成人头条

This WSU Newsline Podcast is available at . See the transcript below:

You鈥檙e listening to the podcast edition of the 成人头条 audio newsline. Learn more about WSU 鈥� the home of Thinkers, Doers, Movers and Shockers 鈥� on the Web at .

It鈥檚 always been a challenge for governments to suppress political dissidents, but it鈥檚 even more difficult now in an age of Twitter, Facebook, texting and cell phones. If you doubt the impact of social media on governments, consider recent political uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia and Iran. Lou Heldman, a social media strategist at 成人头条 and former publisher of The 成人头条 Eagle and Kansas.com, says it鈥檚 difficult for a government to limit the reach of social media.

Heldman: 鈥淭he problem for governments trying to limit communication is that it鈥檚 a 24-hour, 365-day-a-year job that can never stop. As new communication technologies are coming online, it becomes harder and harder to keep it suppressed.鈥�

According to Heldman, the reality is that governments have to deal with the explosion of social media.

Heldman: 鈥淢edia is becoming more global, social, mobile and visual. Governments are having to deal with the impact of more communication tools in the hands of citizens.鈥�

Heldman says today鈥檚 communication tools are threatening to repressive governments.

Heldman: 鈥淩epressive governments are threatened by communication tools in the hands of dissidents. Going back to the Soviet Union, there were always examples of governments trying to shut down communication and dissidents finding their own way to get the message around.鈥�

While it鈥檚 clear that political dissidents are using social media to spread their message, Heldman says, the communication tools aren鈥檛 causing the political uprisings.

Heldman: 鈥淪ocial media isn鈥檛 the match that begins these uprisings. They stem from longstanding grievances. But it is an accelerant. It provides a megaphone to those who oppose the government.鈥�

Of course, the same social media tools used by political dissidents also can be used by governments against dissidents, according to Heldman. In Iran, police eagerly followed the electronic trails left by activists, which helped them make thousands of arrests in the crackdown that followed.

Heldman: 鈥淭his is a two-way street. Governments can easily follow the path through social media created by dissidents. In Iran, where there was an uprising last year, partially based on use of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, the government was able to trace back the people who sent the messages, and a number of those are now in prison.鈥�

Heldman says democracies also face challenges in dealing with social media.

Heldman: 鈥淒emocracies themselves are having a difficult time dealing with the realities of new technologies. Wikileaks is a perfect example of how rapidly secret documents can spread.鈥�

Widney Brown, a senior director of international law and policy at Amnesty International, said the popular networking services, like most technologies, are politically neutral. She said, 鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing deterministic about these tools 鈥� Gutenberg鈥檚 press, or fax machines or Facebook. They can be used to promote human rights or to undermine human rights.鈥�

Thanks for listening. Until next time, this is Joe Kleinsasser for 成人头条.