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Washington, D.C. (April 5, 2012) - The International Communication Association's flagship journal, Journal of Communication, released a special issue on social media and democracy. As revolutions erupted in real time in Tunisia and Egypt in late 2010 and early 2011, it was obvious that social media were important and not well understood. This special issue has a selection of articles that tell a fascinating but complicated story of media and political change in the Middle East and other countries.

"With pundits of all persuasions rushing to judgment, I believed it was our duty as communication researchers to bring the best available analysis of the facts to the public as soon as we could," said Malcolm Parks, editor of Journal of Communication. "The story of the Arab Spring is a story of social media and mobile communication, to be sure, but it is also a story that extends well beyond the Middle East and North Africa and well beyond digital media."

Table of Contents:

• Social Media and Political Change: Capacity, Constraint and Consequence by Philip Howard and Malcolm Parks
• Internet Use and Democratic Demands: A Multinational, Multilevel Model of Internet Use and Citizen Attitudes About Democracy by Erik C. Nisbet, Elizabeth Stoycheff and Katy E. Pearce
• Clicks, Cabs, Coffee Houses: Social Media and Oppositional Movements in Egypt, 2004-2011 by Merlyna Lim
• Social Media and the Decision to Participate in Political Protest: Observations from Tahrir Square by Zeynep Tufekci and Christopher Wilson
• Affective News and Networked Publics: The Rhythms of News Storytelling on #Egypt by Zizi Papacharissi and Maria de Fatima Oliveira
• Framing the Egyptian Uprising in Newspapers and Social Media by Nalia Hamdy and Ehab H. Gomaa
• Safety Valve of Pressure Cooker? Blogs in Chinese Political Life by Jonathon Hassid
• The Social Media Basis of Youth Protest Behavior: The Case of Chile by Sebastian Valenzuela, Arturo Arriagada and Adres Scherman
• A Field Experiment on the Internet's Effect in the African Election: Savvier Citizens, Disaffected Voters, or Both? By Catie Snow Ballard
• Networked Authoritarianism and Social Media in Azerbaijan by Katy E. Pearce and Sarah Kendzior
• Social Media and the Activist Toolkit: User Agreements, Corporate Interests, and the Information Infrastructure of Modern Social Movements by William Lafi Youmans and Jillian C. York
• Networks of Networks: Changing Patterns in Country Bandwidth and Centrality in Global Information Infrastructure, 2002-2010 by Hyunjin Seo and Stuart J. Thorson

Co-editor for the special issue, Phil Howard, added, "This issue releases the latest peer-reviewed research into the relationship between digital media and democracy. The findings are well substantiated, and the methods diverse. But the conclusions are not always upbeat. The communication researchers in this collection demonstrate that digital media can have an important causal role in eroding a dictator's credibility and raising public awareness of political alternatives. But they also demonstrate that digital media can be a powerful tool for social control."

Source: International Communication Association