Communication technologies such as mobile phone and the internet are the famous tools that used by the youngsters in the Middle East. Pictures and videos about the protest in the Bahrain and Libya that captured by the mobile phone have been posted up to the internet and spread widely.
The leakage of the news have upset the people around the world about their government and consequently, it makes the government to enforce to shut down the web service to prevent further videos and pictures being published.
Below was the video showing the protest of the Al Bayda citizens on the street by YouTube user, enoughgaddafi.
However, the leader of the anti-government protest in Egypt, as well as the Google executive, Wael Ghonim claims that social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Google and YouTube are acting an important character to let the people outside the world knowing the truth of what happening in the Egypt.
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| Social Media Source from penn-olson.com |
There is a Facebook webpage named “We Are All Khaled Said” that created by Ghonim which aimed to aid in the mobilization of the demonstrators in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
Nevertheless, the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s senior adviser, Alec Ross argues that social media enable people gather together in the diverse social network which eventually tightened and strengthened their power.
By using the contemporary social media, it is effective for people to disseminate message, communicate and share news around the world. Besides, every people have their right to speak and tell their story, therefore they should not be restricted in publishing the truth.
According to Buckley (2000), people should not be restricted in voicing their thoughts and opinion and the freedom of speech should become a part of the human rights to create a better democratic society. Besides, Mendoza (2009) asserts that the internet is actually a democratic, uncensored platform for people to express their voices and share the information which is normally filtered by the traditional media. Therefore, it should be ultilised well but not be restricted by the government.
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References
Buckley, S 2000, ‘Radio’s new horizons: Democracy and popular communication in the digital age,’ International Journal of Cultural Studies, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 180-187.
Mendoza, A 2009, ‘Democracy by internet,’ Guardian 2 July, viewed 22 May 2011, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/02/internet-democracy-online-politics?INTCMP=SRCH>.
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