From WATS lines to Whatsapp
October 21, 2015 4:09 PM   Subscribe

 
WATS lines!!! I love reading about WATS lines
posted by listen, lady at 4:28 PM on October 21, 2015 [3 favorites]


The first page of the "SNCC WATS Line Instructions & Policies" document is as good a primer on citizen journalism as I've ever seen distilled into print form.
posted by Kadin2048 at 4:33 PM on October 21, 2015 [2 favorites]


Odd that I lectured on exactly this to my undergrad class.
Good article but could use some additional context.
posted by k8t at 7:47 PM on October 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


"The first page of the "SNCC WATS Line Instructions & Policies" document is as good a primer on citizen journalism"

Page two, line 3 (last line 3) on the other hand is not so great. I can see the rational but it may have aggreivated as much violence as it did mitigating.
posted by clavdivs at 8:17 PM on October 21, 2015


Since then it has become the banner under which dozens of disparate organizations, new and old, and millions of individuals, loosely and tightly related, press for change.

Any phenomenon that seizes the nation’s attention this much needs a name—headline writers make sure of that. But it is hard to talk about the national Black Lives Matter movement without imparting a false sense of institutional coherence to it.


I feel as if this is getting worse and more distorted in people's imaginations all the time -- the idea that there is An Official Black Lives Matter Organization that one can be For or Against based on the words of the representative heard speaking on a radio/TV spot. (Apologizes for the initial-cap-speak. It's an attempt to replicate the way people talk about it.) This article does a nice job of articulating a movement versus an institution by explaining the difference in means of communication. Thanks for posting it.
posted by desuetude at 10:45 PM on October 21, 2015 [2 favorites]


Coming soon to WikiLeaks: How the FBI uses Social Media to diminish Black Lives Matter et al.
posted by bigZLiLk at 12:28 AM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


Page two, line 3 (last line 3) on the other hand is not so great.

Oh, I didn't realize you could comment on how effective that strategy actually was! Glad to have your contribution!
posted by listen, lady at 4:06 AM on October 22, 2015


No need to be sarcastic, that's just a really wrong headed criticism clav. Protestors used to be beaten or disappeared quite a bit. If the cops thought a reporter knew they had a protestor it might keep them alive. I can't possibly see a downside to that.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:35 AM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]


It's seemingly : How the FBI used anti-abuse systems at twitter, facebook, etc. to diminish Black Lives Matter.
posted by jeffburdges at 4:36 AM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]


Anyway great article by a great writer. I wish it was longer tbh. I'd like to hear more about how blm figureheads like Deray decide whether to broadcast a report or ignore it. There are many false reports of incidents on Twitter, some sincere and some malicious. What do you do, as someone without journalist training, to parse whether someone tweeting at you urgently that X is happening, whether during a protest or in a far away state, is reality, confusion, or a lie?
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:40 AM on October 22, 2015


Also, Twitter is a personal tool as well as a broadcast mechanism for protest. Deray specifically has come under fire recently for supposedly having some kind of sponsorship or relationship with Spotify (he tweets about their discovery playlist every Sunday). Whether or not it's just innocent fandom or sponsored posting, should anyone even care? He's a person not a press secretary.

I guess what I'm asking is: Is BLM a brand?
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:44 AM on October 22, 2015


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