yeni toplumsal hareketler ve iktidar sorunu. (s. 175-191). İstanbul: Kalkedon Yayınları.

Castells, M. (2005). Enformasyon çağı: Ekonomi, toplum ve kültür/ Birinci cilt ağ toplumunun yükselişi. İstanbul: İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları.

Morozov, E.(2007). New Media Essentials. Presented at Trassitions Online.

Castells, M. (2008). Enformasyon çağı: Ekonomi, toplum ve kültür/ İkinci cilt kimliğin gücü. İstanbul: İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları.

Prague: Paper

Coşkun, M.K. (2006). Süreklilik ve Kopuş Teorileri Bağlamında Türkiye’de Eski ve Yeni Toplumsal Hareketler. Ankara Üniversitesi SBF Dergisi, Ankara: 60(1), 67-102.

Coşkuntuncel,A. (2013). Dijital demokrasi’nin ekonomi politiği. Evrensel kültür dergisi, (260),19-22 Cullum, B.(2010). Digital activism decoded: The new mechanics of change. Joyce, M (Ed). Devices: The power of mobile phones. (pp. 47-70) New York: İnternational debate education association.

Kongar,E. &Küçükkaya, A. (2013). Gezi direnişi. İstanbul: Cumhuriyet Kitaplığı

Çoban, B. (2009). Küreselleşme, direniş, ütopya yeni toplumsal hareketler küreselleşme çağında toplumsal

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Amity Journal of Media & Communication Studies 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1 – 2, 27-34

Copyright 2015 by ASCO Amity University Rajasthan (ISSN 2231 – 1033)

Writing dramas on television news and on the Internet: Evolution of an emotional rhetoric Bérénice Mariau Doctor in Sciences of Information and Communication GRIPIC, Celsa/Paris-Sorbonne Email ID: [email protected] This paper concerns the media coverage of human interest stories on Internet and the reactions of Internet users on social media. We are mainly interested in the image, or rather in its absence, which leads journalists to use various iconic signs allowing to give evidence of the reality of the event. So the dramatic event, and more exactly what Roland Barthes calls the “blow” entailing “a tear in the tissue of the days”, is rarely visible by the public. In that case, the drama is built around allusive forms clarified by the comments of journalists and various testimonies which allow a reading more enlightened of mundane images.. Keywords: Human Interest, Hashtags, Public

INTRODUCTION

memories. Firstly, I will focus on variations between Internet and television news that bring to different experiences of reading for theses dramatic events.

This research is concerned with the media coverage of human interest stories on television news and on Internet. In French we call this type of media coverage“fait divers”. Even if the exact translation does not exist in other languages, we can see a common style of journalist discourses shared by different cultures, which use several expressions for a type of events (Beds, 2001). Usually, it covers crimes, murders, accidents or strange stories. It’s often sensational and emotional. Started during a thesis research on “personal dramas”told on television news, our analysis focuses now on Internet with a particular interest for images and the role of emotion. More precisely, we analyze how journalists tell the facts with images, without any neither precise nor significant images of the drama.

In second time, I will present what I have called a “transmedia” drama grammar. Indeed, even if the event writing diverges on some points - according to the nature of the media - some other elements are present on television and Internet. Composed of symptomatic images, common places and various expressions of a collective emotion, that “transmedia” drama grammar allows a rapid recognition and reading of this type of events.

TEXT AND IMAGES: DIFFERENT RELATIONS TO SEE AND LIVE THE DRAMA In this part, we are going to focus on the different relations that images and commentaries can maintain on television and Internet. We will see in particular how emotion can play a different role between these two media.

Indeed, there is a lack of images. For example,the moment when the husband shoots his wife, or the moment when the bus deviates from the road,are rarely filmed. Depending on the media and its technical possibilities, journalist will use différent narrative processes to “make visible” the event, without being reallyable to show it directly. These variations linked to the medium can have an impact on the reading process, they determine the interpretive journey made by the reader. Emmanuël Souchier speaks of a “path” which would shape our

ON TELEVISION: A CONTINUOUS FLOW To tell the drama on television, journalists proceed to a reconstruction made up of testimonies, generic images (of the police, the streets, the neighbors…) and computer graphics. The main purpose is to put the event right in front of the viewer and place him as close as possible to the drama. In front of the screen, the public does not have the time to 27

significant role in the process of meaning and on the memorial impact that the media coverage leaves onthe public.

understand and to analyze what he is watching, since the rhythm on television news is too fast. Journalists have only one and a half minute to expose the facts. Faced with this continuous flow of information, “pathemic” content – composed of rhetorical figures with an emotional potential - can help keeping the viewer in front of the screen. Considered by some researchers as passive in front of this continuous flow (Melot, 2007), the viewer has to be interested by the broadcasted content to not change of channel.Even if we can nuance this conception of the media, we notice that television content does not require a particular action by the public, contrary to a media as Internet for instance. Therefore, television content has to be fluent and arouse the curiosity of the public. A relation of alienation

As we will see for Internet, the organization of article leads to another process of meaning. Videos and commentaries are separated; their reading is therefore carried out in two stages. To understand the event, the Internet user has to navigate between these different materials, the assembly between images and commentaries being not predefined as for a television report. . A relation of amplifying Writing dramas on television news involves telling facts with an animated content but after the tragedy, rarely any trace of the event remains. So to make the drama real, journalists can use some camera movements, which not only enable to see the facts but also to live them. For instance, with an internal standpoint, the public can adopt the point of view of the victim.

One of the most important points on television news is to find some images of the event. Well, as we have mentioned earlier, there is a lack of images for this type of events. So to make the drama “visible” and “alive” on television, journalists will try to find some images that illustrate at best commentaries. This injunction to illustration leadsthe professionals to operate,sometimes,a misappropriation of the first signification of the image. These misappropriations can participate in the supply of stereotypes, which although they present the advantage to be easily read by the public, give nevertheless a falsified image of the event and of the protagonists. The Figure 1, extracted from a TF11 television report called « Killed in his parent’s house: a method worthy of the mafia », shows the back of four men located near a police car. At the same time, the journalist explains the murder and says that four men, impersonating as police officers, get into the pavilion. The commentary and the image present two common points: “four men” and “police”. Even if the public can suppose that these men are not the murderers, the juxtaposition of these two statements leads to memorize this representationas the criminals. On television, the drama takes shapeby weaving these two statements. The semiotic analysis of the image must take into account the accompanying commentary. Indeed, this one plays a 1

The first French television channel.

The extract (refer Figure 2) from a television report on a bus crash in Switzerland – which has led to the death of 22 Belgian children - illustrates this process. With this internal point of view, we watch what the victims saw just before the collision. We leave our place as a spectator to become an actor of the event. By this filmic process, the proximity with the drama is strongresulting in a high emotional impact. For a semiotic analysis of TV content, it is essential to consider both the motion, as well as the focal point, since it has a strong impact on the visual experience and plays a role in the public’s involvement. Even if the image has no offensive content, the simple fact of editing can be violent because it places the viewer closer to the event. This process is rarely used for videos posted on a newspaper website. In general, it is a fixed shot showing the scene after the drama or interviews of people involved in the event. Totally absent of the video, verbally and physically, the journalist seems to step aside to let the place to the protagonists. This deletion gives an impression of images filmed mechanically by the camera suggesting, unlike 28

When we find some videos escorting the article, it is usually interviews of witnesses, official people and experts, or images of the scene after drama. They represent a prolongation of the main text. Like press articles contain quotations of testimonies, web articles give extracts of this external speaking with the videos. The difference with a television report, that also presents visual testimonies, is the possibility for the public to choose to watch it or not. The video titles will thus help the reader to decide to go on or not. As we can see with the next example (refer Figure 5), apathetic title can constitute an interesting narrative process to influence the video watching. Posted at the end of the article, this video for which the title contains a quotation of a witness telling that he saw bodies fall during the fire, representsa content with a high emotional potential. Bringing a non-linear reading, these different materials escorting the text come to form a “hypertext” that Paulina Koszowska-Nowakowska and Franck Renucci define as a textual, visual and interactive object really complex (2011). The authors emphasize their research on the reading process and the influence of the ocular path. We suppose that some pathetic words or images can influence the path on the website. Emotion leads in this case to action, meaning to click on links proposed in order to deepen some points of the event. As Bernard Rimé has shown it, a paradoxes psychological process appears when we are in front of unpleasant subjects like death, injustice or violence. Wanting to avoid these annoying issues makes us more sensitive and curious to them (2005).

television content, a kind of objectivity from the professionals. Thus, Internet user can have the feeling of a higher freedom to make his own idea of the event.

ON INTERNET: NAVIGATION AND HYPERTEXT On Internet, as we have said, the journalist can use different materials to tell the drama. On line, the viewer is in front of texts, imagesand videos. So to understand the event, the reader has to navigate between these different elements. He has the opportunity to choose, to select, to deepen some points by clicking on videos for example. An article on a newspaper website allows a combination of different materials, which play a significant role in the reconstruction of the event. The picture is the first element on the page. Escorted by a title, this iconic material must allow a quick recognition of the type of event told. As we will see later, it is usually symptomatic images that are put at this place. Pictures of police, blood or people crying have a strong pathemic potential. This kind of images refers to a lot of different “texts”2 (McKenzie, 1999)– fictional content or other news –, that can persuades the internet user to stay on the page and read the text (refer Figure 3). As we can see with the article (refer Figure 4) posted on the newspaper websiteLe Figaro.fr, a picture of policemen has been chosen to illustrate the article. This one can allow a rapid recognition of the kind of event told. Then, when the reader chooses to go on, he can consult the text to understand the main facts. With a dramatic catch introduction, the article presents quickly the most important information. This narrative process is well known by the journalists of the printed press who call this first part a “chapeau”. So, in the article organization we do not notice obvious differences between printedand online articles except the absence of spatial limits for Internet. The specificity of Internet lies more in its capacity to include videos. Thus, articles on Internet constitute a kind of combination of various tools present in other media.

Thus, we have seen that processes of writing and reading differ from Internet to television. A main place is according to images for both, but this one does not maintain the same relations with commentaries. On television, public is in front of a continuous flow that presents a reconstruction already made of the event. This linear reading can allow a kind of passivity from the spectator; he has only to let himself carry by the images. On the contrary, on Internet, the reconstruction of the event depends partly of the reader and his choices made according to his own interests. Emotion can then represent a determinant element in his decisions.

2

The notion of “text” mentioned here follows the definition given by Donald Francis McKenzie for who the term “text” includes “every verbal information, visual, oral and digital in the form of maps, printed pages, scores, recorded messages, movies, video cassettes...”

29

of disorder informs us that something unusual happened and that it is under police control. This picture of policemen was published on Lemonde.fr to illustrate a fire in Paris. We can see the back of three policemen moving to what we can imagine as the location of the fire. The repetition and circulation of police images may reflect a fascination for these “heroes”. This fascination was especially obvious after the Charlie Hebdo attack. A research made for the Ministery in charge of the city, youth and sports on the main tendencies on social networks highlighted a large circulation of policemen images after the attack. 35 000 tweets with the hashtags #ThankstoGIGNandRAIDfandf#CongratstoGIGNan dRAID4 have been recorded after the tragedy5. These messages were escorting by images looking like this image (refer Figure 9).

Despite these differences tied to the nature of the media, we notice common elements between the both as we will see with the transmedia drama grammar. We have mentioned earlier the absence of significant images in the media coverage of dramas. This lack leads to constantly broadcast the same things. These elements constitute a kind of “drama grammar” that gives a generic form to these different events and that, regardless of the type of medium. Symptoms images Present on television and on Internet, policemen’s uniforms and bloodstains are a part of this grammar. These symptoms images evoke more than what they are showing. They refer to different texts and call to mindan imaginary link to the drama. Quickly, the public understands which type of events this report is about; these signs inform the viewer of the dramatic aspect of the event.

Commonplaces Between these highly symbolic images, we find a more mundane content, like images of streets, forests, building facades… These commonplaces meet a singular event told by the journalist. The imaginary of the drama is therefore nourished by these commonplaces, marked by tragic stories. Even if the signification of these images seems really poor, it is within their banality that their power lays. It stimulates imagination and identification (refer Figure 10).

Blood The bloodstain has a metonymic value; this sign leads us to imagine the body of the victim, present at this location just a while ago. The images (refer Figure 6, 7) illustrate this rhetoric process. The first image was published on line after the attack in the newspaper building of Charlie Hebdo3. The second one is from a TF1 report on the murder of a young girl in her building in Paris. Images of bloodstains represent proofs of the drama, they testify to physical ravages. As Christian Vanderdope (1992) has underlined it, the reading of events presenting victims physically harmed leads to the convening of deep reading filters. This kind of iconic material stimulates therefore an attentive and concerned reading.

As illustrated by this extract (refer Figure 11), there is a confrontation between the image that shows a quiet and sunny area and the journalist commentaries explaining the “execution” of a child. Despite of the frontage opacity, the commentaries stimulate public imagination. This work of imagination enables a more personal appropriation of facts. In this way, the singularity of the facts is offset by the banality of the images.

Uniform

Collective emotion

Pictures of policemen uniforms represent also symptomatic images. They refer to a wide variety of texts. As the image (refer Figure 8) shows it, this sign

4

3

The 7th of January, three men armed enter in Charlie Hebdo building in order to kill principals actors of this satirical newspaper. Targetted for its caricatures on Islam, this attack has made twelve victims.

30

GIGN (Groupe d’Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale) : Intervention Group of the National Police Force. RAID (Recherche, assistance, intervention, dissuasion) : Research, Assistance, Intervention, Dissuasion. 5 Total number at the 11st of January 2015.

CONCLUSION

Demonstrations of collective emotion are another point of the transmedia drama grammar. Indeed, an emphasis is made on these demonstrations of sadness and indignation by close family members or friends, but also by strangers who want to take part in this collective movement. This emotion is expressed through the deposit of symbolic objects of mourning on the murder scene, such as candles and flowers in addition to silent marches, testimonials...

To conclude, we notice some evolutions in the media coverage of dramas with Internet. Allowing the combination of different narrative processes, this plurality of texts on Internet can give to the reader an impression of exhaustiveness. This also suggests a form of freedom in the choice to read or view information. Moreover, as Dominique Cardon (2010) has shown it, this media enables the meeting of two spheres until now isolated: the one of information producers and the one of ordinary conversation. This contact transforms the practices of journalists. They have the possibility to consult social networks to enquire what is making the “buzz” and for what Internet users show an interest in. This can influence their choice to cover an event and the way they speak about it. Social networks represent also a source of information that they can quote in showing them as indicators of a public opinion. Finally, by this comparative study, we wanted to highlight the different media forms for dramas that participate in the construction of a collective imagination. Granting a particular interest to the emotion, our analysis comes to question the communicational stakes of this narrative and iconic processes.

After the attack in Charlie Hebdo building, a lot of people has felt the need to express their emotions in different ways. On social networks, the idea of cohesion and unity was largely relayed through images of crowds and manifestations organized around the world on the night of the attack. The three most shared tweets show images of these gatherings. The message that has most circulated with the sepicturesis:« They wanted to put France on its knees, they have stood it #CharlieHebdo (refer Figure 12 and 13). For Jacques Fontanille, who has worked on emotion with a semiotic approach, the effectiveness of such passionate demonstrations lies in the “sharing of the same cultural code of affectivity” (2007). The lack of drama images is then offset by these collective emotion pictures, which are meaningful and consensual.

REFERENCES Beds, M. (2001, April 10). The news item: A purely French genre? Retrieved September 10, 2015, from http://semen.revues.org/document2628.html Cardon, D. (2010). La démocratie Internet. Promesses et limites (p. 53). Seuil. Fontanille, J. (2007). Ethos, pathos, et persuasion: Le corps dans l'argumentation. Semiotica. Koszowska-Nowakowska, P., & Renucci, F. (2011). L’hypertexte : Approches expérimentale et herméneutique. Lavoisier. McKenzie, D. (1999). Bibliography and the sociology of texts.

Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. Melot, M. (2007). Une brève histoire de l’image (pp. 112-113). Rime, B. (2005). Le partage social des émotions [the social sharing of emotions]. Vandendorpe, C. (1992). Reading the news item: Textual functioning and cognitive effects. Tangency, 37, 56-69. Retrieved June 9, 2015, from http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/025725ar

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IMAGES FOR REFERENCE

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

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Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9

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Figure 10

Figure 11

Figure 12

Figure 13

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Amity Journal of Media & Communication Studies 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1 – 2, 35-39

Copyright 2015 by ASCO Amity University Rajasthan (ISSN 2231 – 1033)

How do Private Colleges in United Arab Emirates Use Facebook to Promote their Extracurricular Activities? Dr. Amr Assad Assistant Professor, Emirates College of Technology, UAE Email ID: [email protected] Social media applications enable academic institutions to get connected with their students, by posting and sharing college events and activities in their official pages. 483 posted extra curricular activities items in the college’s group on Facebook were analyzed from Fall 2011 till Summer 2015. The results found that the college’s page focused on different extracurricular activities, mainly on those related to patriotic events in the United Arab Emirates. However, students did not get much involved with the online content in the group. The study indicates that more research is needed to deeply explore the impact of Arab Universities’ use of social media on students’ motives to get positively engaged with the college extracurricular activities. Keywords: Facebook, Social Netwroking, Connectivity

INTRODUCTION

THE POPULARITY OF FACEBOOK AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS

Scholars point out the pivotal role of social media in our daily lives, especially in strengthening existing social ties among people, and building new online relationships.

Nowadays, the Social networking sites have attractedmany users worldwide, especially college students."Researchers from the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that between 67% and 75% of college-aged young adults (who may not necessarily be enrolled in college) use social networking websites" (Junco, 2012, p. 162) that "are part of their daily routines" (Hamid, Waycott, Kurnia, &Chang, 2010, p. 1416). "Facebook is the most popular social media site with over one billion monthly users.Research has shown that anywhere between 85 and 99% of college students use Facebook" (Ternes, 2013, p. 7). Selwyn (2007) argues that Facebook has "become an important site for the informal, cultural learning of ‘being’ a student, with online interactions and experiences allowing roles to be learned, values understood and identities shaped" (p. 18).

Additionally, it "is a powerful tool used for instantly transferring ideas across wide groups of individuals. Instantly connected to this information, individuals are empowered with the means to send messages, links to websites, and other types of media" (Gonzalez et al. 2013, p. 43). "Social media may include various components like social networking sites, blogs, wikis, microblogs and virtual worlds. Social networking is an important part of social media" (Alsurehi and Al Youbi, 2014, p. 222). "Social media networks have created a phenomenon on the internet that has gained popularity over the last decade" (Sponcil and Gitimu, 2013, p. 2).

"In a new survey conducted in September 2014, the Pew Research Center finds that Facebook remains by far the most popular social media site. While its growth has slowed, the level of user engagement with the platform has increased" (Duggan, Ellison, Lampe, Lenhart, &Madden, 2015, p. 2).

They"are websites that allow users to connect to one another based on shared interests, activities, or characteristics" (Mastrodicasa and Metellus, 2013, p.22). "Research even shows that their use can be linked to better grades, engagement, satisfaction with the university experience, and persistence from first to second year" (Heiberger and Junco, 2011, p. 7).

In United Arab Emirates, "there were 2.3 million Internet users by March 2008,accounting for 49.8 35

percent of the total population" (Shen, &Khalifa, 2010, p. 54). And this increased to "8,807,226 internet users as of Dec31, 2014; 93.2% of the population" (Internet World Stats, 2015).

Generally,several studies conclude that social media has been successful in connecting students with the college events andextracurricular activities (Deandrea, Ellison, Larose, Steinfield, & Fiore, 2011; Junco, 2012; Rios-Aguilar, González Canché, DeilAmen, & Davis III, 2012; Ruud, 2013;Ternes, 2013; Yingxia, 2010;Yu, Tian, Vogel, & Kwok, 2010).Furthermore, Lin and Farnham(2013) suggestthat social networking sites help students to acquire new skills in different types of activities, for example some students use Youtube for the purpose of learning some techniques in sports, moreover students report that social media is useful in developing their artistic abilities.

"Facebook in particular has become very popular among young people in the UAE" (Shen, &Khalifa, 2010, p. 55).There are "3,442,940 subscribers for Dec 31, 2012, according to Facebook" (IWS, 2015).

COLLEGE EXTRANETWORKING SITES

CIRCULAR

ACTIVITIES

IN

SOCIAL

"The current generation of students entering higher education are digital natives who have been raised in a techno-centric world where omnipresent technologies play an integral role in human life and where new innovations are quickly absorbed and assimilated" (Buzzetto-More, 2012, p. 63). Thus "Many on college campuses are beginning to take advantage of social media to interact with their students" (Ternes, 2013, p. 19), and "event-based information sharing and seeking are common user interaction scenarios on the Web today" (Sarolkar, Nagori, 2013, p. 26), especially in online groups that help users to keep in touch with each otherby "by sharing updates, photos or documents" (Facebook, 2015).

Blogs also have been one of the most powerful social tool that connect students with the events and extracircular activities in the college campus (Tillman, Dinsmore, Chasek,&Hof, 2013).

METHODOLOGY Descriptive content analysis of the timeline content in the Emirates College of Technology’s official group in Facebookwas conducted since the creation of the page in Fall 2011 till Summer 2015. The focus of this study is mainly on Facebook for the following reasons, first: Emirates College of Technology used Facebooksolely in 2011 to post and sharestudents’ activities in the college, second: the group attracted more than 56,486 fans, most of them are the college students,alumni, faculty, and the staff,third:the recent college’s online presence in Twitterand Youtubedidn’t gainpopularity among collegestudents, fourth: the page admin in Twitter and Youtube did not publish anydifferent content than Facebook page.

"Social scientists have concluded that joining and being involved in groups has a positive impact on health and well-being and that educational achievement rises when learners have a supportive associational life" (Buzzetto-More, 2012, p. 66). Al-Sharqi, Hashim, andKutbi (2015) argue thatundergraduate students at the King Abdulaziz University (KAU) Arts and Science use social networking sites to get connected with the college groups at Facebook.

A total of 483 items in the college page in Facebook were analyzed to explore the type of extracircularactivities being posted, the way content was displayed, and students’ type of interactions with the online content.

Similarly, British Students joined the university groups in Facebook to get actively engaged in the activities that take place in the university (Madge, Meek, Wellens, & Hooley, 2009).

An interrater reliability analysis using holsti formula was performed with another researcher on 10% of the study sample (48 items) to determine consistency among raters. The mean interrater reliability for the

"Program councils use Facebook pages and twitter accounts to promote upcoming events and let students know what is happening on campus" (Ternes, 2013, p.20). 36

coders was found to be 0.82 which is an appropriatereliability scoreinthis study.

Social activities (15.3%) showed the students’ contributions to their society, like for example, visiting children with special needs in Zayed Higher Organization, and actively participating in blood donation campaign with the Red Crescent Society of UAE, along with other major charitable ad societal activities across the country. Though the college’s page did not focus on theartistic and sport activities,

RESULTS As shown in Table 1, college’s group on Facebook shared activities related to patriotic events thatrepresented 47.8% of the total extracircularactivities, like the celebrations of the National Day in the United Arab Emirates, then cultural activities (15.9%) that aimed at developing students’ intellectual abilities through lectures and seminars, and workshops.

Type of activities Patriotic events Cultural activities Social activities Religious activities Artistic activities Sport activities Total

Content Display Images with texts Images Screenshots Total

Content Display Like No feedback Like and comment Share Total

as theyrepresented only 7.7%, 4.3%respectively.

Table 1 The Type of Extra- Circular Activities Frequency Percentage 231 47.8 77 15.9 74 15.3 43 8.9 37 7.7 21 4.3 483 100

Table 2 The Way Online Content is Shownin the Page Frequency Percentage 312 64.6 166 34.4 5 1 483 100

Table 3 Students’ Type of Interactions with the Online Content Frequency Percentage 288 59.6 168 34.8 16 3.3 11 2.3 483 100

37

Table 2 shows thatthe percentage of theimages with textswas 64.4% that documented the organized activities in the college campus, then the images of theextracurricularactivitiesonly (34.4%), and finally screenshotsthatrepresented only 1% only of the total sample that were mainly published articles in the local newspapers. According to Table 3, many students interacted with the content that was posted on the timeline by clicking only on thelike button (59.6%), though 34.8% of them did not give any kind of feedback on the posted items, while only very few students interacted positively with the content by clicking like and posting comment (3.3%), and sharing the posts in their profiles (2.3%).

in connecting students with the college life (Akyıldız, Argan, 2012; Al-Sharqi et al., 2015; Junco, 2012; Madge et al., 2009; Ruud, 2013; Ternes, 2013). Patriotic events came at the top of the extracurricular activities, followed by cultural and social activities. Most of the posted content were mainly images with texts that described thoseactivities, and though Facebook enable users to upload videos, college’s page did not show any visual content except images. Students used the least effort to interact positively with the posted activities, this could be explained by the fact that the Facebook admin did not encourage the students to post their experiences at college, or the content itself was not appealing enough to them.

