Social Justice And Mainstream Media

Mainstream media, as well as the government, typically attempt to maintain a narrow focus, and provide select information on what they want the public to acknowledge. On many occasions, these facets of information capture our attention, and suppress our curiosity by turning it away from the significant topics or important facts, rather than encouraging people to engage in critical discussion towards a situation in its entirety. Instead, much of the mainstream media focuses on stories that are often slanted, misleading, or missing details. Human Rights Watch is an independent and worldwide organization who acts as a form of media, which is determined to expose as many facts as possible when it concerns human rights cases. Not only do they conduct

fact finding missions, the organization also places pressure on authorities to ensure the respect of human rights and civil society, through the use of online and in person strategies, and further utilize multiple social media platforms to widen the audience that they reach.
As I began my research for this assignment, I quickly came to the realization of how little I know about social justice, and the issues that are occurring around the world each day.

As I filled out the Social Justice quiz that was conducted by Bill Quigley, it came to my attention that many of the answers to his questions were only found through extensive research, and even more so when it came to questions regarding statistics in Canada. These findings leads me to this question: why do we not know more? I for one, had not even heard of some of the issues that were touched upon in the quiz, neither have I heard about many details regarding these topics in the media. I was especially shocked about how high statistics were for poverty, and the amount of people living under the line of poverty. Having now been exposed to such information, it was hard for me to believe, or understand, why we as a society, are not more well informed of the issues that exist today, issues that are growing more prominent each year. Why is that, as seen in the Occupy Wall Street movement, media often fails to provide us with all the evidence concerning a movement, a protest, or any event that is occurring, locally or globally. This experience was eye opening for me, because it made me realize just how much mainstream media either side steps the important facts in a story, or withholds certain evidence or footage. Each year, there are new organizations that work to provide the public with as much

information and evidence as possible.
After finishing the social justice quiz, I came across the organization Human Rights Watch that was founded in 1978, and is considered a “progressive movement” (Rucht 38). It “adopted a methodology of “naming and shaming” abusive governments through media coverage and through direct exchanges with policymakers” (“Our History”). Human Rights Watch is now currently made up of approximately four hundred individuals that live across the world and report in over ninety countries. The people that are part of this organization come from a wide variety of expertise, including lawyers, advocates and journalists. These members utilize the media effectively, and strive to deliver impartial and non-partisan reporting (“Who We Are.”). As part of the Human Rights movement, the organization is committed to “uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all. [They state that they] scrupulously investigate abuses, expose facts widely, and pressure those with power to respect the rights and secure justice” (“About Us”). The mission then, is to advocate for a variety of individuals, as well as provide the public with information, and expose facts about issues regarding human rights that the media –unconsciously or not- fails to provide the public. This goes with their belief that by making any abuse known to the public, the violations to human rights will be stopped. Their mission is often not seen as the main priority for mass media.
Media often filters out information, and this was especially seen when, “during raids, there was often a blackout on mainstream media” (Castells 11). These black outs basically meant that people were not shown everything that happened at the occupy sites, because mainstream media stopped reporting, especially during incidents of police brutality. These so called blackouts, “did not apply to livestreamers” (Castells 11), which were a form of alternate broadcasting that was used to provide people with details of what was occurring in the occupy camps. The reason that the mass media focuses on certain details, and not other perhaps more important facts, is because “they seek to attract as many people as possible to buy newspapers, listen to the radio, watch television, or browse the world wide web. When they reach masses of people, the media’s mission is fulfilled.” (Rucht 29) In fact their rudimentary “frame of reference is that of delivering a service within the framework of economic competition” (Rucht 29), meaning that they give the information that will bring in the largest revenue in profit. Although the “definition of the basic role of a journalist is that of a…non-partisan ‘reporter’ of events…it is evident that [some] journalists notoriously deviate from this role” (Rucht 29).
Human Rights Watch is quite different in comparison to mainstream media. The main ground work for Human Rights Watch, is essentially to “conduct [and partake in] fact-finding missions and investigate human rights abuses” (“Our People”). Members of the organization personally go to the scenes where the abuse of human rights is in question, and observe the events that are occurring. While the organization can be considered a form of “quantitative mobilization, attempting to reach as many people as possible” (Rucht 27), it is not concerned about profit like mass media is. They state that in order to safeguard their independence, they do not accept funding from the government, nor do they accept any type of support from private funders that could potentially “compromise [their] objectivity and independence” (About Us). A recent topic that the organization covered was concerning the protests occurring in Ferguson, Missouri, where a cop shot an unarmed teenager named Michael Brown. During a protest one night, an article states that “police used tear gas and smoke bombs to repel crowds who threw Molotov cocktails during another violent night on the streets of a St. Louis suburb” (Scher Zagier & Roberson 1). Multiple articles state that the protests erupted in violence. A member of Human Rights Watch attended the protest in which the police said that Molotov cocktails were thrown. She spoke to multiple witnesses on the scene, who said that “the police began teargasing…when the protesters simply tried to go past a line [that] police had said they shouldn’t cross” (Alba 1). Another member attended a peaceful protest that same week with her fifteen year old daughter, and as they were trying to leave, her daughter was teargased. Both of these are examples of how the mass media frames an event in order to increase the attention the article or segment receives. Spectacle, is one of the main values of the media (Rucht 29). By attending fact finding missions, members of the organization were able to reveal facts that perhaps the mainstream media left out in their articles.
Once the organization finds evidence regarding the abuse of human rights, the organization proceeds by publishing their findings, which are seen in a large amounts of books and reports on a regular basis each year.

