Mass communication in the Age of New Media

Mass Communication in the Age of New Media in Surveillance Societies: The example of China

Mass communication did not emerge only with the social media, but it is documented since the first written documentations, e.g. with the war commander speeches and the edicts of a ruler, read out aloud to the people. In the time of the Third Reich, we have collected sorrowful experiences with the possibilities of manipulation of mass media. In (semi-)authoritarian regimes like in Turkey today or in authoritarian ones like China, the means of the government to force into line and control the mass media are also very strong and are executed in a restrictive way. While the internet seemingly guarantees anonymity and appears to be pseudo democrativ, since the 'mass' can communicate with opinion leaders (and dictators), the practise in surveillance countries is sobering. The net does not only offer many opportunities of communication and of exchange of opinions, it also offers control, censorship, defamation (fabricated news, shitstorms, 'paid followers' etc.), advertisement, exploitation (crowdworking) and restriction. Modern propaganda is distributed using social media (protection of expat Russians by 'green men', marketing films like for the 13th Five-Year Plan in China). Even Erdogan uses 'Facetime' to overthrow the military Coup. The participants of the seminar explore 'hybrid wars', terms used both by dictators as well as dissidents, like "protection of democracy", etc. The focus is on China, because this country invested huge human resources and amounts in Internet police and paid writers (for example in the English Wikipedia) in the manipulation of mass communication, in monitoring and persecution of dissidents. Participants learn to recognize how even German media is influenced by Russia and China and how Chinese dissidents themselves are persecuted in Germany.