DISCUSSION The result of this study is consistent with the previous studies that reported the role of Facebook REFERENCES Akyıldız, M., Argan, M. (2012). Using online social networking: students’ purposes of Facebook usageat the University of Turkey. Journal of Technology Research, 3. Retrieved from http://www.aabri.comwww.aabri.com/manuscripts/11 1085.pdf Al-Sharqi, L., Hashim, K.,&Kutbi, L. (2015, April). Perceptions of social media impact on students’ social behavior: A comparison between Arts and Science students. International Journal of Education and Social Science, 2 (4), 122-131. Alsurehi, H.A., & Al Youbi, A.A. (2014). Towards applying social networking in higher education: Case study of Saudi Universities. International Journal of Academic Research, 221-229. doi:10.7813/2075-4124.2014/6-5/B.33 Buzzetto-More, N. (2012). Social networking in undergraduate education. Interdisciplinary Journal of Information, Knowledge, and Management, 7, 63-90. Deandrea, D.C., Ellison, N.B, Larose, R., Steinfield, C., & Fiore, A. (2011). Serious social media: On the use of social media for improving students' adjustment to college. The Internet and Higher Education, 15-23. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2011.05.009 Duggan, M., Ellison, N.B., Lampe, C., Lenhart, A,.& Madden, M. (2015, January 9). Social media update 2014. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/09/socialmedia-update-2014 Facebook. (2015). Facebook help center. Retrieved from www.facebook.com/help Gonzalez, M.D., Davis, B.P., Lopez, D., Munoz, C., & Soto, G. (2013, September). Integration of social media in higher education environment. Insights to a Changing World Journal, (3), 43-62.

Hamid, S., Waycott, J., Kurnia, S., & Chang, S. (2010). The use of online social networking for higher education from an activity theory perspective. Paper presented at the Pacific Asia Information Systems (PACIS) 2010, Taipei, Taiwan. Heiberger, G., & Junco, R. (2011). Meet your students where they are: Social media. NEA Higher Education Advocate, 1-9. Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/HE/1109Advocate_p g06-09.pdf. Internet World Stats (2015). Usage and population statistics: United Arab Emirates – Internet usage, broadband and telecommunications reports. Retrieved from http://www.internetworldstats.com/me/ae.htm Junco, R. (2012). The relationship between frequency of Facebook use, participation in Facebook activities, and student engagement. Computers & Education,58(1), 162-171. Lin, P., &Farnham, S. (2013). Opportunities via extended networks for teens’ informal learning. Proceedings of the 2013 Conference on Computer SupportedCooperative Work, CSCW ’13 (pp. 1341–1352). ACM Press. doi:10.1145/2441776.2441927 Madge, C., Meek, J., Wellens, J. & Hooley, T. (2009, June). Facebook, social integration and informal learning at university: 'It is more for socialising and talking to friends about work than for actually doing work'. Learning, Media and Technology, 34 (2), 141-155. Mastrodicasa, J., &Metellus, P. (2013). The impact of social Media on college students. Journal of College and Character,14(1). doi:10.1515/jcc-2013-0004 Rios-Aguilar, C., González Canché, M.S., Deil-Amen, R., & Davis III, C.H.F. (2012). The role of social media in community colleges. Retrieved from

38

www.league.org/gettingconnected/files/The%20Role% 20of%20Social%20Media%20in%20Community%20Colle ges.pdf Ruud M. C. (2013).College student social Networking and its relationship to perceived social support(Doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign). Retrieved from https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142 /44305/Collin_Ruud.pdf?sequence=1 Sarolkar, P. K., Nagori, M. (2013, June). Planned events across social media sites using association rule mining based on autocorrelation.International Journal of Emerging Science and Engineering, 1(8), 26-28. Selwyn, N. (2007).Web2.0 applications as alternative environments for informal learning-A critical review. OECD CERI- KERIS International expert meeting on ICT and educational performance. Cheju Island, South Korea: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Shen, K., &Khalifa, M. (2010). Facebook usage among Arabic college students: preliminary findings on gender differences. International Journal of e-Business Management, 4(1), 53-65. Sponcil, M., &Gitimu, P. (2013). Use of social media by college students: Relationship to communication and selfconcept. Journal of Technology Research, 4, 1-13. Retrieved from http://www.aabri.com/jtr.html Ternes, J.A. (2013). Using social media to engage students in campus life. (Master's Thesis, Kansas State University). Retrieved from https://krex.k state.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2097/15596/Jacob Ternes2013.pdf?sequence=5 Tillman, R.D., Dinsmore, A. J., Chasek, L. C., & Hof, D. D. (2013). The use of social media in counselor education. VISTAS Online. Retrieved from http://www.counseling.org/docs/vistas/the-use-ofsocial-media-in-counselor-education.pdf?sfvrsn=2 Yingxia, C. (2010, November 17-19).Meeting the millennial college students: Examining their social media usage and establishing effective strategies. Paper presented at the 35th Annual conference at the California Association for Institutional Research. Retrieved from http://www.cair.org/wpcontent/uploads/sites/474/2015/07/SocialMediaandCo llegeStrategy_Posting.pdf. Yu, A. Y., Tian, S.W., Vogel, D., & Kwok, R.C. (2010). Can learning be virtually boosted? An investigation of online social networking impacts. Computers & Education, 1494-1503. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2010.06.015

39

Amity Journal of Media & Communication Studies 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1 – 2, 40-54

Copyright 2015 by ASCO Amity University Rajasthan (ISSN 2231 – 1033)

The Factors affecting the tendency of youth to consume marijuana in the age of pervasive media Dr. Mahin Sheikh Ansari Post Doc Student University of Tehran (Lecturer, Payame Noor University) Email ID: [email protected]

Mitra Godarzi Student University of Payame Noor University The present study deals with the impact of 20 to 25- year -old youth attitude to life on the tendency to consume drugs, particularly marijuana. Theoretically, we believe traditional values and norms related to the place and family among the young people fade out. The youth attitude toward life is changing, it is momentary and pervasive media accelerate this trend. Methodologically, this study is considered as a mixed cross-sectional one which has been used the online and offline survey to prepare quantitative data as well as in-depth interview and direct observation to gather qualitative data. Analysis unit was included the 16 to 36-year-old internet users which the sample size increased to 2347 individuals in the method of the research. By comparison, the interpretation of addicts born in two decades (1971- 1981) and (1991-2001) of their addiction and evaluation of members’ comments in the virtual groups, namely the Ministry of Education of marijuana, Marijuana Grass fans, Marijuana players and several other groups on Facebook have been used to understand what is going on in their minds. Keywords: Social Media, Addiction, Education

INTRODUCTION

Does youth marijuana users’ attitude to life impact

Nowadays, sentences such as “this is my body, I can

on their tendency to consume drugs?

do anything that I want”, “I’m afraid of being old

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

without using my youth,”“I wasn’t young,” or

The phenomenon of addiction is an intricate and

“enjoying life at this moment is a matter for

multidimensional problem and as well as other acts

consideration” are very common among youth. On

is a collective behavior (Sedigh Sarvesatani, 2006:

the other hand, in order to realize that the number of

51). Globalization and pervasive media develop

youth consuming drugs is increasing, referring to

network relations and youth meet strange people

Iranian addicted people statistics isn’t crucial. Talking for a short period of time with youth is sufficient. They explained some of their friends use

(Giddens,

2008:

77-78;

Network

relationships

Habermas, and

2007:

cultural

124).

diversity

undermines the role of values and norms related to

grass in their dormitory easily; they abuse Tramadol

location, tradition and family in youth identification

for euphoria or Ritalin for concentration at the exam

(Habermas, 2007: 124) and the role of peers in the

night. In this paper, it is tried to respond the

identification of young people is more effective than

following question:

in the past. Also, it faces them with too much 40

extended and vague choices increasing possibility of

answer the following questions to help our self-

their faults and errors.

understanding of society in the age of pervasive

In the other hand, it seems that globalization and

media.

network relationships lead youth to experience some

Research questions

kind of coincidence and momentary world (Gol Mohammadi, 2002: 246). For this reason, youth

1) Have values dependent on traditions and

doesn’t mean ignorance of the immediate needs to

customs

train and be prepared for a more secure life while it

weakened

is considered as a period of independence (Scheffers,

strengthened? And have pervasive media

2005: 19) that should enjoy it. Another problem of

accelerated this trend?

among and

Iranian have

youth

been

relativism

been

youth in modern society is multiplicity of experts

2) Is the attitude of Iranian youth to life

conflicting claims brought Uncertainty and doubt in

momentary? And have pervasive media

the scientific knowledge area to them (Giddens,

accelerated this trend?

2006: 255). This uncertainty in scientific knowledge has

intensified

taking

risk

among

youth

3) What is the Iranian marijuana consumer

in

youth interpretation of life?

comparison to the past. In Iran like other countries

4) What is the role of pervasive media in

by spreading of e-government, day by day the

youth’s tendency to use marijuana?

number of Internet users and social networks is

METHODOLOGY

being added. According to the latest statistics, the

Firstly, it is necessary to mention “the method is a

number of Internet users has reached to 45 million

set of practical arrangements, procedures and

and Facebook users 18 million (Abdullahyan, Sheikh

techniques used to collect and analyze the data

Ansari, 2013). With the creation of social networks of cell phones, and considering about

(Strauss, 2011: 25). In mixed-method, the researchers

69 million

are free to choose the methods and techniques; they

Iranians who have cell phone; it can be uttered

select methods and techniques according to field of

pervasive media has entered into the majority of

study aimed at better understanding of the problem

youth’s everyday life. The results of Abdullahyan,

of study (Creswell, 2003: 13-14). For this reason, the

Sheikh Ansari (2012) show that membership in

methodology of this study was selected based on a

social networks develops network relations and

mixed method. Beginning with the survey, by using

shifts daily life of Iranian youth (Abdullahyan,

the online and offline cluster approach in high

Sheikh Ansari, 2014). But the question that arises is

schools for boys and girls in Tehran with a sample of

what should be done to deal with changes which

2,437 people, we have evaluated the relative

pervasive media have imposed on our society safely

orientation and attitude to life. According to the

and with the least damage? Habermas believes that

phenomenologist “only a deviant’s interpretation of

the first step is a self-understanding and self-

his/her deviance is true (Sedigh Sarvesatani, 2006:

consciousness of society in the current situation

56). With in-depth interviews with addicts, we have

(Habermas, 2007: 125). This article was carried out to

tried to understand their mentality. Interviewed 41

people formed two groups of 35 to 40 and 20 to 25.

2.

Which of the following do you think is more

The addiction of the first group was high and they

accurate?

lived in the camp. The second group was university

o

Goodness and badness is relative and

students who did not regard themselves as an

what is bad in a country might not be so

addict. We believe that virtual network users in the

in another.

virtual space freely talk about their attitudes, beliefs,

o

It is not a matter of humans' goodness

ideals, social issues and demands and interact with

and

their Facebook friends. That's why the study and

opportunities and succeed while others

evaluation of their posts, comments, and public

are lazy or brainless and are always a

photos as well as semi public pages in cyberspace

loser in life.

can

help

social

and

political

researchers

to

o

comprehend what is going on in the community.

badness.

Some

use

the

Human’s goodness and badness is inherent.

Accordingly, we have tried to understand better the

MEASUREMENT OF YOUTH ATTITUDE TO LIFE:

phenomenon of drug addiction in our present era by

Youth attitude to life have been assessed by a scale

using direct observation and analysis of Facebook

with three options as follow:

users in pro- drug and pro- addiction abandoning

1.

groups.

Which of the following do you agree more? o

Samples in this study in qualitative approach:

Life is comprised of moments and should enjoy every moment of life.

MEASUREMENT OF YOUTH VALUES

o

Everybody

should

know

the

Youth values have been measured by two scales

purpose of life and try to reach the

with three options as outlined below.

goal with concise planning.

First scale: 1.

o

determined.

If there is dispute over one issue which

RESULTS:

option do you think is more correct? o

Evaluation of the first question:

Each opinion might view the issue from

1.

a specific perspective and all opinions

o

o

Fate of each person has been

Have values dependent on traditions and

can have a part of truth in themselves.

customs

A person should gather information to

weakened

study different opinions, choosing the

strengthened? And have pervasive media

one which is more scientific.

accelerated this trend?

The opinion, agreeing with our customs

among and

Iranian have

youth

been

relativism

been

The first scale evaluation show that the majority of

and traditions, is correct

Iranian youth believe that truth is relative. As we see in chart1, the greatest frequency belongs to the item

Second scale:

“Each opinion might view the issue from a specific perspective and all opinions can have a part of truth 42

in themselves” that 50.25 % of Facebook members

Facebook youth and 58.71 Facebook members; in

and 40.65 %of non-member users have chosen this

following stage, frequency of 35.05% of Facebook

option. The item refers to the relativity of truth. In

users and 28.85 % of non-member youth are

contrary, the third item “The opinion, agreeing with

allocated to the item “Life is comprised of moments

our customs and traditions, is correct” which refers

and should enjoy every moment of life.” With

to tradition has gotten the lowest frequency with

frequency of 6.24 on Facebook users and 11.33 of

5.43 %of Facebook users and 18.44% of non-member

non-member

of Facebook users. These results show that the

frequency is allocated to the item “Fate of each

values related to customs and traditions are fading

person has been determined.”

and weakening in youth whereas relativism is

youth

on

Facebook,

the

lowest

In sum, we can say that the values associated with

increasing among them, and Facebook members are

the tradition and customs among the young have

more relativist than those who are not Facebook

slipped and more than 40% of young people believe

members. Relativism means that the truth is not

in the relativity of truth, goodness and badness.

under the dominance of any view (Galeotti, 2001

More than 30 percent of young people believe that

and 2002).

they should enjoy the moments of life. It also seems

The evaluations of the second scale results show that

that membership in social networks strengthens the

43.79% of Facebook members have chosen the item

relativism among them.

"Goodness and badness is relative and what is bad

Evaluation of the third question:

in a country might not be so in another" that refers to the relativity of values and it is the largest

3. What is the interpretation of Iranian marijuana

percentage in comparison to the two other items. In

consumer youth of life?

other words, 15.33% of Facebook members and 19.25%

of

non-member

users

selected

We will respond to this question by comparing

item

statements of 35 to 40- year- old addicts in addiction

“Human’s goodness and badness is inherent. In

camp and 20 to 25-year-old marijuana consumers.

chart2, the frequency difference between Facebook users and people who aren’t Facebook users can be

Results of qualitative research show emotional, cultural

seen more obviously.

and educational upbringing problems in family are the most important factors of 35to 40 -year -old people’s

The second question analysis:

addiction in the sample.

2. Is the attitude of Iranian youth to life momentary?

It seems fathers in the family, as a model, play a

Results obtained from the third scale assessment

major role in the tendency of children to drugs in the

indicate that the highest frequency is related to the

first group and mothers play a neutral role in the

third scale item “Everybody should know the

children training or they make the situation more

purpose of life and try to reach the goal with concise

intricate for their children by creating tension. Here

planning” with frequency of 59.82 % non-member

we have examples to document. 43

Naser’s father was opium distributor. He was

family and a lot of relatives were consumer. I have

weighing and packing opium, in the presence of

inherited addiction disease genetically.”

children, and sometimes he used his children for

In addition, the results of qualitative data showed that

distribution. Naser says, “I grew up in a family that

addicted people in the first group acquired their values in

my father was a consumer. He was commuting to

the family.

Zabol and Zahedan to bring opium. I remember when I was little, there were a big plate and some

As Naser says, “When my father released from

weights in our home which were used for opium

prison, they sacrificed sheep for him. Past wasn’t

weighing and packing. All the time, there were

like now; impersonate had prestige and was

some tradesmen who were selling 1 or 2- kilo

impressive.” In response to the question, why you

opium. As a matter of fact, if members of one family

did not choose another way to live with observation

are doctors, their children will be a doctor too. Our

of your father and his addiction, he is saying, “all

members of the family were addict, we didn’t have

people in my home were consumer from morning to

required facilities.”

night. You let yourself now instead of me, you're somewhere that all are consumer; do you expect you

Mohsen, 37 years old and single with average

will be Einstein? As a general, anybody follows his

financial status, explains the reason of his addiction,

parent.”

“All requirements gathered to gather. In my family, my father was an alcoholic; when sat down at the

Mohsen, who has acquired his values from his

table to eat, we drank liquor instead of water. So, it

family too, in response to the question, why you

was considered as a normal manner from our

drank, says, “Because drinking wasn’t regarded as a

childhood and as a result, I started drinking.”

bad manner. All the time my father was telling that liquor is for men and the sign of his masculinity and

Ali, 40, who had a good economic situation and he

words like as this.” He continues, “I can’t remember

has started drinking since he was ten years old,

when I was a child, I started drinking. I began from

elucidates causes of his tendency toward addiction,

childhood

“My father drank; there were some arguments

because

it

wasn’t

thought

as

an

inappropriate and disapproval act in my family.”

between my parent. Therefore, I started drinking in order to diminish my stress. I was 16 years old when

Ali, 38, whose parent were addicted and a person

I initiated to consume black drugs (opium)…”

who was trying to run away from home and compensate his emotional deficiencies and spiritual

Ali, 38, says about his addiction, “Our home was too

vacuum among his friends, was absorbed by some

dull for me since I was the youngest member, I was

addicted friends, says about his relation with his

alone at home and I was feeling loneliness and

friends, “ they weren’t just my friend; I was addicted

desperation. Even sometimes I considered my

to them and I was too dependent on them. Even I

family as my enemy and cause of my misery.” He

didn’t like drugs without their presence. I was with

continues, “Family plays a vital role in children’s future. I myself, my father, and my brother in the

them day and night. My friends were my family and 44

the worst of my friends had priority over my

but I realized its addiction is worse. At that moment,

family.”

I was addicted to both crack and opium and I drank too. I consume all of them and a low dose wasn’t

The first group, while taking the new drug, they had no

convincing anymore.”

knowledge of the side effects and they hadn’t researched; they just used according to their friends and relatives

The results show two character traits perpetuates

offers. They claimed that if they were aware of new

drug use in the first group.

drugs side effects like crack and glass, they wouldn’t

37-year-old Mohsen and 40-year-old Ali declare that

have consumed.

they enjoy using drug too much. If it hadn’t lead to

Naser tells about this point, “when seeing in

being homeless, they wouldn’t think about giving

television that there is a possibility of creating

up. The reason of new drugs use was as a result of

worms in the body of anybody who uses crack and

curiosity. According to Modyrniya and at al. (2013)

grass, my father quit the addiction. If his addiction

results, hedonist and curious character is one of the

led to my addiction and to using crack now, his

most significant factors in youth addiction. However,

drug stopping resulted in my giving up.”

we believe that the reason of Ali and Mohsen’s addiction isn’t their hedonist character. They began taking drink

Ali, 38, tells about consuming new drugs such as

and drugs at the age of 10 which they didn’t have the

grass and crack, “Unfortunately in our country,

opportunity to experience other joys in life in this age.

before the entrance of new drugs, advertisement

Other psychological characteristics of Naser and Ali,

enters. For instance, it isn’t an addictive drug, is

38, are lack of self-esteem and spiritual vacuum. Ali

useful for the body, is good for the treatment of

says that I was consuming more among my friends

obesity or special kind of disease, is economical, has

to approve my character (Table 4).

simple consumption, doesn’t need a special place, and since it is a new one, side effects have never

Evaluation of 20 to 25-year-old youth in the second

seen."

group reveal that people in this group didn’t have a critical problem in their home except Saeed whose mother

Mohsen says: "The name of heroin was terrifying, so

left home and went abroad. Even Mahdi claims that he

they called it with some attractive names such as acid,

x,

and

etc.

and

introduced

has a very good relation with his parent and regards

various

them as his model.

consumption methods. We were fooled. We looked for drugs that were claimed they’re non- addictive.

All addicted youth in the second group have got

Gradually, I started, but I did not use morphine.”

familiar with marijuana by their friends and peers in dormitory. We document our claims by reporting

40 -year-old Ali says, “I used black drugs to the age

their comments.

of 25 or 26 until crack was entered. When crack was introduced, they claimed it isn’t composed of

Eman says, “Before being university student, I even

morphine. Due to this claim, I consumed. I thought

didn’t think about smoking; I loved football from

that it’s good, I can use it to give up the black drug

my childhood and I played professionally; I was 45

gifted in this field and…..when I was a freshman, I

his time with his friends. He is user and consumer

had three roommates. One day, one of my

of marijuana. 24- year-old Saeed and Omid have got

roommate’s friends came to our home; he had one

familiar with this drug through their friends.

paper in his hand in which he was spreading

The majority of addicts in the second group regard youth

something. I asked him what it was that you were

as being happy, enjoying life and pleasure. They said in

consuming. He explained about it briefly; I had

their statements that should enjoy life at the moment and

heard about. It was convincing for all people who

they were consuming marijuana for pleasure and

were consuming. I told him whether I could test it

enjoyment.

and I did; it was the first time that I used and I liked it since your mind becomes free for some moments

Mahdi says, “youth means happiness and pleasure”

and you can go out of your world.”

there is no difference for him how to be happy, he just wants to be happy” and claimed he has

Keyvan says, "A year after entering the university, I

achieved this enjoyment by using marijuana.

got familiar with this drug by my roommates. They were consuming and they were praising it a lot.

Likewise, Sina considers youth as being happy and

There was a similarity between their description and

pleasure. His friends are wealthy and hedonist. He

my background; the first time that I used, it was so

says, “If you have money, you will be happy and

satisfying for me and there was a congruity between

can fulfill all of your dreams.”

it and my presupposition. I'm not regretful now and

Keyvan in reply to the question of what you want to

even recommend that all people consume it. Mahdi

do in the future says, “I do not know, but I always

says, "In the past, I was consuming opium (when I

wanted to live as today passes well because I do not

was a freshman in the North); I imprisoned myself

know that I was dead or alive tomorrow, so I prefer

and put away the key and quit it wholly. I

to enjoy life and live at the moment.”

consumed marijuana in the birthday of my friend for the first time. From that point, I liked it. I was

All addicts in the second group researched about

consuming a little but I have increased its dose and I

marijuana and claimed they know its side effects.

got used.”

Mahdi said: "I gave myself a study which I have

Sina said: “I became familiar with this drug through

depicted its benefits and side effects and I found that

my friends; I had heard about it and I liked to

there are more benefits and it’s worth using it.

experience. The first time, I was afraid and I didn’t

Therefore, I’m consuming for 5 years.”

like the feeling that drug created. Although I

Eman said, "Before deciding to use, I researched; it

thought that it would be the first and the last time

does not have special side effects and is not

that I consumed this drug, I used for the second time

addictive".

too and I kept on.” He told, “All the time, the first usage is terrifying since they face something new

Keyvan told, “I didn’t afraid of being addict; I knew

and unfamiliar.” 26- year-old Saeed spends most of

it isn’t addictive and I myself don’t use anything 46

else, but I was terrifying of its hallucinations since I

convinced. I really like it; it gives you a very good

didn’t know what would happen for me.”

feeling. It really changes you. It promotes you one stage upper.” Likewise, Sina said that he was using

Omid in response to the question whether you are

marijuana for amusement.

afraid of being addict says, “No, since I had heard and researched that the drug wasn’t addictive; I’m

It seems that Saeed’s point of view differs from

using for spending time and amusement. It helps me

others. He says, “In my attitude, the reasons of

to release from my desperations and compensate my

people who use drugs and choose this style of living

spiritual vacuum.”

are their separation from problems for a while, their problems and conflictions at home.” It should be

Also, the addicts in the second group in the sample stated

mentioned that Saeed is the only one in the sample

that marijuana opened their minds and intellectuals

who has family problems. His mother has left the

consumed marijuana.

family and has gone abroad. He is the consumer in addition to being distributor.”

Mahdi says, “Since I use, my mind is more active and my mentality has changed. Most of educated

Female students didn’t accept to interview so we

people, especially students of design, philosophy,

express our observations. “Female students (in one

and majors whose students need to think more, use

of the cities in the north of Iran) who didn’t

these drugs.”

interview smoke cigar without awareness of their

Keyvan says, “When you consume these drugs, your

family. Even some of them use pills such as

view to life and everything change and you become

Tramadol for euphoria and sometimes drink and

an intellectual; you avoid absurd and futile

use marijuana.”

thoughts.”

Evaluation of the fourth question:

Eman said, “Using these drugs opens your mind

4.

and alter your perspective about life” and told,

Is the pervasive media effective in the youth tendency to use marijuana?

“Once it will be widespread like as cigar, you can see everywhere and even teenagers will consume.”

Evaluation of all 20 to 25-year-old marijuana consumers’ statements in the sample show that they

24-year-old Saeed told, “it makes my mind active,

have used Internet and cyberspace to search about

gives you good feeling; you can comprehend a lot of

marijuana and they concluded that marijuana is not

things which are not possible to understand without

addictive. In this regard, the results of direct

using this drug. It shows the way, enhances your

observation in virtual pro-marijuana groups in

understanding, strengthens your intuitive, and

Facebook show there are some comments about

promotes your attentions for details. I prefer

openness of mind with marijuana, pleasure of life

marijuana as amusement when my friends and I

moments,

gather together. In my opinion, those who don’t use

scientists

and

intellectual

use

of

marijuana, and cloth, bag, and shoes images with

are far behind us. It’s worth experiencing and I’m 47

symbol of marijuana on their page in virtual groups

best experiences and after the first use, I got a lot of

(table 3).

great experiences in successive usages.”

