Suchergebnisse

Facebook played a considerable role during the political uprisings of the so called 'Arab Spring' in 2011. Together with Al-Jazeera, it was one of the few reliable sources of information for protesters at that time. In this paper, we explore the media landscape in Tunisia two years after the uprising. We conducted a qualitative investigation (participant observation and interviewing) with young Tunisians. The paper describes how they use Facebook (FB), newspapers, and TV for gaining information and for exchange. By that time, FB was their primary medium for access to political information. They prefer the variety and diversity of user-generated content, they select information, discuss issues among their friends inside FB and with that, co-create meaning and trust. It seems that both traditional censorship in the national mass media and the revolutionary experience have created a unique media landscape among young Tunisians. Facebook still plays a leading role for many in that landscape, but there remains a 'digital divide'.

Facebook played a considerable role during the political uprisings of the so called 'Arab Spring' in 2011. Together with Al-Jazeera, it was one of the few reliable sources of information for protesters at that time. In this paper, we explore the media landscape in Tunisia two years after the uprising. We conducted a qualitative investigation (participant observation and interviewing) with young Tunisians. The paper describes how they use Facebook (FB), newspapers, and TV for gaining information and for exchange. By that time, FB was their primary medium for access to political information. They prefer the variety and diversity of user-generated content, they select information, discuss issues among their friends inside FB and with that, co-create meaning and trust. It seems that both traditional censorship in the national mass media and the revolutionary experience have created a unique media landscape among young Tunisians. Facebook still plays a leading role for many in that landscape, but there remains a 'digital divide'.

The relationship between the media presentation of the nuclear fallout (NF) controversy & (1) knowledge about NF, (2) educ, (3) media exposure, & (4) anxiety among the media audience, was examined. The hyp's were: (1) knowledge about NF will increase as media exposure increases; (2) knowledge about NF will increase as educ'al level increases; (3) anxiety about the effects of NF will decrease as knowledge about NF increases. The data were based on a questionaire survey of 236 R's in a Middle Western Coll town. The questionaire included a test of knowledge relevant to the fallout issue & a series of questions designed to measure anxiety about the effects of fallout. The data supported the 2nd hyp, but not the first & 3rd. Confirmation of the-2nd hypothesis was explained by the selective exposure of more highly educated R's to media content more likely to contain information about fallout (news programs, documentaries, etc). Though the 3rd hypothesis predicted that knowledge would alleviate anxiety, anxiety was found to be equally distributed among all segments of the sample regardless of educ'al background. 2 possible interpretations for this finding were offered: (1) The media did not present a clear & simple picture of fallout effects, & individuals exposed to the media found themselves confronted with opposite points of view re their harmfulness; thus they may not have experienced a reduction of anxiety. (2) A number of `chronically anxious' R's may have been included in the sample. For these individuals, knowledge about fallout effects would probably not have alleviated anxiety once the media had aroused fear of such effects. E. El-Assal.