Protests and Digital Technologies

To what extent has social media been influential on the protests?

Protests and Social Media in the UK

Video shot and edited by Cise Ayhan and Marie Glandier

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Protests and New Technologies in Venezuela: journalism is brought to another level.

During the eight weeks of protest against the socialist regime in Venezuela, hundreds of people were arrested, killed and declared missing. Because of the informative blackout, the confrontations were under covered by the international press. But new technologies and social media have helped to spread the information.

It really looks like an aircraft. But its dimensions are significantly smaller than a real one. And, when the engine of this unmanned machine, controlled by the pilot at a distance, starts, it goes straight up to the sky to record what is happening from above. These machines, called drones, are one of the newest digital tools used by journalists to capture events during marches. This is what some call, the new “Drone Journalism”.

Herique Castejon, professor of Journalism at University Central of Venezuela, has closely followed the latest uprisings in the country and explains how this system has helped journalists to take great shots and videos of protests. “This technology offers versatile angles and some kind of safety to the person using it, especially considering the number of deceased so far”, he adds.

This type of equipment is not only used by professional journalists, but also by what is called “citizen journalists”: civilians who become active in current affairs by taking the role of professionals in order to inform people. Castejon believes that thanks to technology and new media, journalism has evolved toward a more democratic process of communication where sharing important news does not only belong to those working for a newspaper or a TV channel.

New digital technologies, like drones or social media, can be very helpful, but they have their own issues, says Andres Canizales, Venezuelan journalist and academic at the Catholic University Andres Bello. The expert in Social Media does believe that they are important, but he points out how they still lack the credibility that traditional journalism has acquired.

“One of the problems in Venezuela is the necessity of reliable information, that’s why spontaneous reporters and the multiplication of different sources have developed. Media in Venezuela used to be truthful”, says Canizales. However, according to him, information in Venezuela have now reached a phase of war.

The middle class of the South American country, main opponents of the socialist government, has found in social media a way to inform themselves, especially during the informative blackout. Canizales compared Venezuelan media to a big puzzle, where you get a lot of pieces but some are fake or do not fit. Duplicated pictures or even off dated videos have been diffused as being current documents. That’s what Canizales calls “misinformation”. But quickly another gadget appeared to solve the problem.

Created in Venezuela as a backup information tool, FotoAhora (PhotoNow in English), is an App for android and iPhones where people can report photographs and videos which are claimed to be original. The App is a database where users can post a supposed “real-time” picture that they recognized as being old. In this way, the FotoAhora aims at fighting against misinformation.

While the uprisings seem to have come to end, Venezuelans are left with new inventions on the table. Venezuela can now be added to the list of those countries which used digital technologies to fight against a repressive regime.

Written by Mariana Arrieta