It is noteworthy that 20 to 25-year-old

marijuana consumers in this study mentioned that

In conclusion of response to fourth question, it can

Marijuana use was a sign of intellectual and it

be told that the existence of numerous sources with

opened the mind. Also, Eman who is one of the

inconsistent

marijuana users wears clothes with the symbol of a

information

on

the

Internet

(the

multiplicity of experts) has increased risk taking of

marijuana leaf and even placed its photos on his

youth in accepting painkillers side effects or using of

Facebook page (Slide 1).

marijuana. In addition, 20 to 25-year- old marijuana

Here are some examples of comments in virtual

users in respond to the question why they are

groups to document our claims. A post was shared

consuming marijuana told same asserts which were

in the Ministry of Education of marijuana group by

extended by the Marijuana fan virtual groups on

one of the users with this content: "please give me

Facebook.

some information about marijuana?" A number of

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

other users posted comments about the medical

The results of quantitative data revealed that

benefits of marijuana and that its risk is lesser than

traditional

cigar in his response. In the page of the Ministry of Education

of

marijuana,

the

name

of

values

among

Tehran

youth

had

weakened and relativism had strengthened. Social

some

virtual networks accelerate waning of traditional

renowned people like Einstein, Victor Hugo and

values and reinforcing relativism trend. Moreover,

others have mentioned that due to drug use, they

35 percent of Facebook members and 28 percent of

have their inventions. There is an image of Einstein

Facebook

on the page with the drug on his tongue. The

non-

members

believe

that

life

is

compromised of moments and they should enjoy

founder of the group spread the idea that the drug is

these moments. On the other hand, qualitative data

for intellectuals. In the comments as "Diary of a

of research show that all of 20 to 25-year-old

servant of God about his experience of taking Salvia"

marijuana users in this study believe life is

referred to the influence of drugs on the mind:

momentary and youth is a period that should be

“The time was around 12 p.m and I asked my friend

used and enjoy the most and they use marijuana for

to experience with each other…………. In some

enjoyment. The remarkable point is that all of them

moments, it becomes scary and unbearable mental

claim they had researched on the Internet before use

state……….it was so difficult to talk and mental

and they drew conclusion that its side effects were

data volume so high that it was impossible to

lesser than benefits. It seems that existence of

pursue the issue, or lengthening of time was too

numerous sources with inconsistent information

intensive that was really amazing in some moments

about marijuana has enhanced risk taking of youth

and all events in the mind were so rapid that it

in acceptance of side effects of marijuana. In

grabbed

situation

addition, marijuana youth consumers in this study

evaluation……..Salvia was considered as one of my

uttered same claims which were extended by the

the

opportunity

for

48

Marijuana fan virtual groups on Facebook and they

in the sample acquired their values from their

used symbols which were spread on Facebook on

family, they got addicted because they regarded

their private pages of Facebook. Furthermore, most

their father as their leader and model for life. They

of them had good relation with their family and

got familiar with drugs from adolescence and they

after being accepted in university, they began using

didn’t have an opportunity to experience other

drugs under the influence of their peers; in other

enjoyments and learn other ways of living. In other

words, they have learned consuming drugs as a

way, it can be told that the impact of peers has

style or living from their peers. While 35-40 addicts

increased on youth addiction.

REFERENCES Bauman, Z. (1998). Globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge Press

Çoban, B. (2009). Küreselleşme, direniş, ütopya yeni toplumsal hareketler küreselleşme çağında toplumsal muhalefet. Barış Çoban (hzl.).Toplumsal hareketler ve radikal medya. (s. 43-63). İstanbul: Kalkedon Yayınları.

Castells, M.& İnce M. (2006). Manuel Castells ile söyleşiler. (Kılıç E. Çev.) İstanbul: İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları

Çoban, S. (2009). Küreselleşme, direniş, ütopya yeni toplumsal hareketler küreselleşme çağında toplumsal muhalefet. Barış Çoban (hzl.).Yeni toplumsal hareketler ve iktidar sorunu. (s. 175-191). İstanbul: Kalkedon Yayınları.

Castells, M. (2005). Enformasyon çağı: Ekonomi, toplum ve kültür/ Birinci cilt ağ toplumunun yükselişi. İstanbul: İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları. Castells, M. (2008). Enformasyon çağı: Ekonomi, toplum ve kültür/ İkinci cilt kimliğin gücü. İstanbul: İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları.

Morozov, E.(2007). New Media Essentials. Prague: Paper Presented at Trassitions Online. Coşkun, M.K. (2006). Süreklilik ve Kopuş Teorileri Bağlamında Türkiye’de Eski ve Yeni Toplumsal Hareketler. Ankara Üniversitesi SBF Dergisi, Ankara: 60(1), 67-102.

Coşkuntuncel,A. (2013). Dijital demokrasi’nin ekonomi politiği. Evrensel kültür dergisi, (260),19-22 Cullum, B.(2010). Digital activism decoded: The new mechanics of change. Joyce, M (Ed). Devices: The power of mobile phones. (pp. 47-70) New York: İnternational debate education association.

Kongar,E. &Küçükkaya, A. (2013). Gezi direnişi. İstanbul: Cumhuriyet Kitaplığı

Table 1: addicts’ Profile in the age group of 35 to 40 years old Name Naser

Age 35

Education Third grade of

Economical

Length

status

addiction

low

15 year

of

Addiction type Drink

secondary

hashish,

school

opium,

, crack,

heroin Ali

38

secondary

average

17 year

school Mohsen

37

secondary

Drink,

glass,

crack average

20 year

All drugs

Very good

30 year

Drink , crack,

school Ali

40

diploma

opium, X and 49

acidic materials

Table 2: addicts’ Profile in the age group of 20 to 25 years old Name Eman

Age

Education

21

University

Economical

Length

status

addiction

good

3-4 year

of

student

Addiction type Pills, marijuana, drink

Keivan

21

University

Very good

3-4 year

marijuana

Very good

7 year

Pills,

student Mahdi

26

University student

Sina

20

opium,

marijuana

diploma

good

3 year

Marijuana, drink

Saeed

26

Associate

excellent

9 year

marijuana

Omid

24

Bachelor

----

5 year

marijuana

Saeed

24

Bachelor

----

4 year

marijuana

Table 3: Virtual study groups names on Facebook Virtual groups of selling and

Like number

content of comments and images in virtual groups

Marijuana Grass fan club

3446

Introduction of all kinds of drugs and explanations

Marijuana, Grass, grass

3390

about their planting and their effects.

The Ministry of Education of

2630

Images or links from people who grow marijuana at

advertising drug

home.

marijuana Marijuana

3436

Images of promiscuity and hedonism

Marijuana isn’t drug.

12219

Share drug users memories

Marijuana lovers

3716

Articles from Wikipedia or other sites about

Export original marijuana

2571

marijuana. Photos of bags, shoes and other items marked with marijuana leaves. Comments on celebrities such as Galileo and Einstein were the drug users and the reason of their genius 50

was using marijuana. Most users leave comments with first and surname. Table 4: effective reasons on the first group tendency toward addiction Name

Family

psychol

family values

Mother

Father

ogical

Awaren

characte

ess

ristics

new

of

drugs side effects Naser 30

Smoking years

old

in

wasn’t

so

Drug

dealer

neighborhood

effective

on

consumer

and

children training

and

Seeking

Didn’t

approva

know

l and he

impersonate

was

was

enjoying

considered as

drug.

prestige. Ali 40

His years

old

father

gave

him

drink he

when

was

10

Wasn’t effective

He was drinking and

He's

Didn’t

on

using opium.

enjoying

know

training.

Only

with

opposition

to

years old as it

the father was

was

making

considered

full of stress

sign

the drug too much.

home

of

masculinity. Mohsen

Drinking was

She didn’t have

He drank while he

Curious

Didn’t

37

the

any

detested drugs

and

know

years

old

sign

of

role

masculinity in

children

his

training.

father’s

in

hedonist

belief. Ali 38 old

years

Did not have

She didn’t have

Consumer father and

Spiritual

Didn’t

any emotional

any

brother

vacuum

know

relationship

children

and

with family

training.

taken

role

in

51

refuge to friends to compen sate Table 5: effective Factors on the tendency of people to use marijuana in the second group name

Family

Their

attitude

It seems the family has a lesser

about

marijuana,

role

youth, and life

in

the

addiction

of

peers

Awareness

of

marijuana

children Eman

His

relation

it

He was affected by

He has searched

members was normal and her

makes his mind

his roommates and

about

sister

active

consumed drugs

before using and

was

with aware

family of

his

He

believes

marijuana use told her parents

he

is

that marijuana wasn’t harmful.

symbol

marijuana using

its

on

his

Facebook page Mahdi

A very good relation with his

He believes youth

In the North and

He searched about

family, educated and religious

means

in dormitory

marijuana

family

cheerfulness,

it

even has written

makes his mind active

and

about it

and

intellectuals use it. keyvan

He didn’t have close relation

He

and told that his father was

makes his mind

were

very afraid of addiction of his

active and you can

members

children and always looked

select

suspicious to them

better.

26-

Mother has left them and has

He believes using

He

year-

gone abroad. His parent just

drugs

friends most of the

old

carries the name of mother or

problem

time

Saeed

father.

avoidance and he

marijuana

looks for money

distributor.

For

He has rich and

Sina

Merchant father and religious

believes

your

it

friends

who

Facebook

He

has

about

studied its

side

effects

way

is

for

amusement 52

By

is

with

and

he

his

He knows that it has side effects

is

He searched about

mother. He believes that his

and

parent just thinks about their

have any goal and

believes it’s non-

reputation and his brother is

think

addictive

addict.

everything.

24-

I have a good relation with my

For

year-

mother but I started argument

among friends

old

with

saeed

became aware of my addiction

my

father

when

he

doesn’t

money

hedonist friends

is

amusement

peers

marijuana

He

believes

and

it’s

non- addictive, just

he

the dosage should be controlled.

and he didn’t talk with me for a while. Omid

--------

For

amusement

peers

among friends

He has searched about

marijuana

before using

Chart 1: relative frequency of relativity of truth

53

Chart 2: relative frequency of relativity of values

Chart 3: Measurement of life consideration as being momentary

Slide 1: An image of Eman’s private page on Facebook

54

Amity Journal of Media & Communication Studies 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1 – 2, 55-65

Copyright 2015 by ASCO Amity University Rajasthan (ISSN 2231 – 1033)

Corporate Response Strategies: Indian Brands Manage Negativity on Social Dr. Smeeta Mishra Associate Professor Institute of Management Technology Email ID: [email protected] The public nature of consumer complaining on the Internet has made brand communication with angry customers unpredictable, risky and tough. This study examines three cases involving consumer complaints made on social media against Indian brands: Amul, Snapdeal and Air India. Analysis of their brand communication shows that while these firms made several correct moves in their quest to manage negativity on social media, they still have a long way to go. Brands today not only need to manage perceptions of fairness in their handling of an issue in a public forum, but they also need to keep their tone both conversational and polite while engaging with a complaining consumer. Apart from making their responses persuasive and impactful, brands need to take into accountthe views of other consumers who are observing the onlineinteraction. They also have to ensure that other brands do not capitalize on the social media turbulence faced by them. Much of this is possible if brands re-frame their goal of merely containing bad news whenever there is an online outcry against them to that of using the opportunity for improved customer loyalty and brand experience. Keywords: Social Media; Consumer Complaints; Brand Communication; Crisis Communication.

INTRODUCTION Consumer complaining is transforming from a private affair shared with friends and family to a public phenomenon on the Internet (Ward &Ostrom, 2006). Today, Indian consumers, just liketheir counterparts across the world, can share their grievance against a company with thousands of other people at little cost to them. HennigThurau et al., (2010) compare the process of brands managing relationships with consumers akin to playing “pinball” where the course is often unpredictable and “the slightest misuse can be amplified into a catastrophic crisis” (p. 313). In such a scenario, how a brand deals with “negative electronic word-of-mouth” assumes tremendous importance and brands have to tread with care since miscommunication can escalate things and lead to a full-blown crisis (Noort&Willemsen, 2011). In fact, a single complaint can spiral out of control and affect the reputation of the firm. Hence, determining the appropriate corporate response to a negative situation becomes critical.

This study is based on three cases that draw upon events that happened in the year 2014-15 involving known Indian brands: Amul, Air India and Snapdeal. Specifically, the study examines response strategies of the firms to online complaint messages posted by consumers. Such a study of corporate responses to negative electronic word-of-mouth has substantial implications. How companies deal with online complaints from consumers is an important area of study considering the fact that India has more than 300 million Internet users and is home to the second largest Internet user base in the world in the year 2015 (“IAMAI says,” 2015). While Internet penetration stands at a limited 19 percent, it also shows tremendous potential for growth, especially through rapid spread of mobile Internet in nonmetro and rural areas (“IAMAI says,” 2015). Examining corporate responses to consumer complaints is also critical because every organization is interested in turning dissatisfied customers into happy ones who remain loyal to the company by continually buying its products. 55

Research also shows that “negative electronic word-of-mouth” (NWOM) about brands have “detrimental effects on all phases of the consumer decision-making process, including brand evaluation, brand choice, purchase behavior and brand loyalty” (Noort&Willemsen, 2011, p. 131). However, before an analysis of the three cases involving the three Indian brands, the following section reviews literature relevant to this study.

terms of consensus for his viewpoint and the vividness with which he presents his story, the more likely observers were to negatively evaluate the company and hold it accountable for the situation. However, the researchers noted that compared to vividness, consensus played a more crucial role in the process thus highlighting the need to take into account the responses of other consumers to an online complaint message.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Thus, the online environment poses new challenges for organizations because they not only need to take the individual complaint into account while framing their response but also how other Internet users are responding to the complaint. Publicly-posted complaints can become very damaging when they garner support from other consumers even as organizations have little power to control it, especially after it has gained momentum online.

Although research shows that negative word-ofmouth can cause substantial damage to a brand, few studies have focused on the online context (Lee & Song, 2010). Among them, the one conducted by Lee and Song (2010) with 234 students from two Korean universities is highly pertinent to this study. The researchersconducted an experiment with these students to examine the effect of different types of corporate response strategies on attribution and company evaluation. They found that consumers positively value accommodative strategies adopted by a company which include explanations, apology and/or compensation offered by it. Defensive strategies, wherein the company denied responsibility for the event, attacked the consumer and/or shifted blame to others, were viewed negatively by consumers. In fact, such strategies often led the consumer to believe that the company was at fault (Lee & Song, 2010). However, the researchers also caution that a company’s corrective actions may be “considered as accepting responsibility for the negative events, which may provoke blame for the incidents” (Lee & Song, 2010, p. 1079). Thus, the researchers conclude that corporate response strategies to online complaints can be a “double-edged sword” as even corrective actions may not always lead to desirable outcomes. In such a situation, they suggest that companies should not only take the specific complaint into account while choosing their response strategy but also consider the views and responses of other consumers’ on the issue (Lee & Song, 2010).

Noort and Willemsen (2011), researchers at the University of Amsterdam, conducted an experimental study to identify most effective ways in which companies can deal with negative electronic word of mouth (NWOM) and found that a brand is evaluated more positively when it responds to an online outcry than when it remains silent. The researchersalso found that how consumers evaluated a brand’s response to online complaints depended on whether the brand followed a proactive or reactive “webcare” strategy and the type of platform on which the complaint was posted. Noort and Willemsen (2011) defined “webcare” as “the act of engaging in online interactions with (complaining) consumers, by actively searching the web to address consumer feedback (e.g., questions, concerns and complaints)” (p. 133). To elaborate, the researchers found that when a brand offered reactive webcare, that is, when it responded to NWOM after a customer explicitly requested a response, it was viewed positively both in consumer-generated and brand-generated platforms. However, brands that followed proactive webcare strategies in consumergenerated platforms were not perceived as

More specifically, Lee and Song (2010) found that the higher level of support a consumer gets in 56

positively: “A proactive webcare response to NWOM is unsolicited in the context of a consumer-generated platform, thereby resulting in less positive brand evaluations” (Noort&Willemsen, 2011, p. 138).

Conlon and Murray (1996)draw upon Greenberg’s (1990) typology of explanations in analysing corporate responses to product complaints. In their response to complaints, companies may use three types of explanations: excuses where the company does not take any responsibility for the situation; apology where the company both accepts responsibility and expresses regret for the situation; and finally, justifications where the organization accepts responsibility but assertively explains why it happened (Greenberg, 1990; as cited in Conlon & Murray, 1996).

The researchers also found that a brand is perceived more positively when it engages with complaining consumers with a “conversational human voice.” They pointed out that “a company demonstrates a high level of conversational human voice in its communications if it is open to dialog, welcomes conversational communication, and provides prompt feedback addressing criticism with a direct, but uncritical manner” (Noort&Willemsen, 2011, p. 134).

On examining company responses to customer complaints in a field study, Conlon and Murray (1996) found that the most frequently used corporate response strategy combined the “humility of an apology” with the “assertiveness of a justification” (p. 1051). In their response to customer complaints, organizations often asked for more information about the situation from the customer, asked for return for the defective product and offered compensation, whether partial or complete (Conlon & Murray, 1996). The researchers also found that the more time an organization took in responding to a consumer complaint adversely affected how their explanation was received.

While online environments bring up new factors that an organization needs to consider while responding to consumer complaints, a central observation remains the same for both online and offline contexts: An organization that displays compassion and an accommodative attitude toward the consumer in its response strategy stands more chances of being viewed positively by the consumer than one that does not. This observation is common both to online and offline environments. For instance, Coombs (1999) conducted a study with114 crisis managers and found that showing compassion had a positive effect on organizational reputation in times of crisis. Furthermore, Coombs (1999) also emphasized that showing compassion does not always imply taking responsibility for a crisis. However, it does help build credibility for the organization.

Apart from the content and timing of the corporate response, another important category is the medium used to deliver the message to the consumer(s). Schultz, Utz and Göritz (2011) examined the role of the medium in different communication strategies and its impact on corporate reputation and concluded that organizations should “strategically reflect on their media choice and the target groups’ media use” while formulating their response to a crisis situation (p. 26).

In another study conducted in the offline context, Conlon and Murray (1996) examined company responses to customer complaints among university students. The researchers point out that customers are not just interested in the outcome of a particular complaint but also with the “perceived fairness of the process used to resolve conflicts and administer rewards” (p. 1041), an observation made earlier by Goodwin and Ross (1992) in their study of consumer responses to service failures.

Drawing upon the above review of literature and keep the purpose of this study in mind, this paper seeks to exploreanswers to the following research questions: RQ1: How do Indian brands manage consumer complaints online? 57

In continuation of my post regarding the snapdeal issue,here's a bit of good news to talk about!!!:)Thanks to the power of social media websites like "FB" where nearly 19,000 people and still counting have shared my status which made Snapdeal sit and look up. The good news is that Snapdeal have refunded the full amount of money paid by me. Their media in-charge contacted me through phone and apologized for the goof up (Krishnamurthy, 2014).

RQ2: What factors should an organization take into account while formulating its response to a consumer complaint which is publicly posted on a social media platform? All the three case studies discussed below either deal with allegations of a tainted product or problematic service by a brand.

SNAPDEAL-KRISHNAMURTHY CASE In October 2014, Mumbai-based Laxminarayan Krishnamurthy ordered a Samsung Core Duos phone on Snapdealas a birthday gift for his wife.Snapdeal,an ecommerce website which started out as a daily deals platform in 2010, has grown to be one of the largest online market places in India today. Krishnamurthy’s experience with Snapdeal did not go as expected.On October 24, 2014, Krishnamurthy posted his ordeal with Snapdealon his Facebook account accompanied by three vivid photographs. He wrote:

This post also included detailed advice from Krishnamurthy for Snapdeal. He suggested that the specific supplier partner should be blacklisted and that Snapdeal should have its own courier service. Krishnamurthy also suggested that Snapdeal should have a quality inspection process for the goods being sold on its website. However, this post on the resolution of the problem was only shared by 77 people. Finally, on November 1, 2014, Krishnamurthy expressed his delight, not with Snapdeal but with Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) on his Facebook account. HUL, which is owned by the Anglo-Dutch company Unilever, has established itself in India in many product categories including food, beverages, detergents, personal care products, water purifiers, etc. In fact, 16 of HUL’s brands featured in the AC Nielsen Brand Equity list of 100 Most Trusted Brands Annual Survey in 2014 (ET Bureau, 2014). Krishnamurthy wrote:

Had ordered a samsung mobile through snapdeal and we got a soap bar!!!The worst customer service ever received!!!Beware of snapdeal guys!!it's a fraudulent e-retail company.We have lost our money and there's been no response from snapdeal whatsoever (Krishnamurthy, 2014). Although Krishnamurthy’s FB profile shows he has only 103 friends, the post was not marked to his friends alone but was visible to the public as well. In no time, the post went viral and was shared by nearly 22,000 people. Many FB users commented on Krishnamurthy’s situation, expressing their shock and offering possible solutions for him. Replying to a user’s comment on October 28, 2014, Krishnamuthy wrotethat “Snapdeal has finally promised to return the money within 5-6 working days!!”

Thanks to the Hindustan Unilever Mumbai for graciously presenting us with a#‎samsung‬ ‬ core duo mobile and #‎vim‬ ‬ liquid soap bottles.I had been wanting to gift this mobile to my wife during the snapdealdiwali bumper sale.Cheers to the #‎snapdeal‬ #soapdeal issue which has been ‬ hitting the headlines across people who relate with this issue of ordinary people like us— feeling excited(Krishnamurthy, 2014).

On October 31, 2014, which was an entire week since the initial complaint was posted on Facebook, Krishnamurthy reported that Snapdeal had finally refunded him the money. Here’s an excerpt from his post:

This post was accompanied by a photograph of the letter from HUL, a Samsung Core Duo Mobile and two bottles of Vim liquid soap. Here’s an 58

excerpt from the Krishnamurthy:

letter

HUL

wrote

Ltd. (GCMMF), is India's largest food product marketing organisation with an annual turnover (2014-15) of US$ 3.4 billion.The company’s website describes the brand in the following words: “The Amul brand is not only a product, but also a movement. It is in one way, the representation of the economic freedom of farmers. It has given farmers the courage to dream. To hope.To live.” The brand came under scrutiny on social media on October 10, 2014, when NehaTomar, a senior legal officer with a public health organization, posted her “personal experience” with using Amul Gold Milk on Facebook:

to

The pictures you posted online show that our brand was used in this incident. Vim is one of our iconic brands with some great consumer franchise. We felt bad about it, not to mention what you went through. Here is a small gesture from our side to cheer you up (Rai, 2014). HUL had been successful in showing that it cared. It had capitalized on the incident and had not hesitated to spend a little money to show its goodwill. In fact, the customer care people at HUL took care to draft a warm, non-template-like message for Krishnamurthy. Referring to HUL’s move, Rai commented, “This was really one epic marketing tactic by HUL, Vim’s parent company.”

…when we started boiling the milk, within 2 min what came out is shown in these pictures. It is some dangerous substance that came out. I thank to god that my family did not consumed this milk….I request everyone to stop taking amul milk, as we need to take strict actions to stop amul from making this deadly milk. Please spread this message so that respective authorities can take strict, stringent actions against amul (Tomar, 2014).

HUL’s brand communication stands in sharp contrast with that of Snapdeal. Rarely does a person receive a soap bar in place of a mobile phone. Snapdeal could have treated Krishnamurthy’s case as an exception and gifted him the phone or at least responded and resolved his problem sooner. It could have sent a birthday gift for his wife. Such a gesture would have made Krishnamurthy praise Snapdeal on Facebook. Instead, Krishnamurthy mentioned Snapdeal’s promise to refund the money only as a reply to a comment on his FB post. It was only after Snapdeal actually refunded the amount that Krishnamurthy posted it separately.

The post was accompanied by highly vivid pictures of a thickstretchy substance coming out of the boiling milk. The post received as many as 193,296 shares and 9,861 likes by September 2015. The post also received many comments from extremely concerned users, especially families with children who consume Amul milk. For instance, an user wrote, “oh my god..this is crazy rather scary.. We all take Amul milk only..Nehapls update on any reply you get from Amul to help others also. thanks for sharing.”

Furthermore, it may be noted that although Krishnamurthy was not a key influencer on Facebook with thousands of friends and/or followers, his post on the Snapdeal goof up was shared by nearly 22,000 people, which highlights how fast negative word of mouth spreads on social media.In contrast, his post on Snapdeal’sapology and refunding the price of the mobile phone was only shared by 77 people.

On October 14, 2014,Amul replied to NehaTomar’s Facebook post with a 513-word reply accompanied by photographs and a video (Amul, 2014). The post questioned the authenticity of Tomar’s claims by providing detailed timelines regarding the timing of the post and the day she called Amul customer care with the problem. The post further detailed that Amul customer care had visited Tomar’s home on October 11 to investigate the matter. On October 13, the customer care

AMUL-NEHATOMAR CASE Amul, which markets itself as the “Taste of India,” was founded in 1946 in Anand, a small town in Gujarat. Amul’s marketing organization, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation 59

consumer.... Good they gave explaination[sic] but saying anything about consumer is nt required... We are consumers and have the right to raise our voice against anything wrong.... So better no one try to threaten us.” This comment received 163 likes and 16 replies.

representatives visited her again and informed her that they had checked all batches of Amul milk including the one that was alleged to be tainted and found them to be problem free. They alsoposted a video that explained why the process of making cheese by boiling sour milk leads to the formation of a “stretchy mass.”

Yet another user wrote, “serving India since six decades still couldn't find one person who can give a polite reply to a customer's view. Here, Ya she may be wrong but u r not right either, not the way u responded.” This comment received 101 likes. Yet another user pointed out that an ordinary consumer is not supposed to know why milk could result in a stretchy mass and that Amul was “making the poor consumer sound like a criminal jst coz she complained.” Such responses that highlighted the rude tone Amul used to reply to Tomar were very popular in terms of the number of “likes” they received from other users.

However, Amul ended its post with accusations against the consumer including those of misrepresentation of facts and intention to malign the brand:

Excerpt from Amul’s reply to Neha Tomar on Facebook ….We do not understand that why the consumer used her official position to make such complaint without knowing the fact. The customer when contacted and replacement was provided on 11th Oct, was requested to update her post with a clarification of her satisfaction with explanation provided by us. However it took more than 48 hours for the consumer to mention the same on her wall. She even told that our officers that she will update the same post on 13th evening. But till time of posting this, it has not been updated with correct information. Also, the facts have been carefully concealed by her to generate and sustain the hype.

