Making the News: Anarchist Counter-Public Relations on the

27 Pages·2003·1.56 MB·English

Critical Studies in Media Communication
Vol. 20, No. 4, December 2003, pp. 335–361
Making the News:
Anarchist Counter-Public Relations on the
World Wide Web
Lynn Owens and L. Kendall Palmer
(cid:1) – Traditionally, radical social movements faced a dilemma regarding media coverage: focus
either on mass media, but lose control of their representation, or on alternative media, but fail
to get their message to the broader public. The World Wide Web overcomes these problems,
allowing movements to create their own media with mass distribution. However, it has two key
weaknesses of its own: attracting audiences and mixing in- and out-group communication. In
this paper, we show how the structure and content of the anarchist Web-based media work
together to separate in- and out-group discourses. We then demonstrate how the anarchists
attracted an audience to their Web media. The Black Bloc tactics at the Seattle protests against
the World Trade Organization brought an increase in media attention, albeit negative. We
examine how anarchists took advantage of the larger audience created by this bad publicity and
mounted a counter-public relations campaign online. We argue that the Web alters the power
relationship between mainstream and alternative media without displacing the need for
mainstream coverage.
A
narchists have a serious image long list of negative stereotypes, from
problem. The North American an- the dangerous mad bomber to the
archist movement, once an important clueless young punk. During the
part of the radical working class move- November 1999 protests against the
ments of the late 19th century, was World Trade Organization (WTO) in
considered dead and buried by the Seattle, however, anarchists made an
end of the 20th (Sabatini, 1995). unexpected comeback. They were in-
Worse, they were stigmatized with a volved in many aspects of the protests,
but it was the Black Bloc that grabbed
Lynn Owens and L. Kendall Palmer are graduate everyone’s attention. This tactic in-
students in the Department of Sociology, Univer- volves a group of protestors, frequently
sity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Earlier
dressed in black with their faces
versions of this research have been presented at the
masked for anonymity, who engage in
SunbeltsSocialNetworkConferenceinCharleston,
highly disruptive activities, such as
SC in 1999 and the American Sociological An-
property damage or direct confron-
nualMeetingsinWashington,DCin2000.The
tation with the police. A small group
authorswouldliketoacknowledgetheassistanceof
James Moody and Charles Kurzman. Both au- of anarchists, working as a Black Bloc,
thors thank the editors and anonymous reviewers vandalized corporate storefronts
for their helpful advice. downtown and successfully evaded the
Copyright2003,NationalCommunicationAssociation
DOI:10.1080/0739318032000142007
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MAKINGTHENEWS DECEMBER2003
police. Suddenly, anarchists found as the public face of anarchism online,
themselves at the center of the media explaining and justifying anarchist
spotlight, displacing other protestors ideology to those outside the move-
andpoliceviolencefromtheheadlines. ment, while allowing the sites in the
Like other activists, anarchists want periphery to focus on communication
to “make the news.” Activists use the within the movement. Although this
media to publicize their existence and structure held the potential to facilitate
spread their message (Lipsky, 1968). efficient use as a mass medium, that
To do this, they must first gain cover- potential remained untapped. Unable
age; in addition, this coverage should to overcome the limited distribution of
be sympathetic (Gitlin, 1980). Neither traditional alternative media, anar-
goal is simple. Moreover, these aims chists on the Web were not getting
are often in tension, since some tactics their message out to the public.
that increase newsworthiness can de- We argue that the events in Seattle
crease sympathy (Kielbowicz & changed all this. With their Black Bloc
Scherer, 1986). Traditional alternative tactic, anarchists made the news, but
media may resolve these tensions, but were in danger of being remade by the
they have their own weaknesses, par- news coverage. We document the dra-
ticularly their limited range of distri- matic rise in coverage of anarchists in
bution. The World Wide Web, the mainstream media after Seattle:
however, significantly alters the media news that was predominantly negative.
landscape of protest, giving activists Focusing on one of the primary core
access to a mass medium that they Web sites, the Infoshop, we show that
themselves control. The Web places anarchist Web sites received more
activists on a more equal footing with traffic after these, and subsequent,
other media outlets when waging the protests. Anarchists used this publicity
battle over public relations (Atton, to attempt to counter the negative
1996a; Kellner, 1997). Despite its views of anarchism and the Black Bloc
comparative power, the Web has its circulating in the media and public
own weaknesses. First, its ability to act opinion. While much has been made
as both an alternative and a mass me- of the role of the Internet in the suc-
dium brings with it the tension of mix- cess of planning the protests in Seattle
ing in-group and out-group (Smith, 2001), less attention has been
communication. Second, the Web paid to its use in managing the post-
rarely lives up to its potential as a mass protest fallout. We provide evidence
medium, with significantly less access that the news coverage took on a
in practice than in theory. softer, less negative tone over time, a
In this work, we examine how ac- fact we attribute at least in part to the
tivists’ use of the Web affects their interaction between the mainstream
media and protest strategies. First, we media and the anarchist Web-based
investigate the population of anarchist alternative media. Rather than being
Web sites and the links between them taken advantage of by their notoriety,
in order to determine how the net- anarchists were able to use their al-
work’s form and content impact its use ready existing Web presence to take
as a mass medium. We find a densely advantage of it. Coverage without the
connected core-periphery structure Web sites does anarchists little good,
that funnels readers towards a small yet sites without the coverage do them
number of central sites. This core acts little good either. Used in tandem,
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they allow anarchists more effectively an important focus for many activists
to exploit the untapped potential of (Ryan, 1991). Still, protestors remain
the Web, both by bringing a new audi- in a weak position, with limited
ence to their sites and by influencing influence over what the media covers
mainstream reporting. in an era of increasing corporate con-
trol of the media (McChesney, 1999).
