Internet & ICTs for Social Justice and Development News
http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5059866
Radical question: Can alternative media get a leg-up from new technology?
photo SYDNEY, Australia -- John D.H. Downing is professor of
international communications and the founding director of the Global
Media Research Center at the South Illinois University, United States
of America.
On the sidelines of the OURMedia/NUESTROSMedios VI international
conference held in Sydney, Australia, in mid-April 2007, Downing spoke
to APCNews staff writer Frederick Noronha and explained where his
critique of the media intersects with the possibilities opened up by
information and communication technologies (ICTs).
Downing authored 'Radical Media: the political experience of
alternative communication' (1984, South End Press, Boston), and
another two-thirds revised version, 'Radical Media: rebellious
communication and social movements' (2001, Sage Publications,
California).
He has also published on the Indymedia network, and on issues of
racism and the media, and on the media in the latter phase of the
Soviet bloc. Currently, he is editing a one-volume encyclopaedia about
alternative media for Sage Publications, which focuses on examples
from across the planet - from the "Boxer rebellion" [1] through to the
present day.
[1] Chinese rebellion from November 1899 to September 7, 1901, against
foreign influence in areas such as trade, politics, religion and
technology.
He describes his trajectory thus: "I was, like many of us, always a
media junkie. In the 1960s, I became frustrated with the media,
particularly on its coverage of strikes..."
APCNews: To begin, how would you define 'radical media'?
Prof Downing: Radical media is a subset of alternative communications
or the independent media. So we only know that they are small-scale,
grassroots(-based), and underfunded. Because that's true of all these
media.
But what distinguishes radical media is that they're like the origin
of the word radical. It comes from the Latin for 'root'. So, they are
media, which tries to go to the root of issues. Not just dealing with
what are passing issues, but with the real substance of political,
economic and cultural maters.
The radical media that I study and focus on are mostly what I call
"progressive" ones. But, we, in our own interest as political
progressives, must be aware that the far right wing can also use media
of this kind.
If you look, the extremists of the (right conservative) Hindutva
movement, for instance, have been using this type of media very
effectively. We need to realise how powerful they can be; and we
should not think we are the only people who use media.
APCNews: In a post-internet world, have things become easier for the
radical and alternative media to get a hearing?
Prof Downing: I would say that what the internet enables is certain
new means of mobilisation. I think it enables new means of global as
well as local or regional networking.
It enables forums to be set up and connections to be made, which were
much more difficult to establish previously.
It also permits what I'd call "intermediate size audiences" or
readerships for radical media. That is, not the mass - multi-million
sized - audiences. But it's no longer only very tiny audiences and
readerships that were available before. There is an expansion not even
to a middle level, but a larger scale than previous.
APCNews: How does all this impact the global south, or the Third
World, or the so-called 'developing' world?
Prof Downing: We're now at a point when the Global South and the
Global North have to be disaggregated. In some parts of Mumbai or
Delhi or Chennai (in India), the opportunities are very strong and
they are not particularly different from those available in say, New
York, London or Tokyo.
But in other parts of those latter cities - as in some parts of
London, NY and Tokyo - there are people in a totally different
scenario. They do not have the possibility of getting money,
technology, access to good education (as opposed to a prison process
for young people until they are 18). So it's enormously varied ...
One colleague did a study of computer and mobile phone use in the
capital of Niger. What he found was characteristic of the African
continent, showing the significant expansion of mobile use but not of
computer use. That's because computers are very expensive,
particularly in the case of connectivity. When it comes to cell
phones, you can get very, very cheap phones, which may not be the
best, but they function.
It now depends on how aggressively cell phone manufacturers decide to
develop certain computer features on their phones. With wi-fi access,
that could happen. It's possible that a number of functions may shift
from the PC to the cell phone.
What this means for the radical media is a further question...
Photo: John D.H. Downing
Photo taken by Frederick Noronha, April 2007.
--
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