However, some users also pointed out that one should be cautious while posting material that could damage the reputation of a trusted brand. For instance, a user commented, “I'm a regular consumer of AMUL GOLD Milk and felt really hurt reading such atrocious reviews. It takes years of quality service and commitment for a brand to stand apart from the rest. In spite of several new players in the market, AMUL is still our most trusted and endearing brand. Let's think twice before tarnishing AMUL or any brand for that matter. There's always a win-win strategy in any situation! Jai Amul!” Another user wrote, “Perfect example of addressing a customer complaint with proper analysis and crisp explanation... Amul, not just the taste but the SPIRIT OF INDIA.. Well done..”

We wish to clarify that there has been absolutely no problem with the fresh milk that we supply in the market. Based on the misrepresentation of facts by the said consumer, we infer that the expired milk used by the complainant was deliberately abused to malign the brand. As a brand owned by 3.5 million milk producers, we are serving you from last six decades and we take utmost pride in the quality that we provide to you. This post received 6,221 likes and 3,191 shares by September 2015.

The case study shows that Amul did a good job by providing a detailed response based on thorough investigation of the matter. However, one may note that while the damaging post by Tomar was posted on October 10, 2014, and was shared thousands of times thereafter, Amul posted its reply on October 14, 2014. Four days is a long time on social media. Amul could have continually reported every development on social media to

While many FB users expressed their satisfaction with Amul’s detailed response and adequate investigation of the matter, others expressed shocked at the tone in which Amul referred to the consumer. For instance, a female user wrote,“But dont understand why amul is defaming this 60

Sending out a denial statement in three different tweets is not a good way to get one’s message across. The hashtags were also randomly chosen in the tweets.

concerned consumers even as it investigated the matter instead of waiting to post a detailed report after four days. Moreover, many customers and observers did not appreciate Amul’s use of a combative and derogatory tone in its detailed reply to Tomar.

Apart from tweeting its denial, Air India also issued a press release. A comparison of the text of the press release with that of the tweets shows that the text in both is similar.

It is also important to note that what helped Amul deal with the crisis effectively is its popularity among consumers. The brand enjoys a “halo effect” and evokes nostalgia among many consumers. Apart from its products, the brand continues to draw eyeballs for its advertisements that combine a witty take on current affairs with the promise of the brand, presented beautifully by the ever-popular Amulmascot, a little girl in a polka-dot dress.

Air India denies “lizard in meal tray” incident June 15, 2015 This has reference to the news reports on various platforms including the social media that a passenger had found "a lizard in his/her meal tray" on board AI 111 (Delhi-London) of 11th June 2015 (Thursday), with photograph. Air India has investigated the "incident" and has found it to be false and baseless. No such complaint by any passenger of the flight has been received on board the flight or at the Air India office in London.

AIR INDIA-LIZARD CASE A vivid photo of a lizard poking out from under a bun on a meal tray allegedly served on an Air India flight went viral in mid-June 2015. However, the origin of the photo and the first Twitter account to post the photo was unclear (Morris, 2015). One of the tweets on the incident posted on June 13, 2015, stated “@Rajeev_romy Air India passenger finds lizard on in-flight meal tray seized during Delhi-London flight ?????”(Morris, 2015). The tweet was accompanied by the same photograph of the lizard on the meal tray. The same day, Air India issued a 3-part statement on Twitter: “@Airindiain #clarification #Denial #Air India would like to clarify that the news on Twitter & elsewhere regarding a “lizard in meal tray (1/3)”. The first tweet ended mid-sentence and the second tweet followed: “@Airindiain On board AI 111 Del-LHR of 11th June, is #false & #baseless (2/3).” The third part of the statement, which was posted in the third tweet, stated: “No such complaint has been received from any passenger on board the flight or at Air India office in LHR (3/3)” (Morris, 2015).

Air India also created a hashtag #IStandwithAirIndiaon Twitter which the airline’s customers and other users could use to tweet their support for the airline. For instance, a user tweeted on June 14, 2015, “@sndpdabas #IStandwithAirIndia U served me best food, ur hospitality is best in class ndur in-flight entertainment is always an awesome experience.” Several people used a nationalistic tone in their tweets to support the airline. For instance, a user tweeted “@real_rajiv @airindiain I am proud of national carrier #IStandwithAirIndia.” Yet another user tweeted “@soumitpnak…keep the flag flying high @airindiain #IStandwithAirIndia.” Many Indians associate Air India with the country’s aviation history and nationalistic goals and the airline leverages such emotions well. In fact, an excerpt from the “About Air India” section in the press release also shows how nationalistic premise is built into the brand: “Air India occupies a special place in the global and Indian aviation scenario. It pioneered the aviation in India and its history is synonymous with the history of civil aviation in India. Air India is not a mere airline

While Air India did a brilliant job by first taking up the issue on the social media platform where it was brought up, what the social media team at the organization need to understand is that following a press release format for tweets will not help. 61

baggage and discusses key

directly dealing with a product complaint from a specific consumer as much as containing the damage caused by what seemed like a hoax picture going viral.

Every consumer complaint, whether posted in an online public forum or not, presents an opportunity for a brand to positively engage with its customers. However, as emphasized by Conlon and Murray (1996), consumers are not just interested in the “outcome” of their complaint alone. They are also evaluating the brand by the process it uses to reach a resolution, if any, and the nature of its interactions with the complaining consumer. Nate Bennett and Chris Martin, both researchers in the United States, explain that in order to successfully deal with customer dissatisfaction expressed online, companies need to work along principles of fairness: Beyond the frustration they encounter when a product fails to meet expectations, customers share a multidimensional sense of indignation when they feel mistreated. We have found that consumers in fact evaluate the distributive, procedural and interactional fairness of a transaction. Companies can please or disgruntle consumers along any or all of these dimensions (Bennett & Martin, 2007).

In the quest to quell customer dissatisfaction, Noort&Willemsen (2011) also emphasize the importance of brands displaying a “conversational human voice” in their interaction with complaining consumers. Tweets that sound scripted or similar to the format of a traditional press release may not work on social media. And,that is exactly what happened in the Air India case where the organization’s response tweets denying the presence of a lizard on the meal tray appeared canned. The tweetswere neither precise nor conversational.

that transports passengers, cargo.” The following section takeaways from the three cases.

DISCUSSION

In contrast, McDonald’s response to the “Seriously McDonald’s” hoax picture that went viral in 2011 shows that a brand can issue a strong denial in 140 characters. The photograph, which showed a sign on the window of a McDonald’s restaurant, claimed that McDonald followed racist policies and charged extra from African Americans. In response, McDonald’s denial tweet stated: "That pic is a senseless & ignorant hoax. McD's values ALL our customers. Diversity runs deep in our culture on both sides of the counter”(“McDonald’s issues,” 2011).While Barger (2011) points out that McDonald’s could have individualized their statement better and posted it on multiple social media platforms and not just on Twitter, he also praises the brand for the nature of its response: “McDonalds’ response was adequately indignant, made clear their position on the rumor, and reaffirmed the company’s commitment to diversity. It was a textbook statement on how to respond to a rumor in 140 characters.”

The three case studies discussed above illuminate how each brand negotiated this complex process along multiple dimensions. For instance, while Amul displayed a certain degree of “procedural fairness” by investigating the matter thoroughly, it did not show “interactional fairness” as the nature of its interactions with the consumer were rude and accusatory, as pointed out by other Facebook users observing the exchange. Moreover, Amul waited for four days before it posted its final reply instead of continually keeping consumers informed about the steps it was taking to investigate the accusations made against it. Meanwhile, Snapdealdamaged perceptions of “distributive fairness” which refers to how the customer evaluates the outcome of the complaint and related interaction. In case of Air India, however, the goal was slightly different. Unlike in the case of Snapdeal and Amul, Air India was not

Tellingly, the case studies also highlight the importance of the medium in drafting corporate response strategies to negative electronic word-ofmouth.Since the complainant posted the lizard picture on Twitter, Air India responded on Twitter as well. It also posted a press release on its website. In the Amul-NehaTomar case too, since the complainant posted her grievance on 62

While Amul and Air India responded in a timely and resolute manner, Snapdeal took a much longer time to respond to the complainant. And, even when it did respond, the nature of its response was inadequate and unimpressive. Goodwin and Ross (1992) emphasize the importance of a service provider offering some tangible remedy such as a freebie or a discount along with an apology for better results.Snapdeal could have been quick in refunding the consumer and provided a discount on further purchases. The ecommerce company did not take into account the fact that the consumer had ordered the cell phone as a birthday gift for his wife. Instead, Snapdeal not only delayed the refund, it also let HUL benefit from the situation by offering a free cell phone to the consumer and earning positive reviews by displaying concern for the consumer.

Facebook, Amul responded on the same platform as well. However, responding on the same platform in which the complaint was posted may not be enough. Barger (2011) suggests that a multichannel response is essential to contain damage to a brand: …you have to ditch the old mindset that a significant and multi-channel response just stokes a fire or brings it to the attention of people who hadn’t heard it yet; your new goal should be that whichever network or channel a consumer or customer chooses to get information on the situation, they will see your response (Barger, 2011). Apart from using multiple channels, brands also need to be vivid and persuasive in their responses. In all the three cases analysed above, complaining consumers shared vivid photographs and accompanying descriptive information on social media which helped persuade other consumers to identify with their plight and the perceived wrong-doing by the brand. Therefore, brands need to be even more persuasive in their response strategies in order to retain customer loyalty and trust.

The role played by HUL in the Snapdeal case also shows that while framing their corporate response strategies, firms need to consider how other brands indirectly related to the situation are reacting to the dynamic and constantly-evolving scenario. Here’s another case where a brand that is indirectly mentioned in a consumer complaint benefited from the situation by acting swiftly and helping out the consumer in a public forum: In July 2009, United Airlines lost 10% of its share value, an overwhelming $180 million, after a littleknown Canadian musician Dave Carroll blamed the company on YouTube for breaking his Taylor guitar and refusing to give compensation (Wrenn, 2009). Carroll’s song titled “United Breaks Guitars” went viral on YouTube and had been viewed more than 15 million times by September 2015.

In the Amul-NehaTomar case, Amul responded to the complaining consumer’s post which was accompanied by four photographs by posting a video along with a detailed reply.Amul’s video demonstratedwhy making cheese from sour milk can result in a “stretchy mass.” This gave observers and other Facebook users a chance to understand the phenomenon and take an independent decision on the issue.Amul’s video had been viewed nearly 104,000 times by September 2015. In the case of Air India, the company’s strategy to get its customers and supporters to tweet with the hashtag “#IStandforAirIndia” was aimed at persuading its target audience to dismiss the photograph of the lizard on the meal tray and believe in the brand instead. Customer tweets in support of Air India were conversational in nature and added credibility to the brand.

Just as HUL capitalized on the SnapdealKrishnamurthy case, Taylor Guitars, which was referenced in the musician’s video, gave him two new guitars and posted their own YouTube video on the incident (Tran, 2009). This 2-minute video depicts Bob Taylor, co-founder of Taylor Guitars, showing support for people whose guitars have been broken in similar circumstances and offers free advice on how to keep guitars safe during travel. The video had been viewed more than 63

700,000 times by September 2015. Like HUL, Taylor Guitars also made the most of the situation and earned positive reviews for the brand.

online complaint by evoking feelings of nostalgia of a bygone era, newer brands will need to work harder in terms of establishing credibility in the context of online consumer complaints.However, as evident in the Amul-NehaTomar case, even well-known brands need to exercise care in terms of the tone they adopt in their responses to complaints posted on social media since a belittling tone can bring instant criticism from other consumers.

Thus, it is important that brands not view their online customer relationship management activitiesas containment of bad news alone. Instead, as Tom Farmer (2007) points out, brands “should harness the power of the customer’s online voice in a proactive, pulse-taking manner.” Successful and timely resolution of online complaints can reinforce customer loyalty and spread positive electronic word of mouth (Hong & Lee, 2005; as cited in Noort&Willemsen, 2011). Apart from retaining customers, successful online brand interventions can also help “in leveraging the power of the collective to build brand equity” (Noort&Willemsen, 2011, p. 131-132).

CONCLUSION To conclude, ananalysis of the three cases studies shows that while these brands made several correct moves in their attempt to manage the negative word-of-mouth on social media, they need to take an entire range of factors into account while formulating their response strategies to online consumer complaints. Since consumers constantly evaluate a brand along multiple dimensions, organizations need to adhere to principles of fairnesswhile dealing with them. Further, Indian brands have to get more adept in their usage of social media in terms of using both a conversational and polite tone while interacting with complaining consumers, especially in a public forum. Moreover, once negative news spreads or a consumer complaint goes viral, firms need to post their persuasive, vivid and impactful responses on multiple media channels and social media platforms. They should not let other brands capitalize on the not-so-pleasant online exchange between them and an upset consumer. Finally, Indian brands need to broaden their goal of online customer complaint management from mere containment of negative news to using the opportunity for improved customer loyalty and brand equity.

Brands also need to get better at segmenting customers and determining their value to the firm. A customer who is a key influencer and has high “historical and predicted future value” to a company needs to be managed very well (Farmer, 2007). In the Snapdeal case, the complaining consumer,LaxminarayanKrishnamurthy, is a Central Bank of India employee. In the Amul case, the complainant, NehaTomar,is a senior legal officer at the Public Health Foundation of India, a public-private initiative in the health sector. Both happen to be consumers whose claimspeople are likely to believe.Finally, brands also need to figure out how to disengage with a customer who often causes trouble. As Farmer (2007) says, “Knowing which [customer] to ignore is as important as knowing which to pamper.” The cases also highlight the fact that while longstanding Indian brands such as Amul and Air India can leverage their “halo effect” in case of an

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Air India denies “lizard in meal tray” incident (2015, June 15). AirIndia.in. Retrieved from http://www.airindia.in/newsdetail.htm?564

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Barger, C. (2011, June 17). Six steps to fighting Internet rumors. Forbes.com. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherbarger /2011/06/17/six-steps-to-fighting-internetrumors/ Bennett, N. & Martin, C. (2007, December). Case Commentary: The Customers’ Revenge. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from www.hbr.org Conlon, D.E. & Murray, N. M. (1996, August). Customer perceptions of corporate responses to product complaints: The role of explanations. The Academy of Management Journal, 39(4), 1040-1056. Coombs, T.W. (1999). Information and compassion in crisis responses: A test of their effects. Journal of Public Relations Research, 11(2), 125-142. ET Bureau (2014, October 22) India’s most trusted brands of 2014. Economic Times. Retrieved from http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/201 4-10-22/news/55318723_1_trusted-brands-surveybrand-equity-dettol Farmer, T. (2007, December). Case Commentary: The Customers’ Revenge. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from www.hbr.org Goodwin, C. & Ross, I. (1992). Consumer responses to service failures: Influence of procedural and interactional fairness perceptions. Journal of Business Research, 25, 149-163. Greenberg, J. (1990). Looking fair vs. being fair: Managing impressions of organizational justice.In B.M. Staw&L.L. Cummings. (Eds.). Research in organizational behavior, 12, (pp. 111-157). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. Hennig-Thurau, T., et al. (2010).The impact of new media on customer relationships. Journal of Service Research, 13(3), 311-330. Hong, Y. & Lee, W. (2005).Consumer complaint behavior in the online environment. In Y.Gao (Ed.). Web system design and online consumer behavior(pp. 90-105). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing. IAMAI says India will have 500 million Internet users by 2017. (2015, July 21). The Indian Express.Retrieved from http://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tec h-news technology/iamai-says-india-to-have-236million-mobile-internet-users-by-2016/

Krishnamurthy, L. (2014, October 24). Facebook.com. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/laxminarayan.krishnamurthy.1 /posts/612369985551587 Lee, Y.L. & Song, S. (2010). An empirical investigation of electronic word-of-mouth: Informational motive and corporate response strategy. Computers in Human Behavior. 26, 1073-1080. Morris, H. (2015, June 15). Lizard in meal tray: Air India fiercely denies social media claims. The Telegraph.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/1 1675148/Lizard-in-meal-tray-Air-India-fiercely-deniessocial-media-claims.html Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (n.d.) Organisation. Amul.com Retrieved from http://www.amul.com/m/organisation McDonald's issues Twitter denial after hoax poster saying blacks will be charged extra goes viral (2011, June 13). Daily Mail. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article2002998/McDonalds-Twitter-denial-blacks-charged-extrahoax-poster-goes-viral.html Noort, G. &Willemsen, L.M. (2011). Online damage control: The effects of proactive versus reactive webcare interventions in consumer-generated and brand-generated platforms. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 26, 131-140. Rai, M. (2014, November 3). HUL teaches Snapdeal an epic marketing lesson. Retrieved from http://www.socialsamosa.com/2014/11/hul-teachessnapdeal-marketing-lessons/ Schultz, F., Utz, S. &Göritz, A. (2011). Is the medium the message? Perceptions of and reactions to crisis communication via twitter, blogs and traditional media.Public Relations Review, 37, 20-27. Tomar, N. (2014, October 10). Facebook.com. Retrieved fromhttps://www.facebook.com/neha.tomar.39/posts/101 52355551565785 Tran, M. (2009, July 23). Singer gets his revenge on United Airlines and soars to fame. The Guardian.Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/news/blog/2009/jul/23/yo utube-united-breaks-guitars-video Ward, J.C. &Ostrom, A.L. (2006). Complaining to the masses: The role of protest framing in customer-created complaint Websites.Journal of Consumer Research, 33(2), 220 230. Wrenn, E. (2009, July 24). The sweet music of revenge.The Daily Mail. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article1201671/Singer-Dave-Carroll-pens-YouTube-hit-UnitedAirlines-breaks-guitar--shares-plunge-10.html

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Amity Journal of Media & Communication Studies 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1 – 2, 66-74

Copyright 2015 by ASCO Amity University Rajasthan (ISSN 2231 – 1033)

Mobile Media Penetration: Growing trends in four centrally backward districts of Uttar Pradesh Shirin Abbas Dean Institute of Media Studies, Shri Ramswaroop Memorial University Email ID: [email protected]

Dr. A.K. Singh Vice Chancellor Institute of Media Studies, Shri Ramswaroop Memorial University The study entails investigation into the usage and acceptability of mobile as a medium of communication in the four centrally backward districts of Uttar Pradesh namely Rae Bareli, Barabanki, Gonda and Sitapur covering 500 respondents in eight villages and assessing their usage and ease in understanding and using mobiles as a cost efficient and effective communication medium. While the research has covered key district development indicators like Education, Health, Agriculture, Rural Employment, Women’s Health and Safety and suchlike topics, this paper focuses on the demographics and tries to assess if mobile acceptability and usage is at par across gender, age, caste and economic classes in the four most backward districts of central Uttar Pradesh covered in the study--Rae Bareli, Sitapur, Gonda and Barabanki (as per District Development Indices, Govt of India and Census 2011) have been covered in the over 50 questions filled by the respondents which seeks to find answer to the query whether digital and new media can be used as an efficient, prompt and cost-effective medium of communication. Keywords: Symbolic Mobile Communication, MSBC (Mobiles for Social & Behavioural Change), Digital and New Media, Mass Communication.

INTRODUCTION

from 2G to 3G. The 3G user base in India is rapidly gaining market and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 61.3% from 2013-17. There were approximately 82 million 3G subscribers in India by the end of 2014 and the number is projected to reach 284 million by end of year 2017.

From 200 million internet users in 2013 to over 500 million internet users projected by 2017 — including 314 million mobile internet users — the growth graph of mobile internet in India is on the upsurge. According to a recent report published by IAMAI and KPMG India will touch the 236 million mark of mobile internet users by 2016, and 314 million by 2017. Earlier in 2015, Mary Meeker compared India’s internet penetration of 2014 with China of 2008 and the US of 1996. Following graphs provide highlights from ‘India on the go – Mobile Internet Vision Report 2015’ giving some insight into the past, current and expected figures for Mobile Internet Usage in India.

RURAL GROWTH THROUGH 2G The report has found that the rural growth story in the coming years will likely be through 2G technologies. 3G and 4G may continue to be primarily an urban phenomenon for the next few years. Increased internet enabled device penetration, decreasing handset prices and data plans tariffs are helping create a suitable environment for a rapid growth of mobile internet in India, with rural India set to take the lead. As of June 2014, nearly 50% of the Active Internet Users (AIU) in rural areas accessed internet using mobile phones, community service

3G AND 4G USER BASE TO INCREASE The 2G user base in India is projected to show a sharp fall in coming years as customers are likely to migrate 66

centers (CSC) and cyber cafes. 38% of the AIU use mobile phone as the main access point. As per the report, rural India is steadily moving towards a more internet friendly and exploratory mind-set. As of 2014, the Active Internet User (AIU) base in rural India was 6.7% of the overall rural population of 905 million and accounted for 61 million users. 4.4% of the total rural population used a mobile device to access the Internet compared to 0.4% in the year 2012.

THE SECOND WAVE OF INTERNET THROUGH MOBILE DEVICES India has the third largest Internet user base in the world out of which more than 50 per cent are mobileonly internet users. However, the Internet penetration in India at 19 per cent is quite low compared to other developed and developing economies. In India, the number of people who own mobile phones is greater than the number who own personal computers. The Indian government is committed to setting up a robust digital infrastructure and to promote adoption of mobile Internet and related products and services. In 2014-15, the Government budgeted INR 500 crore for building infrastructure as per the National Rural Internet and Technology Mission with an additional INR 100 crore budgeted for improving e-governance. The mobile penetration rate in India is 51% and there is adequate room for further growth. The reach of mobiles has been almost universal and inclusive covering the BoP segment as well. The wave of liberalization and privatization of the Telecom Sector since the 1990s has transformed mobile communication scenario. Competition among mobile operators has resulted in the rapid extension of mobile services, more innovative services and overall access and connectivity expansion (Reuters report, 2013). The social and development impact has seen overall expansion. There is rising demand for communication network access and services especially in rural India. By the end of this year it is expected that almost 90% of the total population will come under the “coverage gap.”

This will enhance services and access networks including demand for 2G, 3G services and beyond. Common themes of focus among stakeholders include network extension into rural areas, network upgrading, innovative applications, content and services alongside convergence. The intra and interdepartmental focus under the National Mobile Governance Framework is expected to spur service delivery.

THE SCENARIO IN UTTAR PRADESH Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of mobile subscribers in India—at 121 million however the still low tele-density at 57.27 needs to be increased so that it can be harnessed for developmental objectives. Mobiles affordable and require less infrastructure. Neither does their usage entail much technical knowledge or education—a problem that afflicts the state most damagingly. (Men at 77.28% and women at 51.36%). The choice of flexible usage as per user convenience gives him/her a choice to use text/ voice/ IVRS and two-way communication. The low cost of connectivity and the widespread usage of mobiles creates a scenario prepped for positive use of mobiles for social and behavioural change. As per current trends usage of VAS, mobile data and IVRS has shown a marked increase in usage (DEF Report, 2014). Value Added Services (VAS) account for Rs 5000 crore of the total VAS market in India and is expected to see continuous growth in coming years. The rural market poses a huge potential for MVAS and telecom companies are waking up to the same. As a result of all these developments, e-Governance and other eefforts are being aggressively promoted by the UP government. Applications like “Nivesh Mitra”- a web-enabled single window system has been put in place to ensure time-bound approvals initiated by the UP government to create a business friendly environment. An Industrial Grievance Redressal System (UPIGRS) an e-imitative to reduce unwarranted human intervention and provide seamless interface for entrepreneurs has been 67

established for prompt resolution of issues and hurdles and do away with red tape-ism. Demographics: Around 42 percent of female population uses mobile phones in Uttar Pradesh whereas among the male population usage exceeds 50 percent. Almost 90 percent of mobile users are in the age group of 15-59 years. Non-Uniformity is usage often depends on varying factors of Age, Gender, Literacy and Education and Caste (Reuters report, 2014). Referring to data collected during the researcher’s Interview Schedule

across eight villages and four most backward districts of Central Uttar Pradesh it was found that age, caste and gender of the respondent did not affect mobile usage across the demographics. Of the chosen 500 respondents interviewed, demographic detailed analysis went on to prove the clear acceptability of mobile usage across different castes, APL and BPL categories, across the genders and different age groups, albeit acceptance levels were highest in the under 25 age group, followed by the working class in the ages of 25-49 years whilst those over 50 years old expressed moderate to high difficulty with mobile usage.

Q 1: Usage of Mobiles across economic categories of respondents: APL/BPL 1.0: Do you use mobile? * BPL/ APL Category Do you use mobile?

Total

BPL/ APL Category APL

BPL

Yes

283

216

499

No

1

0

1

284

216

500

Total

1.1: Percentage weightage of Mobile Usage across APL/BPL communities Total Do you use APL BPL mobiles? 99.8 100 99.6 Yes 0.2 0 0.4 No

Findings: As data analysis indicates, there is widespread acceptance of mobile usage across both categories. In fact whereas acceptability is 100 percent in BPL respondents, it stands at 99.6, just a notch lower in APL respondents.

Q. 2: This query attempted to analyse how mobile usage stood across various castes of Respondents. 2.0 Do you use mobile? * What is the Caste of the respondent

Do you use mobile?

What is the caste of the respondent General

SC/ST

OBC 68

Minority

Total

Yes

234

194

47

24

499

No

0

1

0

0

1

234

195

47

24

500

Total

Mobile Usage Yes No

2.1: Percentage Weightage according to Caste of Respondent General OBC SC/ST Minority 100 99.5 100 100 0 0.5 0 0

Total 99.8 0.2

Findings: Widespread parity is indicated across various castes be it General/ OBC/ SC/ST or Minority respondents with an almost 100 per cent acceptance of mobile usage across the various segments. Q. 3: This query attempted to analyse how mobile usage stood across various age groups of respondents. 3.0: Do you use mobile? * Age of the respondent Do you mobile?

use Age of the respondent More than 50

25 to 49

Less than 25

Total

Yes

96

221

182

499

No

0

1

0

1

96

222

182

500

Total

Use of Mobile Yes No

3.1: Percentage Weightage according to Age of Respondent Over 50 25-49 Under 25 100 99.5 100 0 0.5 0

Total 99.8 0.2

Findings: Once again it is easily seen that there is not much difference in mobile use across various age groups. There is only a very slight deviation among various age groups with just a 0.5 per cent variance in responses across the various age groups. Q. 4: Gender wise acceptability of mobiles in the four districts. Gender of respondent

What do you use mobiles for?

