Activism Case Study: War on Iraq

The political environment surrounding the War in Iraq was unlike any other war environment to have ever existed as it has been regarded as the first “War in Cyberspace”* as 75% of Americans turned to the Internet for information about the war. Not only Americans, but also people around the world were using the Internet to educate themselves, discuss and organize anti- war rallies.

With the Internet being used by citizens to gain more information regarding the War in Iraq, mass media forces were pushed into a losing battle that they continue to lose today against what we now consider citizen media. Prior to the War in Iraq, the mass media were the gatekeepers to political news coverage. Ideally, we have always expected news coverage to remain unbiased an un-opinionated, rather to inform us through factual commentary. Unfortunately, this is starkly oppositional to the reality of mass mediated news.
“The remoteness of the global conflicts disposes people to “accept official interpretations of the events,” which then become a “major source of legitimation” for the regime in power.”*


Therefore, during the early days of the war in Iraq, mass- media coverage was a binary composition of either left or right- wing ideologies polluting the commentary of actual events taking place. While this had been the social construct of media pre- Internet, the War in Iraq prompted a neutrality of information regarding the war as people were given the freedom to formulate their own views by navigating the different sources of information available to them through the internet, for example, independent media source Alternet, which provided and has continued to provide independent coverage of the war and it’s political landscape. Not only did users break their dependency on the mass- media but also they were able to communicate and share ideas with people around the world, like never before.

The result: February 15, 2003 (The largest Anti- War rally in history)

This day is perhaps the most significant day as it was as it was the physical representation of an activism revolution, a reflection of the power of activism in the day of the Internet. Never before in history have people to this magnitude been able to organize themselves for a single cause around the world, so succinctly and so impeccably coerced.

The Internet provided forums dedicated to activism for people around the world to engage within, an inclusive forum dedicated to the resistance towards the War in Iraq. Thanks to email lists, networking sites and the ability for social movement organizations around the world to connect, the movement of all movements successfully and peacefully enveloped the world.

Thanks to citizen media and sites like www.youtube.com and www.infoshop.com , people were able to continue taking action against the War in Iraq. Therefore, the activism did not end on February 15th, 2008, rather, people continued showing their support by posting videos and holding forums easily accessible by anyone over the Web.

* Robbin, Alice, and Wayne Buente. "Internet Information and Communication Behavior During a Political Moment: The Iraq War, March 2003." JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 59 (2008): 2210-231

Activism pre- Internet: Opposing the Vietnam War

The early 60's saw the development of the famous Vietnam War Protests. The most relevant difference separating pre and post Internet activism has been the ability for activists to take onus for their actions, rather than having the politically elite control their message through the news. Protests during the Vietnam War were rarely portrayed in a clear light as mass- media journalists were more intent on finding stories that with their

During the Vietnam protests, mainstream media was prompted to impose their ideological framework through their coverage of the protests as a means for depicting them in an over-simplified and non- representational manner. Protesters who were approached by the media were often characterized very specifically in accordance to the mainstream media agenda.

1. official (protester) sources which were political sources
2. academic sources which comprised of active leaders within the movement and the more astute protesters,
3. authoritative sources which were protesters partaking in violent or what was considered to be more entertaining behaviour (wearing costumes)
4. unknown sources who were protesters without rank.

Stories were then depicted in one of three frames, “Episodic,” “Thematic,” or “Mixed”. Episodic being the entertaining spectacular elements of the protests (celebrities, violence, excitement, etc…), thematic frame was an educated approach to the story (background information, debates, political rhetoric, etc. )

With this evidence alone, we can begin to understand the mediated ideologies of the mass media in the pre- Internet context. Their mandate for providing information was framed in accordance to very specific boundaries set by mass-media elites, rather than reporting stories and events as they occurred, journalists searched for specific stereotyped representatives that fit into the chosen context of their employing media institutions making it impossible for any type of dialogue between citizens and media outlets.

Not only has the Internet provided people with a voice but it has opened the doors to more people. During the 60's and 70's, movements were organized through restrictive communicative tools (flyers, telephone lines and letters); therefore prompting more elite dissent. The majority of protests were organized on campus grounds, creating a class barrier between citizens. Communication was thus restricted to those who could afford it which ended up being not only Westernized populations but certain classes within these societies. Today the Internet is available to over one billion people around the world and has provided a more inclusive environment for communication; rich, poor, educated and uneducated.