Digital media, Social Activism and Democracy

Blog

Table of Contents
Table of Contents................................................................................................................................
Part 1. BLOG........................................................................................................................................
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................................
Part 2.....................................................................................................................................................
Power in and around media.........................................................................................................6
Contemporary social issues with digital and social media..........................................................7
Reflection on own media use.......................................................................................................9
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................

Part 1. BLOG
Digital media, Social Activism and Democracy
Digital media comprises of all those forms of media which would require the use of encoded
machine readable data formats for their operation. It comprises of the digitized content which
can be easily transmitted by using computer networks and internet (Dwyer and Molony, 2019).
These can be in various forms such as audio, video graphics and text. The concept of democracy
has received a new impetus due to the emergence of various platforms of digital media. Social
activism refers to working in coordination with other people with the purpose of bringing a
change in the society. It has also provided a new meaning to the concept of social activism. This
blog posts describes the role of digital media in the concepts of social activism and democracy.
Digital media and democracy
An important role is played by mass media in the social and political lives of people.
Owing to this, it has also impacted the democratic processes. There has been an extensive use of
digital media for influencing opinions of the public. Furthermore, with the emergence of digital
media platforms, there has been distribution of power in the hands of the users who not only
develop engagement with the mass audience but also influence the various democratic processes
and practices (Suwana, 2020). The various digital media platforms have led to the evolution of
the concept of democracy. It also opened new ways in which the citizens can engage with the
government. In addition to this, the governments across nations also use digital media platforms
to engage with the citizens on a large level. However, it can be critically analyzed that with the
prevailing illiteracy and digital divide, it will not be reasonable to expect equality in various
democratic debates. However, it is also debatable that use of digital media platforms will work to
empower the marginalized groups of people.
Digital media and social activism
Social activism involves coordinated and collaborated working for bringing a change in
the society. This is often confrontation and is initiated against an established power. Social
activism can be of various types including demonstrations and protests, boycotts, strikes, letter
writing and petitions, social media campaigns etc. Use of digital media in most of the types of
social activism is evident in the present times (Freelon, Marwick and Kreiss, 2020). Digital
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