Male

Female

Total

Calling

94

16

110

Calling and SMS

239

57

296

Calling, SMS & Email

5

0

5

All above and Facebook

37

6

43

10

46

89

500

Calling SMS email FB & Whatsapp 36 411

Total 69

4.1: Percentage Weightage according to Gender of Respondent Usage of Mobile Calling Calling & SMS Calling, SMS & email All of above & FB All of Above & Whatsapp

Male 24 57 1 9 9

Female 18 64 0 6.7 11.3

Total 22 59.2 1 8.6 9.2

Findings: A small variation in usage is seen across the genders. Whereas male respondents outweighed females 24:18 when it came to using cell phones for calling, women responded more positively to using mobile phones for calling and texting over their male counterparts (57: 64) on mobile Internet based applications like Whatsapp (9:11 approx) Q. 5: Age wise acceptability of mobiles in the four districts. 5.0: What do you use mobiles for? * Age of the respondent What do you use mobiles for?

Age of the respondent Over 50 25 to 49 Less than 25 Total

Calling

42

49

19

110

Calling and SMS

52

142

102

296

Calling, SMS & Email

0

0

5

5

All above and Facebook

0

15

28

43

Calling SMS email FB & Whatsapp 2

16

28

46

222

182

500

96

Total

5.1: Percentage Weightage according to Age of Respondent Usage of Mobile Calling Calling & SMS Calling, SMS & email All of above & FB All of Above & Whatsapp

Over 50 43.8 54.1 0 0 2.1

25-49 22 64 0 6.8 7.2

Under 25 10.5 56 2.7 15.4 15.4

Total 22 59.2 1 8.6 9.2

Findings: A clear demarcation emerges across ages when the responses are categorized in different age groups. Whereas senior respondents preferred to use mobiles mostly for calling, usage of mobiles for texting, using Social Media like Facebook and Internet based applications like Whatsapp grew several fold over the veterans. In fact within the age groups too, the usage of Facebook and Whatsapp was more than double in the age group of Under 25 when compared to those in the age bracket of 25-49 years. Q. 6: Economic category and usage across SM platforms

6.0: What do you use mobiles for? * BPL/ APL Category BPL/ APL Category

What do you use mobiles for?

APL

BPL

Total

Calling

84

26

110

Calling and SMS

132

164

296

Calling, SMS & Email

4

1

5

All above and Facebook

32

11

43

32

14

46

284

216

500

Calling SMS Whatsapp

email

FB

&

Total

6.1: Percentage Weightage according to Category (APL/ BPL) of Respondent Usage of Mobile APL BPL Calling 30 12 Calling & SMS 46 76 Calling, SMS & email 1.4 0.5 All of above & FB 11.3 5.1 All of Above & Whatsapp 11.3 6.4

Total 22 59 1 8.7 9.3

Findings: Economic barriers proved no obstacle to mobile acceptability as BPL category respondents showed a higher acceptance of usage of mobiles for texting and calling than just for calling. However better access to education and other factors obviously had a hand in giving APL respondents a cutting edge when it came to the use of Facebook and other Social Media tools and web-based apps like Whatsapp where their responses were nearly double that of their BPL counterparts.

Q. 7: Economic category and usage across SM platforms 7.0: What do you use mobiles for? * What is the caste of the respondent What do you use mobiles for?

Total

What is the caste of the respondent General

OBC

SC/ST

Minority Total

Calling

53

37

13

7

110

Calling and SMS

118

134

27

17

296

Calling, SMS & Email

3

0

2

0

5

All above and Facebook

29

13

1

0

43

Calling SMS email FB & 31 Whatsapp

11

4

0

46

195

47

24

500

234

7.1: Percentage Weightage according to Age of Respondent Usage of Mobile General OBC SC/ST Minority Calling 23 19 28 29 Calling & SMS 50 68 57 71 Calling, SMS & email 1.3 0 4.3 0 All of above & FB 12.4 7 2.2 0 All of Above & Whatsapp 13.3 6 8.5 0

Total 22 59 1 8.7 9.3

Findings: Interesting findings resulted in this bracket with OBCs scoring just a few counts less than General/ SC/ST and Minority category when it came to using mobiles for calling. However, both OBC and Minority showed a spike in usage when it came to using mobiles for both calling and texting, nearly touching the 70 per cent mark whereas other sections hovered under 60 per cent. Access to better education and high awareness quotient of social media thereof gave the respondents from the General category an edge over the others with their usage of Social Media and web-based apps showing a marked increase in percentage over the other sections. In this segment too, mobile usage for calling and texting came out tops scoring nearly three times the numbers recorded for just calling through mobiles. This clearly indicated a growing acceptance of mobiles among respondents or more than just calling and growing trends of putting them to multiple usages across various segments of society.

CONCLUSION:

550 million in 2018 in the best case scenario, making it the second largest online population in the world. But without proper enabling conditions, the user base could only be 400 million in 2018, according to the 2015 report ‘[email protected]’ by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of India (IAMAI).

Like India, Uttar too is making the transition from features phones to Smartphones rapidly. This is accelerated by the availability of low-cost smartphones and data plans. SMS, email, messaging and social networking apps are the most popular used apps, while video streaming and banking services are the least used apps. Customer’s apprehensions around security of payment platforms and data privacy need to be addressed. Many handset manufacturers are making their contribution towards mobile internet growth by manufacturing affordable handsets supporting vernacular content. The median price of handsets has dropped significantly making internet enabled devices affordable for the masses. Several domestic handset manufacturers are contributing to the increasing trend of smartphone usage by selling high end phones at lower price points. The report found that smartphones seem to deliver a better user experience and have the potential to accelerate the adoption of mobile internet. India has become the third largest smartphone market in the world.

The 40-page report covers GDP contribution of the Internet, user segments, business transformations and a call to action for all key stakeholders. India’s 190 million Internet user base in June 2014 was third in the world after China’s 620 million and the US with 275 million. “India is the third country in the world to have over five internet companies valued at over US$ 1 billion. India is the fastest growing internet country but we need to move from narrow band to broadband at the earliest,” said Rajan Anandan, Chairman IAMAI and Managing Director, Google India. India constitutes the second largest market in the world for Facebook and LinkedIn. However, the projected penetration of the Internet in 2015 is just 19 per cent in India compared to 50 per cent in China and 61 per cent in Brazil.

In 2001, there were about seven million Internet users in India. That number is expected to cross the 72

percent) in the family. Interestingly, because of lack of knowledge of mobile use, some women had to depend on others, most often family members, to dial a number for them.

The 2018 Internet user base of India is projected to be 54 per cent above the age of 25, 40-50 per cent rural, 30 per cent female and 70-80 per cent mobile. “The class of 2018 will be more rural, older, more gender-equal, more mobile and more vernacular than their counterparts of today,” the report predicts. Initiatives such as Google’s Indian Languages Internet Alliance (ILIA) are targeted at the next 300 million Internet users who would prefer content in their local languages. There are “broader ripple effects” beyond GDP numbers: over 50 per cent of online subscribers use the net to make informed purchase decisions; The report classifies Internet users into the following segments: active aspirers, professional pros, social shoppers, entertainment enthusiasts, novel networkers, late learners and data discoverers. These, in turn, are split across three segments: Tier 1 cities, Tier II-IV cities and rural users. Active aspirers or early adopters are largely made up of youth users; entertainment enthusiasts are among the heaviest users of the Internet; late learners include groups like elders; and data discoverers are early-stage users of the Internet. ( IAMAI -KPMG Report 2015)

Data on health care providers show that 60 percent of ASHAs and AWWs, and 83 percent of village private practitioners, had a mobile phone. Qualitative data show that frontline health workers use the mobile phone for personal and official work. Often supervisors call them for meetings or for an update of their work. Frontline health workers also call their supervisors and clients. Occasionally the AWW and the ASHA use the mobile phone to inform each other about a delivery case or to enquire about a newly-identified pregnant woman (WARC Report, 2015) Rural Internet users are estimated to increase from 60 million in June 2014 to 280 million in 2018, provided initiatives such as the government’s National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN) bear fruit on target. All indicators post the study point towards a positive growth that indicates a growing acceptability of mobile usage and Internet based mobile apps including Whatsapp and Facebook even in most backward districts across Uttar Pradesh. All that remains is for the government, NGOs and other bodies to take cognizance of the Golden Age of Communication and tap its potential to provide support and logistics as also other services across the state on this cheap, prompt and effective platform.

ACCESS TO MOBILE PHONES IN RURAL COMMUNITIES A formative study by the Population Council reveals that more than half of the households (55 percent) in rural UP own a mobile phone. More men (50 percent) than women (9 percent) own and use mobile phones. Many women who did not own a mobile phone had access to a mobile phone (41 REFERENCES AMAI [email protected]’ report released by AMAI and KPMG India Ganju D, Bhatnagar I, Hazra A, Jain S and Khan M.E. (2010) Reach Of Media And Interpersonal Communication In Rural Uttar Pradesh, Journal of Family Welfare, Vol. 56, Special Issue pp 83-91 Digital Empowerment Foundation, (2014) Mobile Phones: A tool for Social and Behavioural Change: A review of Case Studies, Digital Empowerment Foundation Report, (2014) Scope and Potential of Mobile Usage in Uttar Pradesh

District Development Indices, Uttar Pradesh Government report. Kanjilal A, Das I and Srivastava R, (2004), Media effect and its measurement in Rural India, Mudra Institute of Communication, Ahmedabad. Mallya H, July2015 All Things Mobile http://Yourstory.Com/2015/07/Mobile-InternetReport-2015/ Kavitha MSH, Prabhu Dr R., (2015) Leveraging Social Media to Ignite Employee Engagement, Zenith International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research ISSN 2231-5780 Vol.5 (10), October (2015), pp. 69-82

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Reuters report, (2013), 2012 - 2016: India to have 1.35 billion mobile subscriber connections in 2016, Research and Markets: 1Q12 India Mobile Operator Forecast (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/3kc6 qm/1q12_india_mobile), http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/11/idUS178 164+11-Sep-2012+BW20120911. Researcher’s own inferences drawn from data collected for submission of PhD

Thesis across four most backward districts of central Uttar Pradesh namely Rae Bareli, Sitapur, Gonda and Barabanki across 2014-15 TRAI report June 2015 WARC Report (June 2015) Social media use doubles in rural India, http://www.warc.com/LatestNews/News/Social_media_use_d oubles_in_rural_India.news?ID=34949

IMAGES FOR REFERENCE

Figure 1

Figure 3

Figure 2

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Amity Journal of Media & Communication Studies 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1 – 2, 75-80

Copyright 2015 by ASCO Amity University Rajasthan (ISSN 2231 – 1033)

New Media and Data Usage Policy: Celebrating Participation and Challenging Policies Aanchal Sharma Doctoral Scholar MICA Email ID: [email protected]

The advent of New Media and popular acceptance and adoption of its applications by its users have redefined the audience’s experience with today’s ‘media institution’. Its convergent nature demonstrates the potential to accommodate democratic spaces for its users for practicing participatory content production. It is perhaps this nature which holds substance to McQuail (2005) argument of how there is a shift in operationalization of media as an institution “It is arguable that there is no ‘media institution’ any more, but many different loosely connected elements. There are new forces at work and new trends that may not be open to capture by familiar concepts and formulas. Nevertheless, the basic features of the role of media in public and private life seem to persist. The new media have gradually come to be accepted as mass media for the good reason that their uses exhibit many of the features of old media, especially when treated by their owners as mass advertisers and as ‘platforms’ for media content such as music and films.” His argument stands relevant that there are new forces and trends at work, for example, like that of ethics and policies which inform the conduct of traditional media and which is not really being practiced by or governs the content production and consumption of new media. In traditional media, there are gate keepers like editors who control the content production, although, in new media the gatekeeping is almost negligible as the content generators are its users itself. If gatekeeping is the process which facilitates the content generation in traditional media, it is surveillance which runs the business of mass media production and consumption in the new media. Also, to certain extent the new media continues to extend its role as traditional media on social media platforms as mass advertisers. Keywords: Digital Media, Public, Gatekeeping, Prosumers

INTRODUCTION

all make them heard to their peer group and further to a larger set of audience participating in new media, on the other hand it could be disempowering because of the individualistic, unchallenged and unregulated policy patterns of various social media platforms. Here, I am seeing an emerging link to what I discussed about Silverstone’s argument that while new media has transformed the ‘media institution’ per say, its nature is liberating as well as oppressing for its users. To reflect more on this, I will be studying Facebook as one of the most vibrantly used social media platform. It is interesting to reflect upon how the usage of Facebook is liberating for its users and further how the same usage becomes oppressive when the content which is being generated is controlled through surveillance while being backed up by Facebook’s data usage policy.

New Media is new because of the emerged and yet evolving technologies in the recent years which enable people to do new things, which give new powers to the human beings and have their own new consequences. “They bend minds. They transform institutions. They liberate. They oppress.” (Silverstone, 1999). I am beginning this section with a quote from Silverstone, because this helps me build connections between what McQuail has argued and the other contemporary debates around new media being used as mass media. “We all live in a world where politics of inequality is the governing politics” (Dutta, 2015). This political inequality continues to exist and extend itself to the broader framework of new media applications being used by its users on various social media platforms. Due to these existing and consistently perpetuating political inequalities, the technology on one hand might be empowering to people because it helps them express, participate, communicate and above

In the section below, I will be discussing the key debates around the political economy of Facebook 75

when comes consumption.

to

content

production

and

The prosumers unconsciously contribute in the capital accumulation through surveillance. “Facebook and other web 2.0 platforms are large advertising-based capital accumulation machines that achieve their economic aims by surveillance” (Fuchs, 2012). This capital accumulation is being generated by the ‘free labour’ which Terranova (2004) defines as “the tendency of users to become actively involved in the production of content and software for the Internet”. This relationship between the technology and its users for the “technocultural production” is volunteered and unpaid and hence it is being called as a free labour.

THE ‘FREE LABOUR’ “Although Web 2.0 has presented a shift away from "old" top-down media models, there remains continuity through change: Facebook continues familiar models of extensive commodification, with surveillance playing a key role in this process” (Cohen, 2008). I am beginning this section with a quote from Cohen’s work because it gives a good point to begin discussion around Facebook’s reliance on free labour of its users for the purpose of generating business opportunities. The strategy behind capital accumulation using the content generated by the users has actually redefined the operations of media business by altering the role of consumers to producers and vice versa. In mass media the role of the consumers is limited to the consumption of media content, but the introduction of web 2.0 technologies makes the majority of content on the web generated by the users. By uploading content like videos and photographs; publishing status, sharing links, chatting, commenting and using other features of Facebook, the users are becoming “Prosumers” which Alvin Toffler has defined as “progressive blurring of the line that separates producer from consumer… in the the age of prosumption as the arrival of a new form of economic and political democracy, self-determined work, labor autonomy, local production, and autonomous self-production. (Fuchs, 2012).

However, even if the efforts are volunteered and unpaid or it calls for a free labour, the key question I want to raise here is that who takes a call for a free labour? Is it the Facebook who has been extremely evolutionary in mentioning in its data policy section about what content from the users will be used and how? Or, is it the user who willingly or unwillingly makes an informed consent by signing up with Facebook while agreeing to its terms and data policy? I strongly feel the criticality involved with the content usage, its commodification and free labour involved in the process, revolves around the politics of policy level decision making for Facebook. These policy level decisions which on one hand gives us a reason to celebrate the participatory nature of Facebook, also disempowers its users when their content which includes their personal chats, emotional expressions, pictures, videos etc are being circulated to the third parties. In the section below I will discuss some excerpts from Facebook data policy to reflect on the kind of terms the users are agreeing to.

The users provide Facebook a consistent trend and streaming of content via their online activities and active participation, simultaneously Facebook does commodification of such content through the process of surveillance. The aggregated content and information by the user is used by third parties for strategically targeting demographics, aiming their marketing interventions online and offline. Also, surveillance is not just a method to extract information from the users, but also to retain them for a longer run, to provoke them to keep coming back to Facebook. The entire process is being facilitated by the ongoing activities of the prosumers (Cohen, 2008).

FACEBOOK DATA POLICY I want to begin this section while raising a question which I found is apparently being discussed, however I could not find a clear statistics on this. The question pertains to a policy document which lists out how the users’ participation is being used as data and information. The question is to all the users of Facebook, that how many times they have gone through the policy document while signing up for a Facebook account? It is actually a legal contract between the user and Facebook which the user is 76

ought to know what s/he is signing for and terms s/he is agreeing upon. In this section I have taken a few excerpts from Facebook data policy. With this, I want to begin a discussion on what kind of “terms” are being agreed upon by the users for Facebook usage. I have taken a screenshot from the policy document. I am also quoting some key clauses mentioned against those categories in the screen shot (Figure 1).

using more quotes from the policy document. It directs me to think that Facebook wants to portray its role dominantly of a service provider, while it is way beyond that. It is hard to believe that it is an altruist entity who just wants to serve. It actually wishes to involve in capital accumulation while selling the user generated content to the advertisers in the form of data. Example#2:“We receive information about you and your activities on and off Facebook from third-party partners, such as information from a partner when we jointly offer services or from an advertiser about your experiences or interactions with them”. (Facebook Data Policy, 2015)

The above table is just a glimpse of the data policy document and not a comprehensive one, but surely a few key ones. I also want to register a personal observation here that when I read the document last year in June 2014, it was not as comprehensive as it has been now. It suggests me to think that with the burning debates on the user’s content being used by Facebook for raising business, Facebook has been consistently working on to make its data policy document more comprehensive, however yet the language remains politically correct and extremely pleasing for the users.

Besides the key points I discussed in the previous examples like that of using active voice, addressing the user as second person and the frequent use of word ‘service’, here is another interesting element in the document which is that Facebook not only receives information from the users, but also about the users from third party. It is talking about the services Facebook jointly offers with a third party or information retrieved from an advertiser about user’s experience with that advertiser. This leads me to share my own personal experiences and experiences of some of my peers with Facebook, when I look for products on e-commerce websites and within a blink of eye the advertisement of the same products are there on my Facebook side bar.

I want to quote a few examples under the category What kind of information do we collect? from the policy document and attempt to discuss what insights I draw when I read those. Example#1:“We collect the content and other information you provide when you use our Services, including when you sign up for an account, create or share, and message or communicate with others. This can include information in or about the content you provide, such as the location of a photo or the date a file was created. We also collect information about how you use our Services, such as the types of content you view or engage with or the frequency and duration of your activities”(Facebook Data Policy, 2015). The language used is in active voice, while addressing user as the second person. By saying “you and “yours”, it seems Facebook is giving the entire onus of providing information on the users, while the user is actually unintentionally celebrating her/his participation on Facebook as s/he uploads a picture, receive comments, chat with a friend etc. It is also noteworthy to observe here that the use of word “service” is quite dominant in the entire policy document and I will explain this

Also, besides these two examples the policy document says, that Facebook collect information about the device from where the services are being installed and accessed. The kind of information retrieved are about the “attributes such as operating system, hardware version, device setting, file and software names and types, battery and signal strength, and device identifiers, device locations, mobile operator and even the mobile number”. (Facebook Data Policy, 2015) I want to highlight a few more examples from the section How is the information shared? “We work with third party companies who help us provide and improve our Services or who use advertising or related products, which makes it possible to operate our companies and provide free services to people around the 77

world.” Here the document explicitly says that the data is being shared with the third parties, who help to make it possible for Facebook to provide “free services”. The question here is that, are the services really free? I discussed about the concept of ‘free labour’ in the previous sections. Hence, it is the content generated by the user itself which is being sold to the advertisers and therefore the services never come free of cost.

of us since it tweaked the user generated content and alter the emotions of the user while playing on and off with their news feed, but we cannot unacknowledged the reality, that Facebook seeks consent from its users while they sign up for an account. Concerns were raised by Susan Fiske, the academician who was the editor for the study while saying that "People are supposed to be told they are going to be participants in research and then agree to it and have the option not to agree to it without penalty" (The Guardian, June 2014). Although the concern is valid, but for Facebook, they have already notified this to its users in the policy document which they have agreed upon much earlier before they became a part of the study.

The reason I am quoting these excerpts from the data policy is to exemplify that the entire concept of free labour discussed within the discourse of Facebook usage and content production and consumption is actually facilitated through its data usage policy, which needs to be challenged if one aims to take a call against this exploitation of unpaid labour.

My concern here is for a larger issue. I am keener towards addressing such issues at a political level while challenging the policies and amending them, since a legal argument can only be dealt with another legal argument. Without such advocacy, such events will continue to happen and will keep on disturbing a lot of us and we will not have a technical tool to fight against such emotional disturbances.

One incident when Facebook was in controversy was the publishing of a research titles “Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks” by researchers at Facebook, University of Cornell and University of California. The study suggested that “social network can manipulate the emotions of their users by tweaking what is allowed into a user’s news feed”. The research was conducted by changing the newsfeed of around 700,000 Facebook users for about a week without asking for their consent (New York Times, June 2014). The study was challenged on ethical grounds by internet activists, lawyers and politicians.

In the below section, I propose some suggestions for the problem I discussed in the above sections.

A WAY FORWARD I think the best way forward would begin with the Facebook users making informed decisions on what they are agreeing upon and till what level they wish to share their information on Facebook. I want to go back to my discussion on what Silverstone said that the new media technology which has transformed the media as an institution, liberate as well as oppress. While it is liberating when carving a platform for expressions, it is also oppressing when it exploits the unpaid labour, however, it for the users to decide on which side they wish to stand and this might happen depending upon the situation and which is extremely individual. For this to happen, I want to bring in what Freire(1993) argued for conscientization, a process that facilitates the development of a critical awareness of a human’s social reality through continuous reflections and action. This can be achieved using the

However the study claimed that “altering the news feeds was consistent with Facebook's data use policy, to which all users agree prior to creating an account on Facebook, constituting informed consent for this research" (The Guardian, June 2014). The substance for this can be found again in the data policy document under the category How do we use this information, where the policy document says that “We conduct surveys and research, test features in development, and analyze the information we have to evaluate and improve products and services, develop new products or features, and conduct audits and troubleshooting activities” ( Facebook Data Policy, 2015). The research might disturb a lot 78

communication strategies around digital media and literacy. This is also what Hobbs(2010) argues that “People need the ability to access, analyze and engage in critical thinking about the array of messages they receive and send in order to make informed decisions about the everyday issues they face”. A considerable attention should be given to evolve strategies on how to raise awareness of people around the issues which have been debated both at academic end about the exploitation of free labour and at the end of internet activists and lawyers about the unethical usage of user generated content by Facebook. Hence, one should advocate for amending the Facebook data policy along side of suggesting digital and media literacy campaigns. However, when it comes to conscientization, what best can be done is giving the existing users and prospective users of Facebook necessary choices through raising their critical awareness regarding the realities associated with the usage of Facebook and let them decide how they further want to engage with the social media platform. Having said that, policy level interventions are extremely important, this is what Mosco (2009), refers to the intellectual forces behind the political economy of communication, while linking it to the wider political economy of the media industry.

prosumer. This role calls for a ‘free labour’ which has been critiqued using a wider political economy perspective. I discussed this perspective using examples from Facebook. While extending this critique, I argue that it is imperative to not only critique this phenomenon but also to challenge the Facebook data policy which facilitates the exploitation of users while they act as unpaid labour. The policy document of Facebook explicitly explains what data are being used from the users and at what level. In fact during the protest in June 2014, which brought Facebook into controversy for conducting a study which involved users’ emotions without seeking their consent, Facebook claimed that the study was consistent with the Facebook data policy. Such legal and policy level issues can only be dealt and expedited when the users and the activist involved in the process are themselves critically aware of what they are agreeing upon while they sign up for Facebook. Hence, to conclude this paper, I want to highlight what I wish to propose to extend this discussion further and for future scope of study. First would be to study the individual policy documents of some widely used social media platforms like that of Facebook and challenge the language, the underneath realities, and the differences in the implicit and explicit intentions which are being constructed in the document. Secondly, I suggest to develop digital and media literacy campaigns in order to raise critical awareness of Facebook users while educating them on what they have been agreeing upon while signing up on Facebook and many other social media platforms. This will not only educate them on current new media practices but will also capacitate them to critically engage with prospective new media applications.

CONCLUSION The new media brings along a lot of new choices and opportunities which are not being provided by the old media, however there have been a lot of similarities and dissimilarities. One key similarity is how new media works as a mass advertisers by its own users, the dissimilarity within this is that in new media the user who is a producer becomes a consumer, hence there is a redefined role of REFERENCES Booth, R. (2014, June 30). Facebook reveals news feed experiment to control emotions. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun /29/facebook-users-emotions-news-feeds Cohen, N. (2008). The Valorization of Surveillance: Towards a Political Economy of Facebook. Democratic Communique, 22(1).

Dutta, M. J. (Speaker) (2015, February). Network of Capital, Social Change, And Technologies of Control: Subaltern Social Movements As Sites of Global Transformation. International Communication Management Conference. Lecture conducted from MICA, Ahmedabad. Facebook Data Policy. (2015). Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed (30th anniversary ed.). New York: Continuum.

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McQuail, D. (2005). McQuail's mass communication theory (5th ed.). London: Sage Publications. Mosco, V. (2009). The political economy of communication (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: Sage Publications. Silverstone, R. (1999). What's New about New Media?: Introduction. New Media & Society, 10-12. Terranova, T. (2004). Network culture politics for the information age. London: Pluto Press.

