By Ruth Skilbeck
After 7/22, Social Responsibility and Online Media.
The role of online media in encouraging extremism is a topic of much media discussion, following the Norway twin attacks, on the part played by the internet and extremist ‘right wing’ blogs and violent video games in what turned Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivick into a killer. Yet in seeking explanations and remedies, it is important to avoid the dead-end of technological determinism. Online media may for some users foster a solipsistic sense of dissociation, and ‘parallel reality’. Yet it is people not the online media that they use that are ultimately responsible for their actions; and in the same week very different accounts of the central role played by online media text messages and blogs were reported in the stories of the heroic survivors
After 7/22, Social Responsibility and Online Media.
The role of online media in encouraging extremism is a topic of much media discussion, following the Norway twin attacks, on the part played by the internet and extremist ‘right wing’ blogs and violent video games in what turned Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivick into a killer. Yet in seeking explanations and remedies, it is important to avoid the dead-end of technological determinism. Online media may for some users foster a solipsistic sense of dissociation, and ‘parallel reality’. Yet it is people not the online media that they use that are ultimately responsible for their actions; and in the same week very different accounts of the central role played by online media text messages and blogs were reported in the stories of the heroic survivors
The atrocities of the Norway massacre on 22 July have led to journalistic investigations into the online behaviour of the mass murderer. An article in the Guardian entitled Norway Attacks: How Far Right Views Created Anders Behring Breivik (30/7/11) contextualises the mass murderer’s behaviour within discourses of ‘far right wing blogs’ of networked hate-talk directed at global multiculturalism and the liberal policies that support it in a globalised world. Throughout the week of the massacres, the article reports that far rightwing groups scrambled to distance themselves from Breivik's actions and intentions; and numerous dismissals occurred in extremist political parties across Europe.
It is important not to ‘blame the technology’ which in the main part is put to very different uses in social communication.
What has also been revealed in media coverage over the past week is the positive part played by online and mobile media, and blogs in the horrifying events. Mobile phone text messages were vital communication tools linking survivors of the attacks to each other during the massacre and to loved ones. In the hours and days following the event, survivors’ blogs have been an outlet for sharing their experience with the world, and bearing witness to the horror. This has had a powerful effect of communicating the strength and humanity and courage of the survivors in their own voices around the world (as discussed in my previous blog entry).
Media reports that suggest the blogopshere breeds right wing extremists overlook that there are now millions of blogs and only a very small minority would come into that category. Many, many more are using social media and blogs for profoundly positive communication of shared human values.
Blaming 'the media' may divert attention from individual and collective responsibility for its use.
At the same time the Norway twin attack is also prompting calls for rethinking the regulation of the internet and the exercise of freedom of expression.
Norway’s prime minister Mr Jens Stoltenberg has been outspoken in his support for freedom of expression:
As shown in the widely reported mass public gatherings over the last week, the Norwegian people are united in their drive to combat hate with love.
At the first funerals for the victims of the massacre and bombing, on Friday, the country held a one minute silence in memory of the 77 dead.
Addressing a huge crowd from a stage filled with red roses, Mr Stoltenberg vowed that Norway would not allow itself to be traumatised or intimidated into silence. Drawing inspiration from the survivors of the massacre he added: "The bravery these young people have shown is catching. We are going to answer hatred with love and honour our heroes for ever."
This message, like so much news now, is communicated through the world of online media. It may be stating the obvious to say that, as in the rest of life, whilst online and social media may be used nefariously by some there are many more around the world using online media and blogs to connect socially and communicate far stronger messages of humanity, tolerance, and hope. What the starkly contrasting uses of online media in coverage of the Norway massacres shows is a new awareness of the value of personal, community and social responsibility in the evermore blended reality of the actual and virtual worlds.
© Ruth Skilbeck, 2011
© Ruth Skilbeck, 2011
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