Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Twitter: Mob rule or democracy in action?
The Moral Maze (BBC radio4) 20:00 4th Nov
When does a popular and spontaneous protest become mob rule? Fans of Twitter, the micro-blogging site, have chalked up a couple of notable victories of late. Followers helped to expose a legal injunction against The Guardian and Twitter-led protests generated tens of thousands of complaints against Jan Moir when she wrote a column using the death of Stephen Gately to criticise gay marriage. Is this net-based protest a valuable tool to demonstrate popular opinion or are we sacrificing traditional political engagement for the instant gratification direct action?
Witnesses:
Professor Andrew Chadwick of the New Political Communication Unit at Royal Holloway, University of London, and author of the book Internet Politics
Brendan O'Neill, journalist, writer and editor of Spiked Online
Nick Cohen, author and Observer journalist
Ben Locker, 'Twitterer'.
Or catch it on BBC iplayer
When does a popular and spontaneous protest become mob rule? Fans of Twitter, the micro-blogging site, have chalked up a couple of notable victories of late. Followers helped to expose a legal injunction against The Guardian and Twitter-led protests generated tens of thousands of complaints against Jan Moir when she wrote a column using the death of Stephen Gately to criticise gay marriage. Is this net-based protest a valuable tool to demonstrate popular opinion or are we sacrificing traditional political engagement for the instant gratification direct action?
Witnesses:
Professor Andrew Chadwick of the New Political Communication Unit at Royal Holloway, University of London, and author of the book Internet Politics
Brendan O'Neill, journalist, writer and editor of Spiked Online
Nick Cohen, author and Observer journalist
Ben Locker, 'Twitterer'.
Or catch it on BBC iplayer
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Chris brock on
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Is this net-based protest a valuable tool to demonstrate popular opinion or are we sacrificing traditional political engagement for the instant gratification direct action?
We aren't sacrificing traditional political engagement. The politicians did that when they all started to sound the same...
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Nick Cohen has already made his position very clear. I hope he's as good an after dinner speaker as Tony Blair because he has about 5 years left as a journalist.
You should get on board Matt, I love following scientists and politicians. I'm sure you would too.
Unless you're a Norwich city fan I would not suggest following Ed Balls. Serious personality issues (yes more serious than mine!).
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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No this aspect of Twitter kind of interests me but, I haven't yet listened to the broadcast so will get back when I have.
But I do know I won't be using Twitter because I see it as one of those time wasting communication ideas. There's already enough of those out there to choose from!
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Ha! Rubbish comparison Hugh and you know it. The telephone was obviously revolutionary. As Birdy says, Twitter is just another 'platform' for communication.
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I agree with Hugh.
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So that's 2 against 2. Shall we Twitter that? Oh no, hang on a minute, we've already communicated all this on this 'platform', proving our point that there are already loads of platforms to choose from and Twitters just one on them. :)
[before telephone it was mail via a leaky boat or horse drawn carriage]
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Permalink Reply by Birdy_Too on
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'Mobocracy' takes place on all sorts of platforms notably in the low grade press, although I would imagine users of Twitter wouldn't like that sort of comparison.
I joined Twitter over the US NHS debate, never used it mind as it would be another life consuming device I have little time for. Will it be here in a few years or will people have moved on to something more effective and updated, I suspect the latter?
I'm still trying to organise a revolution by fax!
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Twitter may well evolve into something more useful; maybe a device for referendum/voting on issues nationwide/locally.
Remember the early days of Youtube; 10sec clips of teenagers shouting at their video phones. Took about 18mths for the real potential of Youtube to start to show through ... and what a fantastic communication platform Youtube is now.
As the Moral Maze intro says; Twitter has become more about a voting platform (apart from following well known individuals where everyone 'thinks' we're getting up close & personal). And of course what else can you do with 140 characters except 'vote' about something; 'Yes' 'No' 'Don't Know', 'Leave a brief comment if you wish'.
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Lots of people post a short comment and a shortened URL to something interesting. In fact I hate it when people talk about something but don't post a URL (except for a select few very witty people).
Currently I can search for #movember and it is heartening to find that I am not the only one looking like an idiot with a 5 day old tache.
I don't think it has much future as a "voting" platform but I could be wrong.
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Someone was telling me 'followers' have to log into the Tweeter they wish to follow. I had thought a Tweeter could Tweet out a msg to all their followers. So yes, until Twitter allow communication both ways a voting mechanism might not work.
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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Newspapers: Mob rule or democracy in action?
Newspapers instigate mob rule. See The Sun and the Haringey Social workers
Newspapers hold democracy to account. See The Telegraph and the MPs expenses
Newspapers only print pictures of Katie Price's boyfriends and celebrity gossip. See The Mail everyday
Newspapers allow people to express their fatuous opinions on anything under the Sun : see Letters pages and most Lifestyle columns
Newspapers are a time consuming pointless exercise that are tomorrows chip paper
Next week on the Moral Maze, we debate newspapers:
Panel:
Professor I M Pompous - have never written, edited or even read a newspaper in my life but I wrote a paper about one once
Mr Normal: bloke who reads a newspaper from time to time
Robert Maxwell: newspapers are okay as long as I own it, decide on the content and the viewpoint
Josef Stalin: Newspapers must only be printed by the government.
Chaired by a bloke who reads the news in an overly sincere and accusatory manner.
Are newpapers valuable tools for democracy or are we sacrificing political engagement to listen to the opinions of Paul Dacre and Rupert Murdoch?
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