Fuchs, C. (2012). The Political Economy of Privacy on Facebook. Television & New Media, 139-159. Hobbs, R. (2010). Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action. The Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program. Lanier, J. (2014, June 30). Should Facebook Manipulate Users? New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/01/opinion/jaro n-lanier-on-lack-of-transparency-in-facebookstudy.html?_r=1

IMAGE FOR REFERENCE

Figure 1: Facebook Data Policy, 2015

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Amity Journal of Media & Communication Studies 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1 – 2, 81-92

Copyright 2015 by ASCO Amity University Rajasthan (ISSN 2231 – 1033)

Media Accountability on Digital Platforms: The Role of Audience Bhanu Bhakta Acharya Researcher University of Ottawa Email ID: [email protected] Scholars contend that media accountability to the public and professional stakeholders has been improving in recent years because of the increased use of digital platforms, such as online news portals, blogs and social media outlets. By reviewing media accountability literature, this article presents an overview of media accountability on digital platforms by incorporating various aspects, such as concept, evolution, current practices, key challenges and role of audiences to make media accountable to the public. Even though digital platforms provide for several strengths in making news media accountable to the public (such as immediacy, transparency, global access and interactivity), at the same time there are a number of challenges, which cast doubt on the notion that these platforms provide improved accountability. This article, therefore, explores the role of audiences in addressing these challenges and making media accountable in accordance with professional standards and interests of the general public. Today, media audiences, in the form of citizen journalists, actively participate on digital platforms through various news media tools, and help make online media accountable to public and professional stakeholders.

Keywords: Accountability, audience, digital platforms, interactivity, online media, responsibility

INTRODUCTION

worldwide to the issue of accountability on digital platforms. Since the Internet offers affordable new venues, such as blogs, micro-blogs, and discussion forums, for public discourse on journalistic performance, a number of media scholars have been generally optimistic, emphasizing the substantial strengths of the Internet in terms of maintaining media accountability (Deuze & Yeshua, 2001; Fengler, 2012; Friend & Singer, 2007; Heikkila, Domingo, Glowacki, Kus, & Baisnée, 2012; Joseph, 2011; Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2007; Krogh, 2012; Lasorsa, Lewis & Holton, 2012; Plaisance, 2000; Singer, 2005; Ward, 2010). For instance, audiences largely ignored by traditional media in the past, have their own digital platforms today for expressing their concerns. In addition, audiences can take part in news production as contributors as well as gatekeepers. Therefore, it can be argued that news media tend to be more accountable to professional and public stakeholders on digital platforms owing to constant monitoring by global audiences.

Accountability to public and professional stakeholders is one of the most widely discussed ethical standards in journalism. Many journalism institutions, including the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), the American Society of News Editors (ASNE), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Committee of Concerned Journalists (CCJ) have recognized accountability as one of the fundamental standards of professional journalism. These institutions broadly outline the scope of media accountability, including a consistent range of practices: making public interest the first priority, encouraging the public to express grievances, exposing unethical practices in journalism and media institutions, maintaining the fairness and reliability of reporting, addressing errors promptly and transparently and getting permission where applicable and/or possible when reporting on human subjects. The birth of the Internet and the growth of online news media have attracted the attention of scholars

Though online media have been around for over two decades, they are still a new phenomenon 81

among journalistic professionals worldwide due to rapid technological change and development, as all forms of mass media converge onto multimedia platforms. Even though these digital platforms have many features, such as universal accessibility, interactivity and public participation, that can be useful for upholding public accountability, they are not free from professional challenges, such as weak gatekeeping, hasty information updates and postpublication content moderation (Babcock, 2012; Friend & Singer, 2007; Heikkila, Domingo, Glowacki, Kus, & Baisnée, 2012; Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2007). Such challenges may call journalistic performance into question with regard to upholding and maintaining accountability to public and professional stakeholders on digital platforms.

accountability on digital platforms, presents an overview of media accountability, identifies key challenges and explores the role of audiences as citizen journalists, who are actively participating in digital platforms to make online news media accountable to professional and public stakeholders.

It is a well-known fact that journalistic media have been changing for many decades – from the telegraph in the mid-nineteenth century to the Internet in the late twentieth century. Scholars (such as Joseph, 2011; Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2007; Krogh, 2012) contend that journalism's ethical standards remain largely unchanged in the face of shifting work practices. According to these scholars, responsibility and accountability of the press in the digital age has not lessened, but rather has increased in order to serve the public’s purposes. Moreover, the traditional concept of accountability has come into academic debate, while applying the notion in the context of digital media and online journalism, the issue being whether or not digital platforms contribute to the enhancement of accountability by news media and journalists to professional and public stakeholders. To contribute to the conceptual clarity in a technologically-changing context, it is, therefore, important to conduct a comprehensive review of available scholarly literature on the subject of accountability of news media on digital platforms. Keeping in mind the following key questions: (a) What is the current understanding of media accountability on digital platforms; and (b) What is the role of audiences to make media accountable, this article reviews the existing scholarly literature on media and journalism with regard to media

The applied review methodology, a research method used for this study, is a focused literature review intended to identify various scientific articles on the media accountability theme. For this purpose, the Morisset Library, the largest library at the University of Ottawa, was scanned to explore the literature of the specified period, on the theme of media accountability. On the basis of content on media accountability, 34 pieces of literature (14 journal articles, 16 books and 4 empirical research studies) were selected. In addition, six ethics guidelines of various professional journalists' associations (such as American News Editors Association, Canadian Association of Journalists and International Federation of Journalists) and some relevant scholarly works on past media accountability were also referred to, where applicable, to cross-examine the argument in the selected literature. This kind of literature review, according to Torraco (2005), addresses new or emerging topics that would benefit from a holistic conceptualization and synthesis of literature on the topic to date. Media accountability on digital platforms is an emerging topic that is attracting the interest of various scholars throughout the world, and this sort of comprehensive literature review on the topic is more likely to lead to a concrete conceptualization of media accountability.

METHODOLOGY This article reviews scholarly literature on media accountability for a period of three decades, ranging from the mid-1980s to the present. During the mid1980s, the concept of accountability with regard to professional journalism was widely discussed and the term "accountability" was introduced in the domain of news media for the first time as an important element of code of ethics (Dennis, Gillmor, & Glasser, 1989).

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unethical practices of journalists and the news media, and abide by the same high standards to which they hold others”. In addition, scholars (Friend & Singer, 2007; Joseph, 2011; Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2007) affirm that journalistic accountability can be ensured by a range of practices, including the publication of letters to the editor, accessibility to concerned audience members, the archiving of past news stories for future reference and sincere efforts to inform the public about news corrections. In addition, Painter and Hodges (2012) propose various ways of making media accountable to the public in a democratic society, such as developing and implementing codes of ethics, developing autonomous press councils or ombudsmen, fostering media criticism through free and independent op-ed pages and encouraging citizen journalism initiatives.

CONCEPT AND SCOPE Media accountability is a kind of social control over media content, responding to media's perceived obligations to society, such as providing quality information, supporting democratic systems of governance, respecting human rights and avoiding/minimizing harm to society. Media accountability also responds to a common belief that media outlets should be held accountable to public and professional stakeholders for the quality of their performance (Bardoel & d'Haenens, 2004; Fengler, Eberwein, & Leppik-Bork, 2011; McQuail, 2005). Defining the concept of media accountability, McQuail (2005) writes that it incorporates "all the voluntary or involuntary processes by which the media answer directly or indirectly to their society for the quality and/or consequences of publication" (p. 207). Different media scholars have defined the concept of media accountability in their own ways, but all have explained that it involves the performance of the professional/moral obligations of news media. For Plaisance (2000), media accountability refers to the "manifestation of claims to responsibility" (p. 258). For McIntyre (1987), it is an "umbrella term for all of the ways for enforcing the moral obligations" that a media outlet needs to fulfill (p. 151). For Painter and Hodges (2012), it is "a process by which media could or should be expected or obliged to report a truthful and complex account of the news to their constituents" (p. 4). Finally, for Glasser (2009), media accountability refers to "the willingness of the media to answer for what they do by their acts of publication, including what they do to society at large, and […] the feasibility of securing accountability where there is unwillingness” (p. 132). Several scholars (Friend & Singer, 2007; McQuail, 2003; Painter & Hodges, 2012; Plaisance, 2000) agree that accountability plays a critical role in the overall functioning of the news media.

Moreover, maintaining conceptual clarity between "responsibility" and "accountability" is very important to this study, as these terms are often used synonymously, but are different in their essence. Responsibility is a duty to discharge functional and moral obligations, whereas accountability is the readiness to give an explanation or justification to concerned stakeholders for one's acts, judgment or intentions (McQuail, 2005). In other words, responsibility is something that journalists take on themselves, but accountability is what others require of journalists. Whereas responsibility defines proper conduct, accountability compels one to apply it in practice. Hodges (1986) notes that: [T]he issue of responsibility is the following: to what social needs should we expect journalists to respond? The issue of accountability is as follows: how might society call on journalists to account for their performance of the responsibility given them. Responsibility has to do with defining proper conduct, accountability with compelling it. (p.14, as cited in McQuail, 1997, p. 515)

The SPJ has developed benchmarks of accountability for professional journalists. According to the SPJ (1996), journalists should "encourage the public to express its grievances against the news media, admit mistakes and correct them promptly, expose 83

that time was the Canons of Journalism, prepared and endorsed by ASNE in 1922. The Canons were followed as a standard of journalistic ethics by many other journalism institutions, including the SPJ. During the late 1920s, a fierce debate arose among media professionals in regard to the enforcement provisions of the codes, without which, some said, the whole enterprise would be a "mockery". At the same time, an opposing perspective was gaining momentum, focusing on the idea that enforceable measures could create censorship that may "violate the free press doctrine" (Christians, 1989, p. 37). This debate had two significant consequences: first, no further media ethics codes were developed for almost five decades; second, the existing codes were used as showy tusks lacking any real professional obligations (Christians, 1989). In the meantime, government functionaries were gradually becoming active in curbing the unbridled freedom of mass media on the grounds of public interest. Amid such tensions between free media advocates and responsible media proponents, the Hutchins Commission submitted a report in 1947 entitled A Free and Responsible Press, which created a paradigm shift for journalism ethics, moving away from the libertarian concept of freedom of the press and toward communitarianism. Later, in 1956, the concepts of social responsibility and public accountability were theorized by three University of Illinois scholars in a seminal work entitled Four Theories of the Press (Siebert, Peterson, & Schramm, 1956). In 1973, after two and a half decades, the SPJ revised its codes of ethics, clearly incorporating in them the term "accountability" and stating that "journalists should be accountable to the public for their reports and the public should be encouraged to voice its grievances against the media. Open dialogue with our readers, viewers, and listeners should be fostered" (SPJ, 1973, Art.V(5)). In 1988, a public forum on "Media Freedom and Accountability" was organized at Columbia University in New York "to examine the problems of media freedom and accountability” (Dennis, Gillmor, & Glasser, 1989, p. viii). Several other similar public discussions have been organized in different parts of the world in the past two decades and many scholars (Babcock, 2012; Dennis, Gillmor,

According to McQuail (1997), responsibility refers to "those obligations, which are attributed to the media that they should respond to public expectations related to social needs"; however, accountability, for McQuail, refers to "the process in which media are called to account for meeting their obligations" (p. 515). This section has analyzed the concept and scope of accountability and also reviewed academic interpretations of the two terms, that is, accountability and responsibility, in order to distinguish them from each other. This discussion shows that responsibility is a conceptual understanding, whereas accountability is to implement that understanding into journalistic practice.

EVOLUTION OF MEDIA ACCOUNTABILITY Industrialization, technological innovations, democratization and increased literacy in the nineteenth century contributed to an expansion of mass newspapers in the Western world. Media outlets were considered defenders of democracy and information trustees with "a moral claim to autonomy and non-interference by government" (Christians, Glasser, McQuail, Nordenstreng, & White, 2009, p.55). However, the growing size of media outlets, particularly in Europe and the U.S., was often characterized by market monopoly, lowquality journalism and various negative consequences of unbridled media power (Krogh, 2012). Near the end of the nineteenth century, the yellow journalism scandal in the U.S. stunned the entire journalism profession, increasing concerns about ethical standards and professional practices among journalists. In response, voices began to emerge regarding the media's responsibility to serve the public interest. In 1910, the first journalistic code of ethics was drafted and adopted in Kansas, a U.S. state, by the Kansas Editorial Association. Following this trend, journalists and media institutions in other American states, including Missouri, South Dakota, Oregon and Washington, also gradually began to draft and endorse state-wide codes (Christians, 1989). The most famous and widely applied code of ethics of 84

online journalism has been shown to be debatable, as some journalists argue that the Internet is a fundamentally different medium (Ward, 2010; Ward & Wasserman, 2012), while others argue that journalism transcends technological barriers and that the same standards are ubiquitous regardless of the medium (Joseph, 2011; Reuters, 2013). In response to the question of whether journalistic ethics change in the context of online journalism, many scholars and professional institutions have said "No". The ethical guidelines of the CAJ (2011) clearly indicate that "ethical practice does not change with the medium" (para 9). Reuters (2013) states that "Internet reporting is nothing more than applying the principles of sound journalism to the sometimes unusual situations thrown up in the virtual world. The same standards of sourcing, identification and verification apply" (para 1). For Hohman (2011) and Whitehouse (2010), traditional ethics rules prevail in online journalism. Kovach and Rosenstiel (2001) have expressed similar thoughts, stating that "journalism's function is not fundamentally changed by the digital age. The techniques may be different, but the underlying principles are the same" (p. 26).

& Glasser, 1989; McQuail, 2003) have written books and research articles on media freedom and accountability. Such meetings and works of research have firmly and internationally established the notion of media accountability. In addition, after years of research and discussions with many professionals and scholars, the CCJ developed nine guiding principles of journalism that are simultaneously professional and ethical. The second principle, "journalism's first loyalty is to citizens," integrates media accountability, with the term "citizens" indicating media audiences of all types (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2007, p. 52). The CAJ has developed guidelines for ethical journalism that describe the accountability of news media comprehensively. The guidelines express commitments to fairness and reliability of reporting and to prioritizing service to the public interest. They clearly distinguish between news and opinions, discourage reporting in disguise and prohibit image altering and the deviation of visuals, which can distort context. The guidelines encourage the prompt, transparent correction of errors, the acquisition of permission whenever possible in reporting and the maintenance of digital archives with full content (CAJ, 2011). This section has presented a brief description of the evolution of the concept of media accountability and the tension between the free press and responsible press. Moreover, some scholars (Friend & Singer, 2007; Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2007) contend that the Internet has facilitated the growth of the media accountability concept and that online media are able to practice accountability more fully than traditional media outlets. Pursuing these ideas, the next section describes accountability practices on digital platforms and the challenges to media accountability with regard to public and professional stakeholders.

Some scholars argue that new digital technologies enabled by the Internet may significantly enhance the range of attempts to foster public accountability through online interaction with users. Bardoel and d'Haenens (2004) find that Internet-based media platforms, such as websites, blogs, social media, are more favorable to public accountability than are traditional media formats and that this trend has increased over time. The two-way interactivity of online platforms has changed the role of journalists from that of a lecturer role to that of a forum leader, argue Kovach and Rosenstiel (2007). For instance, the New York Times newspaper corrected misspelt surname of Solomon Northup on March 4, 2014, in a memoir entitled "12 years a slave", originally published 161 years ago (on January 20, 1853). When a Twitter user pointed out the misspellings in the newspaper's archive, the newspaper made the correction immediately, believing that the article has become "more complete and authentic" than before (visit New York Times correction page: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/04/pageoneplu

MEDIA ACCOUNTABILITY ON DIGITAL PLATFORMS Friend and Singer (2007) argue that, as a newly developed genre, online journalism currently lacks ethical guidelines adequate for addressing the challenges created by digital platforms. Meanwhile, the application of traditional ethical practices to 85

external links. Their official websites are generally less accountable and transparent to general audiences than those of their counterparts in smaller media outlets.

s/corrections-march-4-2014.html). Scholars, therefore, have reached the conclusion that online journalism has fostered accountability and transparency more easily than its traditional counterparts (Singer, 2005; Lasorsa, Lewis & Hilton, 2012; Porlezza, 2012).

Despite these positive developments in accountability on online media platforms, certain features of digital platforms, such as speedy updates, the lack of deadlines, the absence of space/time limits, and the participation of citizen journalists in news content, have added their own challenges. For instance, many online media organizations archive content selectively, while some do not keep online archives at all. This trend has encouraged online media to compromise on issues of accountability and transparency. Similarly, limitations on staff in newsrooms, and their responsibility to perform multiple roles from reporter to editor, publisher and promoter, have also weakened journalistic accountability (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2007). Furthermore, traditional principles of journalism, such as accuracy, balance, credibility, information verification, gatekeeping and accountability have been challenged on digital platforms in a number of ways.

In a seminal research study, Jane Singer (2005) examines the blog platform as adopted by political journalists in traditional mainstream media, and finds that journalists who blog usually challenge the "professional norms” that frame journalists as “nonpartisan gatekeeper[s] of information important to the public", but that blogging journalists are nonetheless more "transparent and accountable" than journalists in traditional media, including radio, television and newspapers, as blogs are in a highly interactive and participatory format (p. 147). According to Singer, though the blog confronts traditional journalistic roles such as "gatekeeping" and "non-partisanship", the format at the same time has encouraged journalist bloggers to uphold accountability and transparency by using hyperlinks to sources and related materials. An empirical study on micro-blogging by Lasorsa, Lewis and Holton (2012) examines how mainstream journalists who micro-blog (this format boomed with the rise of Twitter) negotiate their professional norms and practices in a new media format. Like Singer's (2005) study, their study finds that journalists behave more transparently and accountably in new media forms by responding to reader queries, participating in issue-related discussions, providing further information and linking to internal and external websites. They write that “although the process of referencing original source material has not always been easily facilitated in traditional media formats [ …] the hyperlinks that are endemic to blogging and micro-blogging present an opportunity for journalists to be more transparent, and thus more accountable" to the public (Lasorsa, Lewis & Holton, 2012, p. 24). Similarly, their study also finds that “big” media journalists, termed "elite-journalists" by the authors, participate less in discussion, rarely reply to audience questions and usually do not provide

Poor gatekeeping: Gatekeeping is a process by which information is filtered for dissemination by means of a variety of news media outlets in accordance with a set of criteria determined by a number of factors. Gatekeeping mechanism in journalism is for internal quality control and the upholding of professional practices. In traditional media, editors and subeditors read, edit, re-write and verify information to ensure that its quality meets the media outlet’s standards before it is published. However, the evolution of technologies and social norms has made it difficult to define online journalism in traditional ways. On the one hand, the role of online-only journalists consists largely of "information-gathering [… or] compiling stories originally written for someone else" (Singer, 2003, p. 149). On the other hand, newsgathering and publishing systems are easily available to the public. A popular practice among journalists has been growing in social media outlets, especially in Twitter. This practice involves breaking information 86

technically. According to Friend and Singer (2007), online employees generally fall into the former category. They are not well trained in re-writing, editing and updating websites, in information search strategies or in the creation of multimedia products. Instead of journalistic knowledge and skills, they have technical knowledge and organizational skills.

in real time or before the news story is published in respective media. The motivation factors for such newsbreaks, which largely avoid the gatekeeping function, are growing competition, visibility and technological affordability (Lasorsa, Lewis, & Holton, 2012). Therefore, the gatekeeping function is gradually losing its significance. Many scholars agree that information verification is a challenging job in an online context (Friend & Singer, 2007; Joseph, 2011; Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2007; Ward, 2010). New media technology and the growing trend toward the production of speedy information have weakened long-developed information verification practices. Online information verification has to be very fast and there is intense competition to break stories immediately, much more than to get the stories right through careful scrutiny. In such situations, journalists treat facts as a "commodity[ies]" that are easily retrieved, redesigned and targeted to a specific audience, and spend more time trying to find new information "to add to the existing news, usually interpretation, rather than trying to independently discover and verify news facts" (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2007, p. 86). Journalists seek particular information relevant to their stories from Internet sources, immediately synthesizing the information into their existing news stories or using the information to twist the story into new angles and disseminate the new angles as updated information. This trend, resulting from new information technologies, has made journalists passive information receivers rather than active gatherers.

Singer (2003) argues that many online journalists, in order to elude commercial pressures, blur the boundary between news and advertisements by writing advertorials or adding pop-up advertising windows that readers face when looking for other information. Kovach and Rosenstiel (2007) express their worries regarding the watchdog function of journalism, which they say has been seriously threatened by a new kind of corporate conglomeration. Their research findings indicate that digital platforms are widely used to "distort, mislead, and overwhelm the function of a free press" (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2007; p. 166), and that new technologies have contributed to superficial reporting that relies merely on chat box gossip. Crowdsourcing and content moderation: The Internet is a popular platform for online journalists, not only to promote their stories, but also to collect information through various social media outlets, such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Media institutions and journalists use crowdsourcing to collect information at their ease without spending much money or time in the field. The main attraction of crowdsourcing so far is the high proportion of audience members who are ready to contribute information at any time, regardless of proper acknowledgment. The authenticity of information gathered through mass intelligence is under question because nobody takes responsibility for authenticating or verifying the collected information. In addition, privacy is frequently violated online through the unconsented use of unverified information originally posted on audience members' Facebook or Twitter pages. Whitehouse (2010) contends that privacy should not be invaded even though crowdsourcing tools are

Lack of professional knowledge: The majority of online media employees come from diverse backgrounds outside of the journalism profession. Even for those trained in journalism, academic curricula specific to online journalism are quite rare in higher education (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2007; Friend & Singer, 2007). Therefore, only a few journalists are familiar with online tools from an academic perspective before they enter the profession, regardless of whether they study journalism. Employees in the digital realm are likely to be ill-equipped, either journalistically or 87

Most journalistic ethical codes (e.g., SPJ, 1996; CAJ, 2011) clearly state that news sources should be fully identified when possible. Failing this being done, reasons for anonymity should be explained clearly in the story. Many audience members signing in with pseudonyms, react to articles with obscene language, abuse and speculative content, which is published without, or with very little, moderation. However, the media may have a different policy for receiving feedback in its traditional media outlets, particularly in newspapers, and may reject feedback submitted under pseudonyms, or which fails standards of language quality and content worthiness. Cenite and Zhang (2012) opine that the same editorial standards should apply in their entirety for feedback content moderation, since "light or absent moderation has a price" (p. 43).

easily available and there is no existing legal sanction against such practices. Content moderation has been widely practiced in traditional media outlets to ensure quality by maintaining professional norms, such as truth seeking, harm minimization, independence and accountability (SPJ, 1996). It is expected that media organizations and journalists use content moderation both to admit mistakes and correct them promptly during the journalistic process, and to invite readers to discuss their grievances about journalists' conduct. However, news media have been found modifying content without informing the public for the protection of the media’s business interests and for hiding or erasing any controversial issues or unprofessional performance that may damage the media’s reputation (Acharya, 2014). Hence, the content moderation feature has allowed media and journalists to correct their past mistakes without proper accreditation and to remove audiences’ critical comments.

Post-deletion or "unpublishing": Traditional news media are increasingly adopting online editions, which have advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, online content can allow readers to recall past events and make them immediately available. On the other hand, our lives are documented and published online and this information remains 'just a click away' in perpetuity. Many media organizations have been facing grievances from those requesting to have online content removed for various reasons, including the publication of incorrect or incomplete information, misleading or outdated content, source remorse or even false allegations (CAJ, 2010; English, Currie & Link, 2010). Many people also ask Google to "unpublish" information that affects their professional lives, but Google cannot automatically remove anything unless information is removed from the source site (Moskwa, 2009). Recognizing the growing concerns of the public in this regard, many online news organizations have started to develop internal policies for deleting or moderating defamatory comments that readers have posted about an article, though removing entire articles is unlikely due to the lack of clear policies (CAJ, 2010; English, 2009). Even though online archiving systems may continuously victimize people (for instance, when an old, unproved allegation continues to circulate on the Internet, creating a biased perception of the accused), there is a serious

Indifference to audience feedback: Having unlimited space available on the web and the growing involvement of the audience are some of the accountability indicators for digital platforms. These two factors cause online news media to invite audience members to comment on stories so that media can be monitored and questioned if they are not accountable to the public. However, this theoretical notion is not adequately practiced even in the well-reputed media outlets of developed counties. In Canada, for example, the national public broadcaster sometimes prevents online readers from commenting on news stories that the broadcaster feels is controversial. A story entitled "3 UK schoolgirls suspected of joining ISIS in Syria", published on February 21, 2015, was closed within 24 hours of being posted on the CBC's official website (visit www.cbc.ca/news/world/3-ukschoolgirls-suspected-of-joining-isis-in-syria1.2966087). In the context of a developing country like Nepal, it was found that critical comments were prevented or significantly altered before publication, or removed from news portals to avoid criticism (Acharya, 2014). 88

“their main constituents are the public and political society” (p. 1).

ethical dilemma regarding whether or not it is fair to remove a story from online archives or whether it should be left intact. How should online media respond to unpublishing requests while upholding journalistic principles and best practices? In this respect, digital platforms have created a serious ethical dilemma in journalism.

Active, conscious audiences can have an important role in making media accountable to professional and public stakeholders. This notion applies to a greater extent in the online context, since every audience member can be a potential citizen journalist, and since digital platforms empower and encourage audiences to apply technological tools to create immediate pressure on columnists, newsrooms and press councils. Cenite and Zhang (2012) explain that "online tools enable new opportunities for audiences to hold media practitioners accountable and for journalists to fulfill their obligations to be accountable to audiences" (p. 37). Before the digital journalism era, letters to the editor were the main source of public involvement, but these were filtered through a tough gatekeeping mechanism, which meant that publishers' interests could be safeguarded and a favorable image could be selected. Ward and Wasserman (2012) argue that letters to the editor “are a limited mechanism for public input into mainstream press content" (p. 25). At present, audiences using digital platforms are not only information recipients, but they also actively interact, debate, create, communicate and share information.

