Social Media

• First there was the Ghaddafi "Amazonian Guard" or "Lady Guard":

"Women should be trained for combat, so that they do not become easy prey for their enemies." -Ghadaffi

• Then there were the Egyptian martial-arts trained "Lady Guards" created by an Egyptian security company to help wealthy women feel more comfortable while being guarded:

• And, there were reports about female boxing champions being considered for future Olympics:

• And now we see the rise of Iranian female "ninjas":

A few months ago, I saw the recruitment video on BBC that was played on Iranian television to recruit female warriors.  The video is a bit humorous to watch, but the message remains the same: Middle Eastern women are gaining momentum.  Perhaps one can argue that the original intent of the male leadership was to create an infantry of women who could be sacraficed first for a given cause, but empowering Arab women to such a degree will likely be as significant as giving American women riveting jobs during WWII.

Unfortunately, Reuters decided to add their own spin to this evolution.  Instead of reporting the facts of this bizarre campaign, mass media--Reuters in this case--decided to spin it to be as eye-popping and news-worthy as they could make it by labeling them as "terrorists" to perhaps inspire shock and awe.  Such contentious language should have been more carefully considered before use.  And yet, many wonder why mass media isn't generally as trusted these days?  Western mass-media is a public diplomacy ambassador in it's own way.  Their words and actions can have ramifications for other journalists as well as other nations.

Iran suspends Reuters news bureau 'indefinitely' -AFP, 2 Apr 2012

TEHRAN — The Tehran bureau of international news agency Reuters has been "suspended indefinitely" because of a report it issued mischaracterising Iranian female ninjas as "terrorists," authorities said on Monday.

The head of the department in the culture and Islamic guidance ministry that monitors foreign media in Iran, Mohammad Javad Aghajari, announced the decision in a statement published by the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

"The decision was taken following the production of a video clip by this news agency's video department branding some Iranian female athletes who practice ninjutsu as terrorists," he was quoted as saying.

The report referred to was sent to Reuters clients in early February and showed female ninjas training in the city of Karaj, northwest of Tehran.

Reuters said last week the report went out with the headline "Thousands of female Ninjas train as Iran's assassins" but, after complaints were received from Iran, it was changed to "Three thousand women Ninjas train in Iran".

Iran's state-funded Press TV reported that several female ninjas in the story planned to sue Reuters for defamation.

In a report on Monday, Press TV said Reuters had failed to apologise for accusing the female ninjutsu practitioners of being "undercover assassins in the service of the Islamic Republic."

Aghajari, in his comments published by IRNA, said the Reuters report "left a very negative image" by insinuating that "the teaching of assassination and terrorism (occurs) in Iran."

He said the ninja report showed "a desire within this news agency to manipulate public opinion."

Aghajari said the Reuters bureau was suspended "until the complete review of the issue."

The Iranian authorities routinely monitor and restrict the activities of foreign journalists.

Their sensitivity over the way Iran is portrayed in Western media has become more acute in recent years, since the coverage of mass protests in 2009 over a disputed re-election win by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In October 2010, I blogged about the "Top 5 New Media Technologies That Can Change Iraq’s Future" for the Foreign Policy Association.  Naturally, I've been extraordinarily curious to find out what has been successful and what has been a prevailing problem. 

Well, recently, I saw a 2011 survey that took a look at Iraq's progress:

2011 Iraq Media Usage Survey Released - New Data on Iraqi Youth Audience

Borderzine.com, journalism across fronteras, is a web community for Latino student journalists, a two-way bridge connecting the classroom and the newsroom.

I love that Borderzine focuses on the multimedia aspect of allowing those who don't live in the border region to experience the visual textures and colors of everything that people do in their daily lives via a multimedia platform.  Not everyone may be able to travel to where I live (San Diego-Tijuana border area), but anyone can appreciate the photos and videos produced by these really talented young Mexican-American journalists.

"Awareness of Borderzine continues to grow with this story in Columbia Journalism Review about the five-year-old multimedia website that publishes stories about borders and assists Latino college journalists in honing their multimedia skills and landing internships and jobs in 21st century news media. Please read the well-reported story and pass it on along to friends and others who share the vision of a future where the nation’s newsrooms adequately reflect the dynamic demographic diversity of our country and the world." (Article via Zita Arocha, Borderzine, "Borderzine.com featured in Columbia Journalism Review", March 22, 2012).

It is fantastic to seeing innovative public sector projects gain momentum in government. @GovLoop has been a huge success, so I can't wait to see how @BBGgov evolves.

BBG Strategy Blog

Innovation Series Blog

Collective counter-action can encourage a violent response and rioting, however there are cases in which targeted audience messaging can be effective in preparing a coordinated counter-response rendering or lessening the collective action as a non-event.

Using targeted audiences such as LinkedIn groups and other forms of online forums where professional mediators and first responders can allow for a sharing of thought leadership, problem-solving, and in communicating a threat of collective action, this assists in the deflection and degeneration of violent protest.

The "Day of Rage," a wildly controversial day for rioting initiated by extremist members of  a religious organization, was chosen as an action springboard for the infamous Occupy Wall Street movement. The early adoption of communication within online message boards for law enforcement and military responders, as well as comments made weeks in advance of the chosen September date on targeted counterterrorism and homeland security groups on LinkedIn were helpful in encouraging a largely peaceful movement distanced from the violent themes and actions promoted by the organizers of the Day of Rage.

Noam Cohen writes the following in his article entitled, "In times of unrest, social media can be a distraction," http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/29/business/media/in-times-of-unrest-social-networks-can-be-a-distraction.html?_r=3 :

The mass media, including interactive social-networking tools, make you passive, can sap your initiative, leave you content to watch the spectacle of life from your couch or smartphone. Apparently even during a revolution.

That is the provocative thesis of a new paper by Navid Hassanpour, a political science graduate student at Yale, titled“Media Disruption Exacerbates Revolutionary Unrest.”

Using complex calculations and vectors representing decision-making by potential protesters, Mr. Hassanpour, who already has a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford, studied the recent uprising in Egypt.

His question was, how smart was the decision by the government of President Hosni Mubarak to completelyshut down the Internet and cellphone service on Jan. 28, in the middle of the crucial protests in Tahrir Square?

His conclusion was, not so smart, but not for the reasons you might think. “Full connectivity in a social network sometimes can hinder collective action,” he writes.

To put it another way, all the Twitter posting, texting and Facebook wall-posting is great for organizing and spreading a message of protest, but it can also spread a message of caution, delay, confusion or, I don’t have time for all this politics, did you see what Lady Gaga is wearing?

It is a conclusion that counters the widely held belief that the social media helped spur the protests. Mr. Hassanpour used press accounts of outbreaks of unrest in Egypt to show that after Jan. 28, the protests became more spread around Cairo and the country. There were not necessarily more protesters, but the movement spread to more parts of the population.

By NOAM COHEN

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/29/business/media/in-times-of-unrest-social-networks-can-be-a-distraction.html?_r=3