Midterm

Please complete the following questions by midnight on Sunday April 30 and email your answers to adrienne.russell09@gmail.com. If you don’t receive a confirmation email from me by Monday morning around 9am, email it again. Please make the subject of your email “midterm” and paste the answers into the body of the email. Do not send it as an attachment. You may use your books, notes, the Web, or any other source of information you find helpful. Be sure to read over the exam before you start.

Part I: Answer the following questions in a concise paragraph. Each answer is worth 10 points and should be roughly 100-200 words.

1. Please define and give an example of pirate politics. Include in your answer a discussion of how this example challenges widely held ideas about intellectual property.

2. How do The Yes Men act as a counter-hegemonic force? Please give specific examples and make sure to demonstrate an understanding of concepts of hegemony and counter-hegemony.

3. Why is activist media important to the democratic process?

Part II:  Write an essay for each of the following questions that draws from the reading, videos, discussions, and any other material you think will support you answer. Please write as clearly and concisely as possible and be sure to answer all elements of the question. Each answer is worth 35 points and should be 600-800 words each.

4.  Drawing from class reading, describe the typical mainstream media frame of street protests and the larger activist movements that drive them. Please outline a.) some of the prevailing news standards that dictate how events and issues are covered and b.) some media strategies employed by activists to counter the limits of the mainstream frames. Include in your answer historic and contemporary examples of different types of activist media and discuss the various aims of these groups and their media. For this you will have to draw on the Gitlin reading.

5. Please write an essay comparing media strategies of the Civil Rights movement and Black Lives Matters.  Include in your answer details about the practices used by each, referring to those outlined in Beautiful Trouble and, for Black Lives Matter, a new practice that is not outlined in the book. Please be sure to include in your answer references to the ideas of Jeff Chang, the intro to Journalism as Activism and the 2 articles we read on Black Lives Matters.

Reminder! Assignment Due on Tuesday May 2: an outline of your case study, including hypothesis about what you're going to find; sources of info about your subject; list of some of the BT principles you think your subject's experience might demonstrate; and brand-new principle (not yet listed in BT) you think it might demonstrate.

Remix and Pirate Politics - 4/25

What are some of the main ideas in Everything is a Remix?

How do they relate to the selection from Mason's The Pirate's Dilemma?

Pirate Radio

Mason on pirate radio in the UK: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pirate-radio

How does pirate radio demonstrate "piracy"? How does it relate to Mason's assessment of "piracy" throughout the chapter (see pages 45-46 for this second part)?

Other forms of "piracy"?

The pirate's dilemma?

Hacktivist Sensibilities

Quote on page 16 in Adrienne's Intro: how does this relate to remix and piracy?

New/innovative use of technology:

Raspberry Pi

Application examples:

Pirate Radio...not just for entertainment:

     Pocket FM
          -When would this be useful?
          -Syria; video clip

Onion Pi

USB Key Sanitizer

Peter Sunde's "Kopimashin": https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-builds-the-ultimate-piracy-machine-151219/

PirateBox

DIY project center: https://piratebox.cc/

Interview on TorrentFreak: https://torrentfreak.com/piratebox-delivers-brand-new-anonymous-sharing-release-140531/

United States Pirate Party

Platform
Values and Name

Recommended Reading

Burkart, Patrick. Pirate Politics: The New Information Policy Contests. Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2014.

Gunkel, David J. Of Remixology: Ethics and Aesthetics After Remix. Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2016.

Johns, Adrian. Piracy: The Intellectual Property Wars From Gutenberg to Gates. Illinois: The University of Chicago Press, 2009.

Lessig, Lawrence. Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity. New York: Penguin Books, 2004.

Mason, Matt. The Pirate’s Dilemma: How Youth Culture is Reinventing Capitalism. New York: Free Press, 2008.

McLeod, Kembrew. Freedom of Expression: Resistance and Repression in the Age of Intellectual Property. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 2007.

Navas, Eduardo. Remix Theory: The Aesthetics of Sampling. Austria: Springer-Verlag/Wien, 2012.

Navas, Eduardo, Owen Gallagher, and xtine burrough. The Routledge Companion to Remix Studies. New York: Routledge, 2015.

United States Pirate Party. No Safe Harbor: Essays About Pirate Politics. 2012.

