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New Media in 2015: In Conflict Areas It Plays An Active And Dynamic Role

By Kashoo Tawseef

27 January, 2015
Countercurrents.org

Power of the people is paramount to the development and peace of any nation but in a conflict situation, this people’s power is always in jeopardy. Social media has a given new hope to the people to retain this power as Mark McKinnon, states “technology and social media have brought power back to the people.” Social media has allowed people to create, share and exchange information, ideas, and more importantly the pictures and videos wherever you are in the world over various networks platforms available in 2015. This new form of media has made world like global village in real sense and borders irrelevant. Moreover, “you don’t need VISA to tweet or comment for someone with different nationality,” Jahangir Khan, a media consultant, said.

In conflict areas, this new form of media has also played a major role in various ways and makeup. Almost all main stream political parties have Facebook and Twitter accounts. The other actors other than main stream also have Facebook and Twitter accounts. “They also make their voices heard through this media as most of the time they are subjected to censorship and this medium has provided them a media without any gateway,” Khan added.

I myself am not that proactive on social media, Ishtiyaq Sibtian Joo, a journalist working with Hindustan Times, said however I have noticed that the younger political brigade seems very proactive on it, and regularly keep on expressing there opinion there.

The various famous personalities like writers and political scientists of the state are very active on social media and engage in various debated that originate as result of their comments over this media.

Although most of the times, “they share the news items that they have done, but there are also times, when they express their one line satire on some political issue, either related to governance or to conflict issue,” Joo said.

Further Joo, said I have noticed from the conversation that I had with my cousin that a lot of politics gets discussed on it, said Joo. For example, she herself is part of some group on Facebook which was opened to help in providing justice to rape victims.

According to Peter Dean, Associate Dean, Creative Arts, Technologies and Science, University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom, social media opens up the possibility of immediate access to world-wide communications to conflict participants. This can provide a stream of instant, eye-witness, graphic accounts of what is happening in real-time from both sides of a conflict. Further, Dean added, this can bring the reality of the brutality and horror of violence to a world-wide audience in a way that did not happen through conventional war correspondents and old media forms such as TV, radio and newspapers.

The students and researchers are also using social media actively and even do their research and write various research papers that involves analyzing the different aspects of the conflict, as analysis according to Waseem Yaseen, Business Analyst at Santandar, United Kingdom, is one of the key elements even in your life, it's a reflection of things on and around you. It is essential to analyse things to the smallest level, because solution of biggest problem some times lies in small solution.
Yaseen, said that word analysis means breaking up complex issues or problem into smaller part for better understanding, if one has to understand the conflicts, it is essential to understand each issue on its merit in order to tackle such conflicts more efficiently.

“The conflict areas in the world have various tragedies to share from various massacres to killing at the borders to the humiliation at the hands of security agencies; social media is actively being used to communicate such tragedies with the outside world,” Khan added.

Even political parties in their elections use social media to reach out the people and ask their opinion for different policy issues. Gulshan Rasool, a mass communications graduate of Pakistani origin, said the various publications around the world actively use social media both as a marketing tool as well as the medium to generate the debate about various news items they publish and at the same time receive the feedback from the people.

Amit, a student of Indian origin, living overseas, said the conflict place always has various stories to share and even diaspora also use this medium to put their voices across and get connected to their brethren at home. Asad Shah, living in Europe, said I have many friends from different regions who share their thoughts with me and they have diverse opinion about various subjects. “And now I know more about the ground reality than before,” Shah said.

Freedom of expression is the right of every individual that is enshrined in the constitutions of various nations in some shape or form, but it comes with risks, as Bob Dylan, puts it “a hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom”. Many Bloggers and many of those who use Facebook and Twitter have ended up in jails in many countries including India and Pakistan. Many such cases have been reported around the world.

Moreover, freedom is not absolute and there are always lines when it comes to limit and where to draw such lines remains an unanswered question. At the same time the stream of news that generates through social media needs check and balance. “This stream of reports is unmediated by an editorial and fact checking process. So the social media picture of a conflict may not cover the whole story and individual items may not be factually accurate. The mainstream media are adapting their coverage to combine both traditional wars reporting with a selection of social media to combine the best of both but this process is, of course, still subject to editorial bias, as ever,” Dean adds.
Further, Khan concludes this new medium can be used to communicate with the world and understand the sufferings of people in various conflict areas of the world and help in bridging the gaps. He emphasises that let’s use this medium to give food for thought to political, economic and social scientists and policy makers of the world. Let’s not misuse this medium or our words as Margaret Heffernan, said Words are how people think. When you misuse words, you diminish your ability to think clearly and truthfully. “Let’s help to develop rational thinking that can lead to deliver justice to the victims of conflict around the world,” Khan said.

Kashoo Tawseef : Born in conflict area, Kashoo Tawseef is a student of Media Studies and political science. His articles and essays have appeared in the Greater Kashmir, Kashmir Times, Rising Kashmir, Etalaat and in other media journals. His paper about the resolution of a Conflicts and a way forward won a journalism and research award in the United Kingdom. You can record your viewpoint at k dot tawseef at the rate gmail.com





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