This section has identified strengths of and opportunities on digital platforms (due to the platforms' unique features, such as interactivity, transparency, accessibility and immediacy) with regard to ensuring and enhancing journalistic accountability to public and professional stakeholders. In addition, this section has also discussed the new challenges created by the use of digital platforms for the maintenance of journalistic values and the upholding of accountability practices. In considering these challenges, the following section argues that the audience can fix these challenges and make news media on digital platforms accountable to their professional obligations and to the public.

ROLE OF AUDIENCE In a parliamentary democratic system, the ministerial cabinet is accountable to the parliament, the parliament is accountable to the people, and other constitutional bodies are accountable to specified agencies. In the context of journalism, Solzhenitsyn (1978) asks, "[B]y what law has it [journalism] been elected and to whom is it responsible?" (as cited in Christians, 1989, p.36). In a similar tone, British journalist Toby Webb, founder and managing director of London's Ethical Corporation, asks, "[W]ho holds these 'watchdogs' [media] accountable?" (Webb, 2009). These are serious questions about ongoing arbitrary media practices, and the exact answer is not easy to pinpoint. However, based on the opinions and arguments of different media scholars, the potential “parliament” that can hold journalists and media institutions accountable can be the public or audience. Painter and Hodges (2012) contend that media institutions may have multiple constituents to whom they are supposed to be accountable, but that

Moreover, digital access by large audiences allows the audiences to play an influential role in making media accountable by monitoring and critiquing whether media content follows ethical standards and journalistic values, and honors audience interests. For instance, Britain's Press Complaint Commission (PCC) received more than 25,000 complaints – a record number – after Daily Mail columnist Jan Moir wrote an article about Stephen Gately's death describing the events surrounding his death as "sleazy" and "less than respectable" (Robinson, 2010). The article, published on 16 October 2009 – six days after Gately's death – provoked outrage, with many readers expressing their anger through various social media outlets, including Facebook and Twitter. Referring to the PCC code of ethics, the complainants claimed that the Daily Mail had broken the PCC's code of conduct 89

space to comment on particular issues, and to effectively engage with news content through online media's interactivity and multimedia format. In other words, today's audiences, for media and journalists, are like the parliament to which a democratic government remains accountable. Various digital platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, can empower audiences to react, question and ask for further clarification if they disagree with media information, thereby obliging newsmakers to be accountable for their products. Audiences, engaged in collaborative content production with professional journalists, can verify and corroborate information and thereby urge media performance that is accountable to public and professional stakeholders. It is obvious that the role of audiences can create a constant pressure on journalists and media institutions to respect the interests of the general public and to be accountable to them.

on three fronts, arguing that the article was inaccurate, intruded into private grief and contained homophobic remarks. The deluge of comments and complaints from audiences worldwide pressured the PCC to investigate the issue and the journalists to rethink their professional obligations. Hence, it can be argued that the more access audiences have to online media content, the more effectively they can act as citizen journalists, assessing the suitability of media content and providing critical feedback to improve the quality of media performance.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION As several aforementioned scholars argue, media accountability can be governed by the same traditional codes of ethics on digital platforms as in traditional media, despite unique characteristics, such as immediacy, interactivity, transparency and global access. Since the unique characteristics of online platforms (such as crowdsourcing, postpublication correction, post deletion) can also lead to various challenges, the role of audiences seems more important on digital platforms because active and conscious audiences can fix these challenges and bring media and journalists back on their professional track. Even though the role of audiences in making media responsible and accountable to the public for their actions and performance is important in any media format (traditional or new), a continuous interactive relationship between audiences and journalists on digital platforms is very important in that this relationship encourages journalists to correct their mistakes and to respect the interests of the public. Today, audiences are highly involved in the use of media accountability instruments (such as online news portals, media blogs and various social media platforms) helping to make media more accountable to the professional and public stakeholders. The role of audiences is broader on digital platforms than in traditional media because the former incorporate non-traditional features to keep audiences actively watching the watchdogs. The non-traditional features of digital platforms can, for instance, help online media audiences to access content from anywhere on the planet and to remain updated at any time. This allows audience unlimited time and

Hence, the role of audiences is important to the monitoring of journalists' performance, encouraging the latter to maintain a high level of accountability in the digital realm. Moreover, if more people have access to online media, they will be able to constantly monitor online news portals in order to corroborate information, and can create pressure on journalists to be accountable to their professional and public stakeholders. A research finding indicates that a reduction of the digital divide and a rise in media literacy may significantly encourage audiences to join digital platforms and watch the watchdogs (Acharya, 2014). In addition, strong and effective monitoring bodies, such as press councils or ombudsmen, are required to safeguard audience interests in cases where media houses and journalists ignore public interests and deviate from the professional track in order to emphasize political or market interests. Media can fulfill public expectations by publishing true, complete and reliable information, encouraging the general public to constantly monitor media content and providing platforms to allow audiences to express diverse opinions, including critical ones. Meaningful audience participation audience can be ensured if media houses and monitoring agencies create an environment in which audiences can participate in: 90

challenges to the maintenance of journalistic values and the upholding of accountability practices. These challenges include speedy updates, the growing insignificance of gatekeeping, crowdsourcing, postpublication correction, post-deletion and increased plagiarism. In responding to these challenges, media audiences have a more significant role on digital platforms because of the availability of new media tools, which are easy to use, accessible and effective. As the first loyalty of professional journalists or media institutions should be towards their audience and the general public, a continuous interactive relationship between media and society, therefore, can help build media that are robustly accountable to professional and public stakeholders.

(a) criticizing the practices of journalists and media, (b) discussing ethical principles, and (c) modifying or updating the principles of ethics. To sum up, it has been ascertained in this article that accountability is a crucial aspect of professional journalism in any media format - from print to online. Maintaining accountability on digital platforms is more convenient than doing so on traditional media platforms for the following reasons: digital platforms are accessible to global audiences; the platforms can publish information immediately; news presentation in multimedia format can be more attractive to a wide audience; and the interactive features of the platforms encourage the audience's participation. The platforms, however, have also created new ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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Amity Journal of Media & Communication Studies 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1 – 2, 93-96

Copyright 2015 by ASCO Amity University Rajasthan (ISSN 2231 – 1033)

The evolution of Symbolic Economy and its prospects in India Ankit Kumar Singh Research Scholar, Department of Journalism and Mass Communciation Banaras Hindu University Email ID: [email protected]

This paper makes an attempt to explore various aspects of evolution of symbolic economy and how it is ruling the roost in today’s world with special reference to its growing presence in India. Further, an effort will be made to examine the role of media including new media platforms in making forces of symbolic economy more strong. For the analysis, secondary data would be used. Keywords: Symbolic Economy, symbolic commodities, tourism, media, entertainment, symbol, world city.

INTRODUCTION

land, would find it hard to get a bride for themselves.

Symbolic Economy, as a term, became popular following its use in Sharon Zukin’s path-breaking book, ‘The Culture of Cities’, which was first published in 1995. Zukin, who happens to be a professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College and the Graduate School, City University of New York, associates the concept of symbolic economy with a transformation in productive and distributive processes through symbols or knowledge based inputs and outputs. She further adds that symbolic commodities like data, technological trajectories, fashion regime, organizational knowledge and growing flow of information are creating a new culture today in which these factors have become as much essential as basic needs like food, water, electricity, etc. The concept of symbolic economy is a shift from the notions of agrarian economy, industrial economy and monetary economy which were in the vogue earlier. In the beginning, economy was agriculture based as a large number of people made a living out of working in the field, tilling the land, growing crops and selling them. The social status of people in these eras would be determined by the acres of land they possessed.

Though agriculture remained at the heart of social structure in later era as well, around the 14th century with the dawn of industrial revolution and renaissance in Europe, a major shift came in the economic structure of the society. As industries were established and machines were introduced to expedite manufacturing process, production of goods increased giving rise to a culture in which industry owning people took the centrestage in social structure. However, in the last fifty years, symbolic commodities have become the driving force of economy around the world. The unprecedented growth in the field of information technology and media industry have led to the creation of what a number of social scientists like Manuel Castells and Nico Stehr term ‘knowledge societies’ in which symbols and knowledge based inputs shape both economy and key social structures and patterns. Though symbolic economy has seen its potential realise in only a few parts of the world like the United States of America to the hilt, it has the potential to thrive across the world including India. In this paper, some of the major characteristics of symbolic economy will be explored, besides throwing a light on its prospects in India.

The more land one owned, the higher position one enjoyed in social circle. In India, such was the value associated to the land and agrarian activities that those males, who came from the family with no 93

CHARACTERISTICS OF SYMBOLIC ECONOMY

Production of symbols as basic commodities: Certain symbols come to be regarded as commodities in symbolic economy. Take for example the popularity of food outlets like KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) and McDonalds and MTV across the world which is a result of certain symbols (KFC, McDonald, MTV) turning into commodities whose takers can be found cutting across national and geographical barriers.

Driven by TME factor – According to Sharon Zukin, at the heart of the growth of symbolic economy are three factors i.e; tourism, media and entertainment. With a flow of information network and technological developments, world has shrunk into a global village to use a term coined by famous Canadian social scientist, Marshal McLuhan. The global man of today, therefore, travels more than his predecessors. This growing urge to travel among people has led to a flow of cash into the part of the world which attracts a fair number of tourists.

Rise of World Cities: British urbanist Patrick Geddes wrote in the beginning of the 20th century that world cities are cities where a disproportionate amount of the world’s business is conducted. In the 1960s, another British urbanist, Peter Hall, defined world cities as places where the greatest concentration of political power, trade, rich people and entertainment facilities occur. Peter Hall later added cultural creativity to the definition of world cities.

The second and chief factor fuelling the growth of symbolic economy is media. Media platforms like Television, Radio, Newspaper, Film and Advertisement play a stellar role in creating and reinforcing needs which are not of basic nature but are made to appear as important (as basic needs are). For example; there is no logical reason as to why face wash and not soap should be used to wash faces. Further, there is no scientific explanation as to why men and women need different kinds of face wash made exclusively for their skins. However, advertisements extolling the use of face wash and pitching for why it is important for men and women to use different kinds of face wash have led to a craze for it among youngsters. Today, face wash can be seen in every household with male and female members using its different varieties. A classical example of a symbolic need becoming a basic one.

Going by these definitions, cities like New York, Hongkong, Singapore, etc; can be considered new word cities which have become a hub of all kinds of technological an economical activities. The rise of these world cities can be attributed to the growth of symbolic economy. Moxie, fusion and thirst for new: While speaking in a seminar in Hongkon, Sharon Zukin once quoted a famous New York fashion journalist to define three key elements necessary for the growth of world cities and symbolic economy. These elements, according to the journo, were moxie (an American slang for nerve, courage), existence of fusion culture and an unquenchable thirst for new. Any place with these three elements can provide a right platform for symbolic economy to grow.

The third factor that contributes to the rise of symbolic economy is entertainment. With life becoming extremely fast, people look for escape in the realm of entertainment and spend on it as much as they shell out on their basic needs. This growing importance of entertainment has led to creations of many new ways of entertainment. The proliferation of theme parks, sports clubs, multiplexes, etc; indicates the way in which entertainment industry is tightening its grip on people.

DISNEY WORLD’S SYMBOLIC ECONOMY Disneyland and Disney World are two of the most significant public spaces of the later 20th century (Zukin, 2006). They transcend ethnic, class and regional identities to offer a national public culture based on aestheticizing differences and controlling fear. The Disney Company is an innovator of global dimensions in the symbolic economy of technology and entertainment; it also exerts enormous influence

It is urban: Symbolic economy thrives in an urban atmosphere. Cash rich people with an access to technologies and comforts of life are the ones who serve its interests. The urban class work hard, spend a lot and party hard, claims Zukin in her book. 94

on the symbolic economy of places in Anaheim and Orlando. Disney created a symbolic economy of its own through various strategies. The main component among them was the creation of cartoon character, Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse and his friends, since its introduction, have ruled the imagination of people from across the world. Further, with the launch of theme parks, special Disney merchandise, toys, and clothes; the company has used the symbol of Disney to woo customers from everywhere and seen its business flourish by leaps and bounds.

years, Indian brand of yoga has become a smash hit in the west. Whether it is Iyenger School of yoga or Ashtanga Yoga or for that matter Hath Yoga, people in the west have lapped it up. The rage for yoga among the western people can be gauged from the fact that famous international music band, the Beetles stayed in the ashram of Indian yog guru, Mahesh Yogi during the 1960s. In the recent times, Baba Ramdev took yoga to every household in the country through TV channels. Despite yoga being an Indian concept, India has failed to become a major player in its business. According to a report published in the Economic Times, even though over half of the 200 million yoga practitioners in the world are Indians, the US is the world’s largest yoga industry worth well over $27 billion. India, the report further says, accounts for just 3 per cent or 4 per cent of sales.

Disney World’s success has helped the city of Orlando establish itself as a centre of business activities as well. Since Disney Opened its theme park here, it received a legitimacy of sort in American social and business circle as people started visiting the city and setting up business there leading to its growth.

It is in the business of yoga that India’s prospect lies in developing a commodity of symbolic economy of its own. Yoga in the country is still an unorganised industry. If it can be projected as a commodity specific to India and advertised well, it can develop into a hugely successful brand. It can also be projected as a kind of Indian value in the same way Mickey Mouse came to represent American spirit.

Disney’s symbolic economy thus is a success story which results from a blend of symbolic needs of entertainment with business activities.

INDIAN PROSPECTS India, with a growing middle class ready to spend in abundance on symbolic commodities, offers a huge potential for symbolic economy to flourish on its soil. Though internet access is limited to only 33 percent of people in the country, information technology has made rapid strides in the country especially in metropolitan and tier two cities. Youngsters, in particular, are more tech savvy and take a great deal of interest in spending on symbolic commodities. The country has also a very strong network of TNE – the factors which are at the heart of the growth of a symbolic economy. It has more than 400 television channels, many radio FM stations and produces maximum number of films besides housing a number of tourist destinations of importance. Following are some of the areas which India can tap to develop its own sphere of symbolic economy. Yoga: Yoga traces its origin in the Sanskrit word yuj. A nearly 5000-year Indian body of knowledge, it features many asanas (positions) which one practises to keep one’s body fit and mind silent. Over the

Indian Premier League (IPL): The game of cricket has a religion like following in the country. It is often said the only time India as a country gets united is when Team India is playing a cricket match. IPL, a professional city-based league which was modelled on English Premier League (EPL), commenced in 2008 following Team India’s triumph over arch-rival Pakistan in T-20 World Championship in South Africa which resulted in this shorter version of the gentleman’s game becoming a rage in the country (Moitra, 2015). As of now, IPL is the most watched T-20 event of the world and its estimated brand value was worth $7.2 billion in 2014. Over the years, IPL has developed a huge fan following across the country with its official broadcaster, Sony Max, describing it India ka tyohar (India’s festival) in its promo.

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Like yoga, IPL, too has the potential to be India’s answer to Disney World of America. It has already established itself as an institution, and as a symbol, it has recall value across the country. Since the league has presence of cricketers and officials from across the world, it has a following outside India as well. The need of the hour is, therefore, to ensure its popularity doesn’t dip and create a mechanism by which people remember it throughout the year in some way or the other. Organising promotional events involving star cricketers, creating city-based fan clubs apart from opening stores selling T-shirts, toys, etc; can help in developing it as a symbol of India’s cricketing excellence and a model of symbolic economy.

young and daring professionals who are always in the pursuit of new.

CONCLUSION Victor Hugo had once said, ‘Nothing can stop the idea whose time has come’. Symbolic economy is the idea whose time has certainly come and there is no way countries across the world can remain untouched by its effect and influence. With a rise of consumerism culture amid tremendous technological advancement, the field of tourism, media and entertainment are going to expand further. The culture of cities across the world will also go through a transformation and more number of world cities will come to the fore. All this developments will ensure even more ideal atmosphere for symbolic economy to flourish. India too has potential to benefit from its proliferation as the country has elements and a growing middle class to keep pace with its rise and even develop its own brand of symbolic economy centre. The rise of symbolic economy, though, is not minus a flip side. Irrespective of its pleasure-oozing nature, a society operating under the umbrella of symbolic economy would always remain prone to isolation and chaos. Real emotions may take backseat with plastic emotions taking the front seat to shape one’s behaviours and social conducts. After all, everything comes with a price. Symbolic economy is no different. Interesting times are in the store, though.

Bengaluru as India’s world city: Among Indian cities, Bengaluru is one city which has all the characteristics to become a world city on the line of New York and Hongkong (Canton, 2006). For its role as the nation’s leading Information Technology exporter, it has already earned a sobriquet of ‘India’s Silicon Valley’. The city is considered technical capital of India as it has a very active IT sector flourishing on its soil. The city ticks all the three boxes which are considered essential for the creation of world city. The city has a fusion culture as its population consists of both insiders and outsiders. With the city housing headquarters of a number of major IT giants like Wipro, Infosys and ISRO, there is no shortage of

REFERENCES Canton, N. (2006, December 6). How the 'Silicon Valley of India' is bridging the digital divide. CNN. Moitra, B. (2015, June 15). To Keep The Core Still. Outlook.

Zukin, S. (2006). The Culture of Cities. USA, Blackwell Publishing.

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Amity Journal of Media & Communication Studies 2015, Vol. 5, No. 1 – 2, 97-106

Copyright 2015 by ASCO Amity University Rajasthan (ISSN 2231 – 1033)

Deconstructing Desires: A Critique of Heteronormativity in Rituparno Ghosh’s Films Omkar Bhatkar Lecturer in Sociology, Russell Square International College University of London, Mumbai Email ID: [email protected]

Ghosh’s films are remarkably informed by the social, cultural and economic changes wrought by the economic liberalization in the lives of the Bengali middle class. Though the films signify the local Bengali culture, the narratives, the agony, the desires, the human relationships and the treatment meted to these films is highly global. The paper wrapping the argument of a path breaking cinematic journey of Ghosh in the contemporary times, which revolves around anthropological issues concerning gender, culture and the body. Keywords: Rituparno Ghosh, Bengali Cinema, Queer in Cinema.

INTRODUCTION Rituparno Ghosh follows in the legacy of Satyajit Ray, Shyam Benegal, Aparna Sen creating art house films, many of which revolve around the complexities of relationships, gendered desires, the intricacies of emotion and the often silent struggles that are inherent in everyday lived reality. Ghosh has handled the changing perspective of the ‘Gendered Identity’ by intervening sanitized spaces of the middleclass home with narratives of sexual desires, thereby debunking prevailing notions of compulsory heteronormativity and heteropatriarchy. Ideas of Art, textures of interpersonal relationships, the politics of the home, identity, liberty and sexuality continue to form the premise of Ghosh’s films. Ghosh’s films attribute to his female and queer protagonists an agency or reflect on the lack of it and make them question their subordinate status. He vociferously challenges accepted dynamics of power equations between men and women, men and men, between parents and children, between heterosexual and queer people. Ghosh’s films are a critique of the norms that have been functioning unquestioned in society, especially in the context of the middle class home and the dilemmas of being modern and stuck in traditional thoughts.

This essay in the first section introduces Ghosh as a filmmaker who provides an agency to his characters concerning gender, cultural identity and the body, in which he challenges the cultural norms of body and gender; thereby providing an acrid critique of hetero-patriarchy, often revealing the reality behind apparently happy marriages, romantic relationships and familial equations. In the second section the paper problematizes the notions of compulsory heterosexuality and monogamy in context to Judith Butler’s notion of gender performativity the “stylized repetition of acts” (Butler, 1993) that must be performed in order for gender to be achieved. Specific corporeal acts, which are socially constructed and continuously performed, conform to a morphological ideal that pertains to regulatory cultural models of sex and gender. An analysis of his films time and again questions a woman’s lack of agency within the heteropatriarchal family and the nation-state at large. In the third section, the essay explores the queerness of the characters through his trilogy of Just Another Love Story, Memories in March and Chitrangada. 97

Butler’s theory of drag and performativity disturbs the notion of gender, thereby causing discomforts to the traditional norms and the heteropatriarchial gendered regime. In this context, Rituaparno’s characters shed light on the unspoken narratives of queerness.

Binodini (Aishwarya Rai) in Chokher Bali walk out on their respective husband and suitor to discover a life beyond the restrictive boundaries of the home. Further Ghosh’s characters are not stuck between the tradition and modernity, but they are seamlessly fluid. It is the social structuration of society that finds these roles and newer identities in conflict, as it seems to disrupt the patriarchal model. As the characters are fluid, their roles are subversive to the traditional model of patriarchy and therefore through the means of these desires and identities are exposed the gaps and vacuum in the patriarchal structure, that lacks to make spaces for women, for their changing roles, identities and fluidity. Like in one scene of Chokher Bali1 , Binodini flouts by dressing and adorning her body. Unknown to Binodini, Ashalata calls for Mahendra and Behari and when they arrive to find Binodini adorned in jewels, an awkward conversation ensues where although Behari states that Binodini looks beautiful, there is an air of discomfort at the forbidden but beautiful image of Binodini still is in her widow sari but covered in Ashalata’s marriage jewellery. Significantly, this act conflates sterile widowhood (indicated by the white sari) with the possibilities and passions of marriage and youthful femininity (the jewellery) thus blurring the boundaries between socially demarcated roles. Binodini’s body, the site of her ’lived’ experience of being a woman grappling with the norms of society, articulates her

Ghosh’s films are remarkably informed by the social, cultural and economic changes wrought by the economic liberalization in the lives of the Bengali middle class. Though the films signify the local Bengali culture, the narratives, the agony, the desires, the human relationships and the treatment meted to these films is highly global. The paper concludes wrapping the argument of a path breaking cinematic journey of Ghosh in the contemporary times, which revolves around anthropological issues concerning gender, culture and the body.

ACRID CRITIQUE OF PATRIARCHY The emergence of the ‘new woman’ is central to Ghosh’s films; the reason being that the modern Indian who is modeled on the urban educated middle class career woman, is expected to be both modern and liberated without jeopardizing national tradition. Although this may be aesthetically pleasing, it only becomes so by refurbishing the image of tradition so as to “make its values up to date”, but this is a superficial engagement between the two concepts of tradition and modernity, on and through female bodies, as it only works by conflating tradition and modernity onto women’s bodies so that “there is no longer any essential conflict between the values they present” (Sunder, 1993). Ghosh’s films makes a mark in launching an acrid critique of hetero-patriarchy, often revealing the reality behind apparently happy marriages, romantic relationships and familial equations. His films time and again question a woman’s lack of agency within the heteropatriarchal family and the nation-state at large. His female protagonists struggle hard to throw off the mantle of patriarchal repression, often abandoning the seeming security of the home and romantic relationships. For instance, Ramita (Rituparna Sengupta) in Dahan and

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The ensuing story of Chokher Bali is a complicated web of love and forbidden passions, freedom and confinement, in which Binodini is firmly enmeshed, struggling to make sense of her identity as a beautiful, educated and spirited young woman that is trapped within the confines of widowhood. Binodini forms a close friendship with Ashalata and also Mahendra’s unmarried friend Behari, with whom she falls in love. However, when Mahendra realises that Binodini is better suited to him than Ashalata and expresses his attraction towards her, Binodini gives into forbidden passion and an affair ensues. This is eventually revealed to Ashalata who runs away in despair and Binodini, ordered out of the house by Mahendra’s mother, goes to see Behari, who having always been her true love, and asks him to marry her. At first Behari refuses and Binodini leaves the village but later Behari changes his mind and after finding her, asks her to marry him. However, the next day when he arrives to take her as his bride, Binodini has disappeared

dissatisfaction with the confines of her social role as a widow and subverts it. The two themes of this film are the constraining nature of social roles assigned to women and the lack of socially sanctioned space for the expression of feminine subjectivity outside of these roles.

between mother and daughter brings about a catharsis reconciling the two estranged individuals. The progress of the movie helps to analyze the mother’s situation and her life. As she says herself, motherhood and marriage was not necessarily a natural progression for her. This representation of motherhood thus stands to challenge the idealistic and universalized image of motherhood perpetuated by society and it critiques the ‘one size fits all’ paradigm in which all women are assumed to marry and slip into motherhood with relative ease. Sangeeta Datta has described this perception of motherhood as an ‘ideological burden’. Ghosh demonstrates that motherhood is not only something that needs to be worked at but that traditional expectations made of women in modern society are unrealistic in this respect. (Datta, 1990)

Marriage and motherhood are axiomatic in Hindu society (Kakar, 1988) Ghosh has challenged the notion of Motherhood through his protagonist and their individual identities beyond the conventional norm. Like In Unishey April, it takes years for Aditi (Debashree Roy) to come to terms with Sarojini, (Aparna Sen) her mother, and reconcile herself with the truth that a mother who does not live up to the conventional expectations of motherhood is not necessarily evil. Completely under the influence of an immensely egoistic father, Aditi develops a strong revulsion towards her mother, who has relentlessly pursued her career as a dancer and prioritized it over her responsibility as a mother and a wife. Eighteen years after her father’s demise, Aditi is still unable to forgive her mother and blames her for being selfish and career-minded. Aditi’s complete interpellation in patriarchal discourses prevents her from fathoming her mother’s struggle to survive as an individual, with an identity of her own. Through the movie the viewer is completely engulfed by Adithi’s emotions. We are included in her struggle as she laments the social injustice of being an educated woman but not a suitable wife, and being a lonely and grieving daughter excluded from her mother’s life. Aditi is eventually confronted by Sarojini on the fateful night as she attempts suicide after being rejected by her boyfriend. Challenging her mother about her relationship with her father and her seemingly indifferent attitude towards her, her mother replies that Manish was angry with her, she earned more money than he did and was highly successful which seemed to be a source of tension for him. She offered to leave dancing for the sake of the family but he refused. She says “he felt small somehow…he would have been happy if he had married an ordinary girl…I should never have married at all”. In this way an emotionally charged exchange

Ghosh has time and again broken stereotypes and challenged the hegemonic discourse of patriarchy. Also Ghosh’s women are neither modern nor traditional, but they are somewhere in between the both. Also, their desires, inclinations, and dreams move between the traditional and modern roles and identities. Ghosh demonstrates these problems that women still face on a daily basis. For example, the conflict between tradition and individual desire is still very much at the fore of these women’s lives from Unishe April as we see Adithi is not considered a ‘proper’ wife because of her profession. Ghosh has claimed that domestic life is about adjustment and compromise in trying to “maintain the status quo”. Good family relations grow from negotiation and discussion and Unishe April is a pertinent example of this. Women may be daughters, mothers and wives but they are also individuals who have to integrate their different roles within a society, which is both traditional and modern, where stereotypes conflict with individual needs and desires. As already described, the traditional ideal woman presented in the media is in many ways at odds with the lives of women today because the conflict of tradition and modernity is denied (Sunder, 1993). Rather than represent his protagonist as conforming to these social traditions and thus disavowing this tension, Ghosh portrays women challenging dominant social codes. 99

Therefore, like the real contemporary Indian woman, his protagonist too struggle with belongingness, as these characters and their desires are so complex that cannot be accommodated in the heterosexual patriarchal structures, nor that they can be totally relegated to contemporary subversive identities.

upon her. Her fight for freedom coincides with the country’s freedom struggle and in her letter to Ashalata, Binodini speaks of her own country, a world “beyond the kitchen, courtyard and shutters and petty rules of home life”. A woman like Binodini, question herself, her identity, relationships and the nature of her whole existence finds no place for her in socially sanctioned spaces. In Tagore’s ending, in order for her to be able to return to social life she must lose her sense of passion and thirst for life, which is perhaps what Tagore soon led to regret. But in having Binodini disappear, Ghosh is making a statement not only about the state of society in the early twentieth century but also commenting on contemporary society. Women can be independent, they can find this ‘space’ but it means breaking free of restrictive and unitary homogenous identities.