According to Roberts...

What is tribal epistemology?

What opportunity does Trump offer?

Why has America sorted itself into bubbles?

What's the solution?

Commodifying Dissent and other things

Pepsi released this ad starring Kendall Jenner set to the Skip Marley (grandson of Bob) song Lions.

Bernice King among many others took to social media to critique the ad. 

A Wired story describes how it united the internet:

"Within 48 hours the video got nearly 1.6 million views on YouTube (five times as many downvotes as upvotes), and Twitter and Facebook lit up with people pointing out just how gauche the whole thing was. Activist DeRay Mckesson called it 'trash,' adding 'If I had carried Pepsi I guess I never would’ve gotten arrested. Who knew?'"

And here is a funny scene-by-scene breakdown that ran in the Independent. 

What is the the problem with this ad and the commodification of dissent more generally? 

What might this case say about power dynamics in today's media environment? 

Here is an example of the feminism for all of the current era: 

We should all be feminists | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 

Framing: Trump and Xi Jinping

Fox news puts much more trust into Trump’s meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping, opening with “by the time he welcomes Chinese President Xi Jinping to Mar-a-Lago this week, President Trump will have a briefcase full of notes about what topics he should raise.” The article then explains which issues Trump will discuss, those including North Korea, fair trade, currency manipulation, patent theft, rare earth, and cyber assault. Following this, the article analyzes a Tweet that Trump tweeted just days in advance, possibly giving more depth and foresight then deserved stating, “Trump has already signaled via Twitter that he expects his meeting with Xi to be difficult. That is like telling an employee “You are under performing,” instead of “You’re fired.”. The article sprinkles bits of business lingo throughout, extenuating Trumps previous profession. The articles most interesting point was on natural minerals and production in both the United States and China. Although it slights Chinese production by stating “Since it pays little attention to the ecological damage done by strip-mining and smelting, it can undercut competitors’ prices.”

Time news starts their article with a reference to an infamous soundbite stating, “Donald Trump’s hands are a problem.” Setting a clear tone of mockery. Later putting into question his hands and diplomacy (which are used together as a sort of metaphoric jab). Then states, “Nothing would be more stupid by Trump…The Chinese leader is a very serious man. Any tricks that Trump wants to play would be perceived as some sort of humiliation.” Which is a good analysis of the situation, although clearly different from the Fox perspective. However, the news article continues to play up Trumps “diplomatic” skills and then there is policy. With this, the article referenced Trump’s early accusation on how “China is raping America”. Proceeding was information on the international dynamics between Taiwan, Philippines, and North Korea. 

Framing Assignment

Putin Problems and Media Framing

     The Washington Post is known for being more impartial and is a very well respected, mainstream print news outlet. In contrast the Guardian is a more liberal outlet that is mainly accessed from online for those readers not within the UK. The story that I am looking at is one regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent press statement about the U.S. election hacking allegations. The Guardian article starts by talking mainly about what Putin is quoted as saying and frames the story by mainly presenting information from Russia’s perspective since the main interviewer is a Russian advisor/diplomat.
      From this perspective it seems like Russia is unconcerned with doing business with the U.S. and almost frames them in an innocent party here. Right off the bat one interesting part of the Washington Post article is the addition of a video where Speaker Paul Ryan is stating that “Russia will meddle in European elections” which automatically makes the reader thing of Russia’s guilt and question their meddling in our own election. The Washington Post article was far more focused on the conflicts between the Russian government and the U.S. and highlighted more combative quotes and phrases from both sides. The Guardian piece clearly is trying to present Russia’s view and their part of the story while the Washington Post presents information from both sides almost in a back and forth fashion. 

Frames: The New York Times and CNN

The New York Times

Explosion in St. Petersburg, Russia, Kills 11 as Vladimir Putin Visits

the first three paragraphs clearly described the attack in St. Petersburg. The first paragraph includes accurate time and place and the second paragraph reports the number of dead and wounded people. “It was 2:40 p.m. on Monday, a lull before the evening rush hour in Russia’s second-largest city, St. Petersburg, where the subway normally carries two million people a day. The train had just entered a tunnel between stations, on its way out of a sprawling downtown hub, when the bomb exploded.” “The homemade device, filled with shrapnel, tore through the third car. It killed 11 people; wounded more than 40, including children.” Then, the author gives a short conclusion: “the attack might have been carried out by a suicide bomber from a militant Islamic group.”