By publicizing information, this is a fundamental form of direct action that the organization utilizes in order to embarrass the governments who abuse human rights in front of society, and pressures these people of authority in order to make changes in how citizens are being treated. Fundamentally, the organizations use of direct action is non-violent and strategic, meaning that it is “formed around a clear sense of boundary” (Richardson, 1). This is different from tactics, which can often become violent, in which the participants partake in “makeshift, temporary infiltrations from the inside through actions of theft, hijacks, tricks and pranks” (Richardson 1). Human Rights Watch is different in that they “are committed to working on difficult situations, where long-term attention is required for meaningful impact” (“About Us”) and only consider themselves to have been successful if the results of their actions are positive, and enforce sustainable change (“About Us”). The organization uses both electronic, as well as in person strategies, in order to accomplish an overall goal. Electronically, they send multiple letters to the government, or group of people who are abusing human rights. In the case of the Ferguson protests, in their second letter they states that

there have been “Violations of Rights to Assembly and Freedom of Expression, [as well as] Unnecessary Use of Force” (Letter). Also noted is that various members “documented several apparent violations of the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, [and] incidents of possible excessive use of force” (letter). They finish the letter saying: “we urge you to immediately initiate…an investigation. Human Rights Watch will be in contact” (Letter). Human Rights Watch also meets in person with the United Nations, the government, and many others, and strategically use the evidence they have found as leverage in order to obtain changes in the practice of human rights.
Human Rights Watch also utilizes a variety of different social media platforms which helps the organization create a strong online presence. Much like other organizations who are part of a “progressive movement” (Rucht 41), they “embrace information and communication technologies, [and] the use of electronic communication” (Rucht 42). By using Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, this has helped them in reaching a much wider audience because much of the world today increasingly accesses information through the use of the internet. The use of the internet allows the organization to have a “real-time network of communication” (Castells 9), as well as gain support, and this is seen through the utilization of Twitter, which has become vital for communication. This platform allows for users to “distribute information, photos, videos, and comments” (Castells 9), and allows people to retweet anything that the organization has posted, which increases circulation and the amount of people that are reached. Facebook is also an essential platform because it “serves as directories to help members stay in touch with each other, send private messages, or post on each other’s walls” (Castells 10), and provides a space where critical discussion can occur. The reason that these platforms are so crucial for movements these days, is because problems occur all over the world, but not everybody is able to participate in the protests that occur. By using the internet, “more people are able to get involved by using social networks” (Reed, OWS Lecture). The organization also uses Tumblr, which is described as a platform that allows for storytelling, and helps to humanize the movement (Castells 10). As seen on Tumblr, there are hundreds of stories on the Human Rights Watch page that are re-blogged by the organization, and allows people to read other peoples stories.
In conclusion, Human Rights Watch works to reveal facts that the mass media has either withheld or ignored. They are committed to delivering articles that are impartial and non-partisan. With this information, as a form of direct action, they post their findings, send letters to the people in question of human rights abuse, and later meet with those people. Through the use of multiple social media platforms, the organization is able to widen the amount of people that they reach, and increase the amount of awareness concerning human rights issues. Often, mass media frames their stories so that they get the reaction needed to boost their circulation and increase profit. This is the problem with mass media. We often do not know the full details of an event, nor are many of us, myself included, aware of the statistics surrounding issues in the world. Human Rights Watch helps to change this.