Media as a watchdog in International Politics?

The mass media, often the only form of education to some, has a very powerful influence over people's beliefs and opinions regarding everyday life issues since it keeps people updated and informed about the events that are taking place around the world. This influence could not be more evident than anaysing the relationship between the media and politics as the politics is one of the main components of our day to day living and the media is the major source of information about political affairs. On the one hand, the media has control over what we know about political system and what we never find out and because of this the media possesses a certain “hold” over the political arena such as passing judgement, approval or criticism on politicians, parties and other influencial public figures. On the other hand, the information which the media provides can mobilize the public attitudes and opinions towards political actors and events. Therefore, political parties are very cautious in their relationship with the media, quite often they attempt to keep the media on their side.

To see the vital role of media in mobilization of masses, let us have a look at the “real life” example of recent political uprising stamped as Arab Spring in the history. Interestingly, when the case of Arab Spring is mentioned, the mass media is described not as the press, TV and radio, but as social media including Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and even Phone messages.

After analysing millions of tweets, hundreds of youtube videos and thousands of blogs, new study concludes that the role of social media in shaping the political debates in the Arab Spring is central. Conversations by civilians on social media continiously instigated new major events and the stories shared by protests via social media spread across international borders.

“Our evidence suggests that social media carried a cascade of messages about freedom and democracy across North Africa and the Middle East, and helped raise expectations for the success of political uprising,” said Philip Howard, the project lead and an associate professor in communication at the University of Washington.  “People who shared interest in democracy built extensive social networks and organized political action. Social media became a critical part of the toolkit for greater freedom.”

The revolution which started in Tunisia and Egypt led individuals in other countries to pick up the conversation and debating contentious issues across the region. Howard said that despite the fact that social media did not cause the upheaval in North Africa, they definitely altered the capacity of citizens to affect domestic politics. Ironically, government attempts to crack down on social media has caused more political activism. Especially in Egypt, mostly middle-class Egyptians went out to the streets when they could no longer follow the unrest on social media...

From the recent experience, one can come to conclusion that revolutions in the 21^st century might not be televised – but surely be tweeted, blogged, texted or communication through different social media tools. In addition, the public sense of shared grievance and potential for political transformation can develop rapidly as the social media can easily be utilized to build solidarity and organize demonstrations by the fragmented political opposition members.