Digital-Age Resistance

Journalism, Social Movements and the Media Dependence Model

Andrew Kennis

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9780367435257
• eBook ISBN: 9781000296501
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Media Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

In this trailblazing book, social movements, the mainstream news media and public policy are tackled in order to arm readers with an "intellectual self-defense" of the reign of trillion-dollar-valued platform conglomerates, reality TV presidencies of the past and present, the pandemic and the Biden administration. Firmly situated at the intersection of journalism, activism and the deployment of power, the author places his analysis within an international context that further develops a critical paradigm, called the media dependence model (MDM).

Featuring a foreword by Daniel and Noam Chomsky and a preface by Robert W. McChesney, the book offers a cutting-edge overview of the news media landscape both within the United States and globally. The MDM critically analyzes dichotomous patterns of mainstream press coverage of the #ClimateStrike, #FamiliesBelongTogether, #EvasionMasiva (Chile), #FightForHongKong, #RickyRenuncia (Puerto Rico) and #CancelRent movements and the pro-Trump #liberate resistance, contrasting them with social media and other historic movements. "Evergreen" topics such as immigration, climate change and net neutrality are explored in depth, along with media reforms and concrete policy solutions.

The book straddles disciplines including media, policy and journalism studies, political economy and international and political communication. It is a must-read for scholars, students, policy advisers, media makers, social media enthusiasts, grassroots activists, NGOs and concerned citizens alike.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series
• Endorsements
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of images
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Foreword: The Mass Media, Social Movements, the Trump Era, and the Crisis of Democracy
• Preface: The Media Dependence Model Offers a Critique and Policy Solutions Steeped in Political Economy That Will Endure
• Author’s Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Surveying and Contextualizing the Book in the Age of Social Media and the Pandemic
• 1 The News Media Landscape of the Age of Social Media and Related Lessons in Media Literacy
• 2 The Media Dependence Model in the Age of Social Media: A Political Economic and Critical Media Analysis of the Mainstream Global News Media System
• 3 Caged Children and Trump’s “Nuclear Option”: An MDM Case Study on New York Times Coverage and How Online-Based Resistance Ended Trump’s Ill-Fated Family Separation Policy
• 4 2019’s Banner Year of Worldwide Political Resistance: An MDM Multi-Case Study of New York Times Coverage of Leading “Worthy” and “Unworthy” Social Movements
• 5 Are Individual Consumers the Main Culprits for Climate Change? An MDM Case Study on the Climate Strike Movement, Greenwashing and Mainstream versus Nonprofit News Media Coverage
• 6 The MDM in the Pandemic Era: The New York Times, Fox News and a Composite of News Coverage of the #CancelRent Movement and #Liberate Resistance
• 7 A Reality Television Star Won the Electoral College: How Mainstream News Media Played a Vital Role in the Electoral College Victory of the Made-for-TV Candidate, Donald Trump
• 8 A Public Policy Analysis of Net Neutrality Protections and Their Intimate Link with the Future of Independent and Professional Journalism
• 9 Applying the MDM to the #OccupyWallStreet and #YoSoy132 Movements for Mainstream Coverage During the Dawn of the Age of Social Media
• 10 Comparing Today’s Era of Social Media with the Early Beginnings of the Digital Age: Double Standards? An MDM Case Study on Immigration Coverage for the case of Elián González and Nine Potentially “Unworthy” Unaccompanied Children
• Conclusion: Surveying Leading Arguments of the MDM, Related Public Policy Solutions and Needed News Media Reforms
• Afterword: The Biden Administration, Mainstream Media, Russia, the MDM and Mass Resistance
• Bibliography
• Index