In film after film, Ghosh attributes to his female protagonists an agency or reflects on the lack of it and makes them question their subordinate status. He vociferously challenges accepted dynamics of power equations between men and women, between parents and children, between straight and queer people. Victimization and exploitation especially through parochial conservatism and patriarchy is physical but most often even non-physical. Though in Last Lear, the three women spoke of their marital relationship, Ivy (Divya Dutta), Shabnam (Preity Zinta) and Vandana (Shefali Shah), the most part of the conversation revolves around the physical and mental abuse experienced by Shabnam and Ivy. Ghosh speaks more so of the invisible abuse than the physical one. In an emotionally charged scene in Unishey April, Aditi asks her mother, ‘Baba ki korto tomay’ (What did my dad do to you?), to which she answers, ‘Kichhu korto na! Tumi ki mone koro mar dhor korlei kharap hoy?’ ( Nothing! Do you think physical abuse is the only form of abuse?). This unseen violence meted out to women has often been brought up by Ghosh, for instance, in Bariwali where Banalata (Kirron Kher) and Sudeshna (Rupa Ganguly) are emotionally exploited by Dipankar (Chiranjeet Chakraborty).

Traditional cultural conventions concerning women, sexuality and their place in society, in combination with nationalist appropriations of these conventions, subjected female-ness to processes of “hegemonisation and homogenisation” (Uberoi, 1990) whereby it became fixed within the ‘pure’ domestic space and in immutable pre-determined categories such as wife and mother. In doing this, patriarchal hegemonic discourses extinguished any other facets of female identity that may have existed outside of social stereotypes and simultaneously erased any differences that may occur between various women and their own individual experiences of being female in India. Moreover, women lose a sense of control over their bodies as the body is not so much a body of individual but a ‘body-for-others’. Indeed, with regards to this problem Meenakshi Thapan has noted that the female body: “…becomes an instrument and a symbol for the community’s expression of caste, class and communal honour. Chastity, virtue and above all, purity are extolled as great feminine virtues embodying the honour of the family, community and the nation” (Thapan, 1997).

Ghosh provides his characters with agency and power of questioning. Even in Chokher Bali, Ghosh takes the liberty to give an alternative ending to the story of Binodini. In the beginning of the film Ghosh quotes Tagore who said: “ever since Chokher Bali has been published I have always regretted the ending”. Rather than have Binodini suddenly return to the structures of social institutions and conform to cultural conventions Ghosh makes her completely disappear. This is in fact quite an emancipatory act, a fleeing gesture which suits Binodini’s charactershe is a woman who cannot and will not conform to the strictures of patriarchal conventions imposed

Ghosh through his films also problematizes notions of compulsory heterosexuality and monogamy. In

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conventional structures.

Antarmahal2, an important film belonging to the second phase of his career, Ghosh unravels a decadent feudal world, its leisurely extravaganza and the sordid state of its inner chambers, inhabited by women, childbearing machines for perpetuating the bloodline. Antarmahal makes an inroad into these hidden chambers to reveal the brutality women suffer if they fail to bear male offspring. Revolving around an impotent zamindar’s incessant endeavors to bring forth a son, the rightful heir to his throne, the film completely dismantles the romance generally associated with sex to reveal the crudity of the act. The violence of sexual intercourse with no emotions involved in it becomes almost palpable from the very outset. The two women protagonist’s sexual desire for other men that attributes some agency to both, despite their incarcerated lives under the constant gaze of a repressive patriarch, also appears unsettling to many; for, women are usually imagined as sexual objects with no desire of their own. The sexual desire for other man rather than the repressive patriarch also forms the premise of Antarmahal reversing the notion of Male gaze. Ghosh’s films unlike the popular cinema which emphasizes on the ‘Female Body’ through Male gaze, reverses this gaze. Ghosh’s films highlights on the lack of agency for women located within the patriarchal structure of oppression. Victimization is central to his narrative, and cause of it lies in the patriarchal structures of operation. However, Ghosh takes us to the psyche of the woman and reveals the complex individual that exists beyond the notion of being a ‘woman’ in the hegemonic structure. Ghosh signifies through his protagonist the dreams and desires of these women that are beyond the

of

heteronormative

In Antarmahal, the elder wife Mahamaya, who does not have any more sexual relations with her husband as he has taken up a new younger wife as well has another mistress, seeks her desire for sexual union with the new sculptor – Brijbhushan who is making the Durga idol. Throughout, the film, the viewer comes across subtle non textual references for the silent desires of Mahamaya for this young masculine Brijbhushan. She sends food for him through maid, takes care in her indirect ways and most importantly yearns for his male body. This has been time and again impressed with camera angles and the portrayal of his male body, clad in a white thin dhoti, bare chested and as naked as possible. When he goes for his bath at the pond, Mahamaya gazes at him through the window and watches him being drenched. Therefore, Ghosh reverses Male gaze into a spectacle for the female and queer desires of viewers. Also, in Chokher Bali, in the sexual scenes, it’s not the female body but the male one that is accentuated and sexualized. Marriage and motherhood are axiomatic in Hindu society (Kakar, 1988) Ghosh has challenged the notion of Motherhood through Unishey April and Titli. In Unishey April, the protagonist finds it difficult to follow the heterosexual paradigms of Patriarchial nature of society and to fit within the role of a ‘mother’. Ghosh’s protagonist and their identities are often beyond the conventional norms of being a wife and a mother. In the context of Titli, Ghosh goes a step ahead of the mother from Unishey April who (is not only career oriented) imbibes her sexual desires. In Titli, we see mother and daughter working through the new uneasy territory in their relationship because both mother and daughter love(d) the same man. What is pertinent about this film is that it subtly proposes the concept of the sexual mother. Therefore, Ghosh’s films more than often portray the politics of the home, love and marital relationships. The women as protagonist are not ‘women’ in the traditional understanding of womanhood. Ghosh’s women are strong characters of substance and

2

The film deals with issues of female sexuality in a particularly interesting way and therefore must be mentioned. Set in the colonial era of 1878, the film is about Bhubaneswar, a wealthy yet grotesque man who has an obsessive desire for an heir and a greedy lust for power. Having been unsuccessful in fathering a child with his first wife, Mahamaya, he marries a younger and more vulnerable girl named Jasomati. Having still failed to make Jasomati pregnant, Bhubaneswar enlists the help of a Brahmin priest who is ordered to sit in the bedroom chanting mantras during the act of sex itself because Bhubaneswar believes it will improve the chances of fertilization.

paradigms

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courage (possessing some form of agency), who struggle to find their place in the social spaces sanctioned to them in the hegemonic discourse of patriarchy.

in particular, Entwistle conceptualizes clothing as an embodied “fleshy practice involving the body” (Entwistle & Wilson, 2001) lying at the margins of the body, marking the boundary between self and other, individual and society and she believes that clothing actively mediates these boundaries by providing a visual metaphor of individual identity as well as image of social norms. The saree has the power inscribed in it to hide and accentuate the woman’s body and desires. In Antarmahal, Although Jasomati- the young wife is extremely uncomfortable and unhappy about the situation where the priest is reciting the mantras watching over husband and wife engaged in sexual act, Bhubaneswar forces her to have sex with him. In an act of defiance against this Mahamaya- the elder wife sneaks into the bedroom and, sitting in front of the priest, she starts to titillate him. Lifting up the bottom of her sari to quickly flash her knee, she smiles and laughs as the priest starts to stammer over his words. After repeating this a few times and with the priest increasingly distracted, she starts to pull her sari off her shoulder and play with it slowly. The viewer, watching this scene from behind Mahamaya, suddenly sees her pull her sari right down, revealing her bare back to the audience but her bare breasts to the priest. The priest astonished, stops reciting abruptly, but Mahamaya just throws her pallu back round her body, gets up and leaves the room laughing. The central point of interest here is Mahamaya’s sexual use of her body and sari to challenge male power and dominance. Just as Binodini and Urmila do a type of bodywork in negotiating social values, Mahamaya strategically uses her body and sari in a sexualized manner that ridicules and undermines the domination and exploitation of Jasomati by Bhubaneswar. Furthermore this scene is symptomatic of the issues that pervade society at large. Bhubaneswar and the priest symbolize patriarchal society and religion and Mahamaya’s body, in an ironic move, is transformed into a site of resistance in which she uses the very medium that women are subjugated by, her body, and arguably her sari, the traditional symbol of chastity and virtue, to confront and criticise rigid dominant moral values of society.

Butlers understanding of Performativity and Identity formation holds strong importance in understanding the journey of Ghosh’s protagonist. ‘Identifications are never fully and finally made; they are incessantly constituted and, as such, are subject to the volatile logic of iterability. They are that which is constantly marshaled, consolidated, retrenched, contested and on occasion compelled to give away (Butler, 1993). Ghosh’s characters are not permanent fixed identities or categories rather they are characters in flux. The characters mask and unmask themselves, through the creative acts of performance. These acts are intelligently thought for as Identification is not a state of being. It is a perennial struggle to adopt and incorporate one’s way of life that is never achieved in its totality. The perennial struggle is expressed through bodily acts, clothing and performances. Saree being the central element in Ghosh’s films have worked as a symbol of womanhood concealing and expressing her desires. Banerjee & Miller do describe the sari as a ‘lived’ garment, claiming it is the main medium operating between a woman’s sense of her body and the external world and claim that the way a woman may manipulate her sari and respond to its movements “expresses not only her personal aesthetic and style but also her ideals about what it is to be a woman in contemporary India (Banerjee and Miller, 2003). They comment that the sari is inherently ambiguous in that it has the “flexibility to accentuate, moderate or hide features of the body”. For example the pallu can be exploited and manipulated by women to present themselves as coy by covering their faces when a lover passes by, as erotic by letting it fall away to reveal and accentuate the curvature of their breast, or using it to keep purdah by covering their heads in traditional domestic contexts as well as becoming an extension of maternal love by being a comforting presence in a woman’s child’s life. Thinking about the body, clothing and identity in this way acknowledges the significant role of clothing as expressing the self and 102

Binodini is crossing the demarcated spaces of social identity via the strategic use of clothing and adornment. In doing this she expresses elements of her own self that is not ruled by social convention. This is emphasised by Binodini’s assertion- “I have three identities- I am a young woman, educated and a widow but all have eclipsed my real identity… I am also flesh and blood”. Although Binodini is a widow she is also a young woman, she has passion for life and lustful desires yet she also desires a family and motherhood and it is this intermingling of all conflicting aspects of femininity that stands to question the ‘purity’ and homogeneity of the female ideal. Through her ‘body work’ Ghosh shows Binodini actually engaging with and challenging the moral and sexual social codes that repress her and thus establishes Binodini as a complex and rebellious character who is struggling to transgress what Ghosh has described as the “shackles of the norm” in her search for freedom and for life. Her body, as we have seen, is not maintaining the ‘correct body’ of society, it is not “in the service of ‘docility’ and gender normalization” (Jaggar and Bordo, 1989), rather her ‘body work’, her manipulation of her clothing and jewellery allows her to negotiate these values and express herself. Therefore, Binodini is enmeshed with the power for subversive ideas which she brings out with masking and unmasking of the body. The body in context of Binodini and Mahamaya is not exactly a passive recipient of cultural indoctrination but the same body becomes a political artifice, where identities are negotiated. Gender in this sense can be masked, unmasked, performed, underperformed, done and undone in the process of identification. Therefore, identity is a phantastismic staging or performance and nothing in Identity is fixed, it changes through time and from place to place. Ghosh, through the discourse of performativity gives meaning to the characters trying to break away from orthodox shackles of patriarchy, subverting desires, dreams and destination, especially in the context of Chitrangada.

not created space, then at least he has brought the silent queer identities into films where they could speak, and made a platform where the voices would be heard. Memories in March, Just Another Love Story (Arekti Premer Golpo ) and Chitrangada, at times considered as trilogy (though it is not in its literal sense) sheds lights on varied angles of desires, love and its complexity in context of same-sex. Also, these films are almost a reflection of society, of all those who inhabit the silenced spaces and live their silent struggles. Through this three films, Ghosh is not sympathisizing with the characters, nor is his being over dramatic, he stays as far as possible real and aesthetic even if it means to make the audience little uncomfortable. With reference to Chitrangada, Ghosh does bring about this uncomfortable sequence of uncomforting Gender like Butler, and giving space for a creation of a new identity. This new identity is a struggle of the protagonist (Rudra). The central conflict is not between Rudra and any other external force; rather, it is a confounded conflict within him. The apparent problem with the origin of the wish (here, the wish to become a woman) is that it has no credible history. It’s born one fine morning when Rudra discovers Partha’s (Jishu Sengupta) fondness for children. Consequently, he descends into sentimental musings about how Partha would never be happy with him, for he would never be able to bear him children. Two male parents cannot adopt a child in India. In order to sustain the relationship, Rudra decides to undergo a gender reassignment surgery. And, in no time, the desire becomes so overwhelming that he actually consults a doctor, and goes in for breast implant. The struggle of Rudra is inherit in himself and not from any external source of conflict. Partha has never desired Rudra to go for a sex assignment surgery, and it is here where he remarks if it’s about sexual organs then he might as well be with a woman. At this juncture the film sharply talks about the complicated and not so spoken queer desires in an Indian film. In such a way the film recognizes the multiplicity of desires, unwittingly or knowingly; but, the film does not ponder over the sudden

QUEERINGnDESIRES Ghosh with his last three films has created a space to discuss queer identities in the middle class homes. If 103

called ‘Just Another Love Story’. In the climax of the film, (Rituparno Ghosh) Roop asks (Indraneil Sengupta) Basu if they are invited to appear at the Habitat together at the same time when his pregnant wife Rani (Churni Ganguly) wishes to go out for biriyani at Karim’s, who is he going to choose. Basu does not have an answer; in fact, he cannot have. For, both Roop and Rani are equally important and indispensable to him. Kaushik Ganguly captures with subtlety the tragedy of the bisexual man who oscillates and exhausts himself in maintaining the balancing act between his wife and boyfriend. While the whole world has labeled Aar Ekti Premer Golpo as the first Bengali ‘gay’ feature film, and in its review seems to tilt more towards delineating the vulnerability of the films two gay characters − Roop, the film director and Chapal Bhaduri, the veteran folk theatre actor, the vulnerability of Basu, the bisexual cinematographer is almost elided, as if he did not exist. What is remarkable is that the film does not stereotype Roop’s lover as exploitative or manipulative, but sensitively handles his character which, commendably enough, does not verge on the perverse.

change in Rudra’s decision on the day of the final surgery. Apart from that one semiotic message (‘why do you call a BUILDING a building even when it is complete?’), that recognizes the fact that the body is into a perennial process of change, there is no elucidation. Chitrangada at times seems like a visual essay of Butler’s notion of Destabilizing sex and gender, Sex, Gender and Identity fluctuate in Chitrangada as if they are doings and undoings of the matrix of sex and gender, “there is no ‘being’ behind doing, acting, becoming; ‘the doer’ is merely a fiction imposed on the doing—the doing itself is everything” (Nietzsche & Smith, 1996) Rudra abandons as abruptly as he had plunged into exercising his desire. Is it because of a realization that a desire to enter a compulsive heteronormative structure (by becoming a woman) is redundant for it ‘dis-empowers’ him by taking away from him the gender fluidity he has so far embodied. Rudra does not undergo the final surgery, and decides to return to his original self. The abandonment of the quest is not affected by some sense of guilt, but he no longer feels the necessity of a cosmetic transmogrification. Now, this is what Rudra feels; this is his crowning wish. Ghosh, in this way portrays that the body, goes through a process of doing and undoing’s of gender, as if treating the body like an artifice or a blank slate that could be imprinted with norms and regulations. In such a way the body, gender and identity is constantly in the process of making and stabilizing, however never stabilized.

Basu’s tragedy is that he is caught between two relationships, one, socially approved, the other not; but the emotional quotient involved in both is equal. The last scene where Roop and Basu kiss and cry before they separate the reality of this in-betweenness and the very impossibility of finding a remedy to it becomes all the more conspicuous; and perhaps, it is here the film scores the most, notwithstanding its sensitive handling of the homosexual men as well.

Chitrangada, destabilizes sex, gender and identity. However Arekti Premer Golpo3, speaks more so about love and most importantly how a love story between two men is not so much different from any other love story, therefore the title is also aptly

Ghosh, also seeks to bring about the complexities and forms of love. Love that cannot be labeled and are beyond the boundaries of definition , may be also because these forms of love are complex to be captured into heteronormative structures. Roop and Basu’s story also hungs somewhere in between the total acceptance or rejection, but just in between the both. Like Derrida, Ghosh finds binaries restrictive enough to explain the complexities and shades of life. Though Ghosh, has been criticized by some communities for feminizing the identity of gay individual. It is not exactly so, portrayed by the roles

3

In Arekti Premer Golpo, Abhiroop is an outsider and is in kolkatta to shoot a documentary of a legendary Jatra actor. He is pitted against the world — the media link his work to his personal life, the crowd disallows the shoot in Chapal’s house, the villagers stop the final shoot of Chapal in his attire of a female goddess. His alternative sexuality has placed him in a tortuous relationship. This makes him vulnerable, but, as an artist, he is uncompromising, and the search for the truth is effectively an inward journey from femininity to androgyny.

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of Uday in Just another love story or Siddarth in Memories in March. One of the most enduring scenes in Just Another Love Story is when Abhiroop and Uday sit in front of the Gauranga temple. It is dusk, the priest has finished his arati and Uday is asking Roop to visit him in France. A new relationship starts — the kirtan refrain builds up fullbodied as Roop is iconized with a peacock feather in his hand, briefly becoming Krishna to whom the song is addressed: “Banamali hey, porojonomey hoyo Radha.” Ghosh also feels here it’s not important to make emotions or feelings explicit, but left to the audience to interpret through the polysemic visual text. Uday’s love or feelings are captured in such a way, that also the literal text may be insufficient to bring this emotion at a dialogue (verbal) level; rather it is the state of mind of Uday that has been portrayed.

inclinations, desires, dreams and destinations. Often these dreams are not of the conventional norms, nor are these desires sanctified spaces of societal norms, and nor is the destination a limited to marriage and motherhood. Rather, Ghosh’s characters go beyond these limited roles and socialized spaces sanctioned for women via hegemonic ideas. The characters seek to find their identities and a space for themselves, in the struggle to exist. Their destination is about the journey of knowing oneself and discovering the unknown, therefore the characters are in a process-ual form which is not complete and always in the making. Further, Gender socialization traps the individual within the cage of cultural norms, but soon the impossibility of living by these socio-culturally norms are realized and therefore begins the journey of knowing the reality. The reality therefore is not a binary one, but one that is complicated, and requires confrontation and courage to face this complexity.

Also, Uday’s orientation is kept ambiguous or rather unclear. It comes across as Ghosh’s intention to keep it unclear, so as to explain the fact that body and bodily language don’t really exhibit latent desires, or stereotyped notions. Neither are desires so simple that they can be manifested through visual personality of the character. Also, in Memories in March the lover (Siddarth) of Arnob (Ghosh) is treated absent in the film as he is dead. The absence of Siddarth, itself from the film does not give any space or cues to think about his physical appeal, his mannerisms, his personality, his effeminacy or masculinity or anything of that sort.

Ghosh shows female subjectivity as operating within the social structures and situations that constrain them. The moral and social codes of the ‘female ideal’ exist in varying social processes, practices, situations and contexts and the ways in which women respond to these situations on a day to day basis should also be thought of as suitably complex. What we find in Ghosh’s films is women both submitting to and resisting hegemonic conventions as Niranjana has rightly suggested, women are constantly involved in “shifting deployments of and engagements with the moral discourses, where women speak from both within the dominant discourse and from outside it.” (Niranjana, 1999) Therefore, Perceiving Indian women as ideologically ‘fixed’ within pure and homogenous categories of mother and wife severely compromises women’s status as complex subjects. However, if we start from a model of “mutation, metamorphosis and Diaspora” (Haraway, 1991) women can be reconceptualized as complex agents participating in multiple contexts and evading rigid social categorisation to express their individual subjective voice.

Yet, Ghosh treats his absence with a presence of his consciousness and desires in the film. However, the viewer can imagine then what must Siddarth be like! Therefore, if Ghosh has feminized his characters, they also he has emasculated them and beyond them he has left them in between and at times even treated devoid of any cultural gendered traits and identity.

CONCLUSION Ghosh’s journey of cinema has also been the journey of middle class men and women, coming to terms to reality, and understanding themselves within that process. The Women in Ghosh’s movie dare to look within themselves and discover their likings,

Ghosh with his protagonist brings out the voices from the hidden chambers, bedrooms and kitchen 105

into discussion through his films. Ghosh’s films seek so as to speak about the struggle to being modern and yet grappling with traditions. Ghosh, also destabilizes sex, gender and identity and brings out the complex milieu of desires and dreams. The

desires that are often repressed and the dreams that are often curtailed find their liberated manifestation in his films. Further, Ghosh provides an acrid critique of patriarchy and discomforts the world of binaries and heteronormativity.

REFERENCES Thapan, M. (1997). Embodiment. University Press.

Bakshi, K. (2011). Chokher Bali: Unleashing Forbidden Passions. Silhouette: A Discourse on Cinema, 3(9), 1-12.

Delhi:

Oxford

Uberoi, P. (1990). Feminine Identity and National Ethos in Indian Calendar Art. Economic and Political Weekly, April 28, 41-48.

Bakshi, K. (2013). My City Can Neither Handle Me Nor Ignore Me: Rituparno Ghosh in Conversation with Kaustav Bakshi. Silhouette: A Discourse on Cinema, 3(10), 1-12. Banerjee, M., & Miller, D. (2003). The Sari. Oxford: Berg. Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that Matter. New York: Routledge. Butler, J. (1999). Gender Trouble. New York: Routledge. Datta, S. (1990). Relinquishing the Halo: Portrayal of Mother in Indian Writing in English. Economic and Political Weekly October 20-27., pp.84-93. Datta, S. (1990). Several Roles Converging. The Telegraph, January. Entwistle, J., & Wilson, E. (2001). Body Dressing. Oxford: Berg. Haraway, D. (1991). Simians, Cyborgs and Women. London: Free Association. Jaggar, A., & Bordo, S. (1989). Gender/body/knowledge. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press. Kakar, S. (1988). Feminine identity in India in R. Ghadially (ed) Women in Indian Society: A Reader. New Delh: Sage. Nietzsche, F., & Smith, D. (1996). On The Genealogy of Morals. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Niranjana, S. (1999). Off the Body: Further Considerations on Women, Sexuality and Agency. Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 6(1), 119. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/09715215990060010 1 Sunder, R. (1993). Real and Imagined Women: Gender, Culture and Post Colonialism. London: Routledge.

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GUIDELINES FOR CONTRIBUTORS The editorial board of Amity Journal of Media and Mass Communication studies, Rajasthan would like to invite research papers / articles from scholars for the next issue of Amity Journal of Media and mass Communication Studies, AUR, Jaipur. The journal aims at publishing original , research based papers and articles on topics such as Digital Media Vs traditional media , scope and challenges of online media, role of digital media in brand promotion, media and democracy, media and ethics , role of media in governance, media vis-à-vis laws and regulation, media and corporate social responsibility, digital media as a tool of advertising ,technology and media , contemporary cinema, issues in public relations and corporate communication, gender and media, current advertising practices in the Indian and global context. The journal is published to disseminate the latest information in the field of media research and media development. The Journal is interested in research which: 1.

Formulates and explores new conceptual models.

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