US Soldiers Imaging the Iraq War on YouTube

Strategic Narratives in US Public Diplomacy: A Critical Geopolitics

“…The paradigm of a "war of ideas" remained, despite the end of the context in which ideological warfare was an appropriate tool (Kennedy & Lucas, 2005, p. 322). While the Gulf War instigated a phenomenon known as the CNN-effect, in which transnational satellite media forced policy makers to take action according to news agenda deadlines, the more recent YouTube Effect demonstrates how community websites such as YouTube could challenge political attempts to control the image of warfare during the Iraq Downloaded by [University of Western Ontario] at 08:49 12 April 2015 war (Naím, 2007;Christensen, 2008;Andén-Papadopoulos, 2009). The loss of credibility over leaked images from Abu Ghraib demonstrates some of the ways in which unrealistic strategic narratives may be undone from "within.…”

“…(Antoniades et al, 2010, pp. 7-10;Dittmer, 2010;Andén-Papadopoulos, 2009;Wall, 2005;Bogost, 2006;Baym & Jones, 2012). Downloaded by [University of Western Ontario] at 08:49 12 April 2015 A means of resolving these theoretical issues is to orient the narrative within the broader concept of discourse.…”

Who We Are

“…The literature suggests that some citizen journalists partake in the practice because they are dissatisfied with the quality of mainstream media coverage and wish to cover topics left beyond the media's attention (Andén-Papadopoulos 2009;Atton 2003;Ekdale et al 2010;Garcelon 2006;Hänska-Ahy and Shapour 2013;Kim and Hamilton 2006). Perceiving that mainstream media are one-sided and biased, some partake in journalism activities for the purpose of sharing the viewpoints of ordinary people and happenings, rather than relying on elite and powerful sources (Atton and Hamilton 2008;Poell and Borra 2012).…”

“…Perceiving that mainstream media are one-sided and biased, some partake in journalism activities for the purpose of sharing the viewpoints of ordinary people and happenings, rather than relying on elite and powerful sources (Atton and Hamilton 2008;Poell and Borra 2012). In an attempt to cover topics that citizen journalists perceive the mainstream media do not cover objectively, detachment may be traded for immersion, personal opinions, and persuasion (e.g., Andén-Papadopoulos 2009. For example, Salam Pax, the "Baghdad Blogger," criticized the mainstream media for writing in a good versus evil dichotomy during the Iraqi War.…”

Media and violent conflict: Halil Dağ, Kurdish insurgency, and the hybridity of vernacular cinema of conflict

“…the 'creative practices that emerge from highly particular and non-elite social contexts and communicative conventions' (Burgess, 2006: 206;see also Smith and McDonald, 2011: 297). The production and circulation of vernacular media emerging from conflict contexts have become more intense (Andén-Papadopoulos, 2009). This intensification, which occurs through a variety of media technologies and platforms, makes vernacular media more complex.…”