‘Arab spring’ breaks state monopoly on information focus 06/18/2011

‘Arab spring’ breaks state monopoly on information

focus

06/18/2011
DUBAI — Social networking sites have allowed young protesters behind the “Arab Spring” revolt against the old guard to break a state monopoly on information, even if credibility is at times in question.

Activists using Facebook and Twitter have been taken aback by the extent that these Internet sites along with YouTube have broadened their reach.

Such sites have “helped to create space for political and social communication that did not exist in most of the Arab world,” said Ziad Majed, a Middle East lecturer at the American University of Paris.

“When we launched our first call for demonstrations on Facebook at the end of January, we had no idea about the number of people who might respond,” said activist Hashim al-Sufi, an organizer of anti-regime protests in Yemen..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110618com3.html