How has the media influenced the arab revolutions Research Paper

How has the media influenced the arab revolutions - Research Paper Example The rise in the frequency of use of social media seeks to make governments accountable for their intentions and actions. It is worth noticing here that a single factor cannot lead to a revolution; actually, it is the combination of several factors and issues that paved the way for a great revolution. The social-economic factors and political factors were depressing, and that paved the way for the Arab revolution. Despite several limitations and censorship imposed on media, it has been observed that their roles have been the most crucial in the success of Arab revolution (Seib, 2012). Some of the scholars, experts and journalists have termed social media as an ‘undeniable force’ for attaining a valuable outcome. In order to assess the validity of their perception, a thesis statement has been developed in this paper. The statement can be observed as â€Å"Media have played a vital role in, and have been employed as a resource to support, Arab revolution†. It aims at identifying and analyzing the impact of media on the revolutions in Arab world. The role of internet and social media has been emphasized by Wael Ghonim, Egyptian Google executive: â€Å"If you want to liberate a society, just give them the Internet†( Storck, 2011, p.4). ... The major differences with respect to traditional media can be identified and analyzed in terms of interactivity and speed of the news. The traditional media include the use of leaflets, posters, and faxes to mobilize the people, whereas the use of digital media has enabled an audio-video interaction with the people around the world (Rugh, 2004). There is a profound role of media in influencing the revolution, especially in Arab countries such as Egypt and Tunisia. The protests in Egypt and Tunisia would not have been greatly successful in the absence of social media like facebook, twitter, and other sites. It was different media that kept provoking people and helped them to come together to bring about such revolution. Social media such as Facebook and Twitter were used intensively by people to disseminate information globally, and, apart from this, these social networking sites were used as a tool for fostering people within and outside Egypt for a great revolution (Ghannam, 2011). Social media and theory of communication â€Å"Networks constitute the new social morphology of our societies and the diffusion of networking logic substantially modifies the operation and outcomes in processes of production, experience, power and culture†( Fox, Mourtada-Sabbah, and Al-Mutawa 2006, pp. 155). When the above mentioned arguments are evaluated from the perspective of social media theories, it is found that â€Å"resource mobilization† theory is one of the most important theories of social movements. It came into existence in 1970s. According to this theory, resources such as money, time, organizational skills, political and social