CNN 

St. Petersburg metro attack 'carried out by suicide bomber’

The first paragraph of this article is straightforward:“ Monday's deadly St. Petersburg metro attack was carried out by a suicide bomber originally from the central Asian Republic of Kyrgyzstan.” Because this two articles published in different times, the number of dead people raised to 14 on Tuesday CNN’s report. Reports from the New York Times and CNN have several   similarities. Both articles have statements from Russian political analysts and investigators. Both of them report this attack through pictures and short video.

Civil Rights Movement vs Black Lives Matters

Civil rights movement was famous for non-violent direction action. Here is Reverend Dr CT Vivian on non-violence as was one of their central tactics.

Based on the reading and discussion of Black Lives Matters, what are some of the central tactics in the movement? Which are included in the book Beautiful Trouble? Which could be added to the book? 

Turn to the template on page 92 of Beautiful Trouble, and, breaking into smaller groups, brainstorm and share ideas for new tactic entries that could be added to the Beautiful Trouble toolbox.

Framing: Women's March Highlights

Both Time and Fox News both did reflective articles on the highlights of the Women's March. Both articles did so through videos without commentary from newscasters, but in very different ways. The videos are examples of two different ways to frame the same event through pictures/videos.

Fox News:
The Fox News video, titled, Highlights from the Women's March in Washington frames the celebrity activists participating in the Women's March as the highlights of the event. The video is made in a way that it clips portions from speeches that are particularly strongly worded and focus on one stage at the D.C. Women's March.  The video features only 3 speakers and is 1 minute long. The first speaker in the video is Madonna who's clip begins with "Yes, I am outraged" framing Madonna and the women at the march in a particularly angry light. The video is meant to be the "highlights" from the march but only shows a small portion of it. Leaving out the many cities and many non-celebrity participants in the march.

Time:
The Time video, titled, This is What the Women's March in Washington Was Really Like is silent with no commentary whatsoever, there are only photographs of the Women's March and no video. The way this video is framed is to highlight how expansive the march was. Each photo is of a march in a different city in the world. While only including photos this video is almost two minutes long. The photos are presented in black and white, with the city names in written largely and in pink at the bottom of the photo. This framing focused on the large groups participating in the march and what their signs said, rather than speeches given or the D.C. march alone.

Frames: FoxNews vs. CNN

Fox News covered an article about a "custodian of a local shrine and his accomplices killed 20 devotees after intoxicating them in eastern Punjab province". It continued to describe how it was the outcome of a dispute over custodianship of the shrine. Throughout the story, the only interviews that were included were from government officials explaining the what, why, and how of the incident. The article describes how the suspects killed the victims, why the "leader" of the killers would do such a thing, included facts of the shrine, and a short tribute to one of the murdered victims. One interview included was of an area government administrator, who said Abdul Waheed, the alleged killer, was "mentally unstable", and a regional police officer explained how the killings were due to jealousy and a dispute over custodianship. This takes importance away from the murders, making readers think "oh just another mass murder is some other middle east country".

CNN covered the same article and started in a similar way to Fox, briefly describing what happened, how many were arrested, and how many killed. Although, they include that 3 other people were in the hospital under critical condition, a fact that Fox forgot to mention. Fox did explain how the murders went down, but CNN goes into more depth of how the murderers went about killing the 20 victims. After including where this took place, the article has a map of where exactly the city is. This adds importance to the crime, and allows the readers to be more engaged and feel more emotion. CNN also added the name of the shrine and who contacted the police, not included in Fox. CNN also included the quote about Waheed being mentally unstable, but there are not as many interviews included as Fox had. CNN continued to explain how the chief minister has asked for compensation for the families of the killed victims, called for more regulations of shrine custodians, and ended the article about a previous attack at another shrine in Pakistan where 75 people were killed. The article stated ISIS confessed to their involvement, and that people have gathered at a shrine with music and chanting in prayer for the fallen. CNN used more details than Fox; their framing tactics are obviously different and provide different viewpoints and ideas about the story.