A trainee of Knight International Fellow Craig Duff edits digital video in Egypt

By ICFJ Vice President of Programs, Patrick Butler

Blogging, online video, and rapid-fire text messaging are new media technologies that have become widely used and adapted in the last few years. Savvy users have applied these technologies in unexpected ways to achieve political goals. Governments are struggling to respond, some with repression, some with reforms.

Across the globe, journalists and non-journalists are using digital media tools like the Internet, short-message service (SMS) messaging, and small cell-phone video cameras to gather and disseminate information in ways that were impossible just a decade ago. The technology — ubiquitous even in poor countries — not only enables a freer flow of information, but it also encourages citizens who previously felt powerless to take a role in bringing about changes in their societies.