News media do not simply report
Social Movements and the events; they create “news stories”
Media (Hall, Critcher, Jefferson, Clarke, &
Roberts, 1978). Journalists’ and media
Lipsky (1968) argues that protest outlets’ conceptions of what is news-
targets four principal groups. First, worthy rarely match those of the
protest helps sustain and build social protestors (Gans, 1979), ensuring a
movement organizations by promoting struggle between activists and the me-
solidarity among activists. Second, dia over coverage.
protest seeks to maximize exposure of A great deal of research has focused
movement goals to the broader public on the relationship between social pro-
through the media. Third, it provides test and media coverage (Gamson,
ameansforgainingsupportfromthird 1992; Gitlin, 1980; Kielbowicz &
parties critical to movement success. Scherer, 1986; Oliver & Myers, 1999).
Finally, protest targets authorities able McCarthy, McPhail, Smith, and col-
to address the demands of the move- leagues have been working on a large
ment. In this work, we focus on the project detailing the biases in media
first three targeted groups; for the treatment of protests in Washington,
most part we ignore authorities. All of DC (McCarthy, McPhail, & Smith,
these goals are highly interrelated. In 1996; Smith, McCarthy, McPhail, &
particular, effective use of the media Augustyn, 2001). They identify two
can impact the success of appealing to significant forms of media bias: selec-
all targeted parties. Media representa- tion bias and description bias.
tions influence public support, and af- Not all protests will be covered by
fect the level of repression officials can the media; selection bias determines
justify (Gamson, 1990; Wisler & whichonesare.McCarthyetal.(1996)
Guigni, 1999). Even protestors, al- found several factors influencing the
though generally connected and in- likelihood of a protest making the
formed through their own sympathetic news. Media issue attention cycles
alternativemedia(Downing,Ford,Gil, strongly influence which protests get
& Stein, 2001), still depend upon the covered. That is, a protest’s likelihood
mainstream media response for their of making the news is determined by
own self-image, reading their own ex- how well it fits into issues already in
periences through the media portray- the news. For example, during the
als (Ryan, 1991). Gulf War, anti-war demonstrations
Kielbowicz and Scherer (1986, gained more attention because they
p.72) state, “The modern mass media could be included in larger stories
have become central to the life and about the war itself (McCarthy et al.,
death of social movements.” Activists 1996). While media issue attention cy-
must therefore court media attention; cles are out of protestors’ hands, they
developing better strategies for work- do have more control over two other
ing with and using the media has been key factors. Most important is size; the
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bigger the protest, the more likely it is tion bias, but smaller, more radical
to gain media coverage. Level of dis- groups are at a disadvantage, particu-
ruption is also important. Counterde- larly since press coverage is critical for
monstrations, violence, and arrests marginal groups (McIntyre, 1989). On
increase newsworthiness (Oliver & one hand, they must be newsworthy
Myers, 1999). This general finding enough to make the news. Without
held true in Seattle. Deluca and large numbers, disruptive strategies
Peeples (2002) found that the violence are an effective means to accomplish
at the Seattle protests increased media this (Piven & Cloward, 1977). On the
attention on the movement. other hand, as noted above, disruption
Description bias determines the me- makes episodic and negative coverage
dia’s secondary selection of how to more likely (Smith et al., 2001). But
depict the protests they choose to even when radical social movements
cover (Hocke, 1998). In their recent manage to make the news without be-
work, Smith et al. (2001) examine de- ing disruptive, they still tend to be
scription bias in media practices, fo- portrayed as illegitimate (Shoemaker,
cusing primarily on whether coverage 1984), while their larger political cri-
is positive or negative. Contrary to tique is ignored (Carragee, 1991).
expectations, under most circum- With no means to overcome descrip-
stances coverage showed no bias, and tion and selection bias simultaneously,
what bias there was tended to favor radical groups often find themselves
protestors. Bias is more than just a confronted with a Faustian bargain:
positive or negative slant towards the either negative coverage or no cover-
protest; it is also whether the media age at all (Hertog & McLeod, 1995).
covers the larger issues and themes of Further complicating the situation,
the movement. Iyenger (1991) tactics that grab media attention may
classifies protest depictions as either not effectively appeal to authorities
thematic or episodic. Thematic cover- (Gamson & Modigliani, 1989).
age places the issues within a larger One possible response to the short-
context, which disseminates the ac- comings of the mainstream media is to
tivists’ goals and beliefs through the avoid it altogether. Using their own
media. In contrast, episodic coverage media, activists choose which events to
focuses primarily on the concrete de- cover and how to frame them (Down-
tails of the event and, as a result, ig- ing et al., 2001). But exclusive reliance
nores protestors’ motivations for on alternative media carries the dan-
action. ger of simply preaching to the con-
While negative description bias is verted. While activists gain more
relatively rare, violence, arrests, and control over media production, fewer
disruption are likely to generate both consume the end product. Circulation
episodic and negative coverage (Smith is low, access and distribution are lim-
et al. 2001). Consequently, many so- ited, and there are high barriers to
cial movement organizations have entry, such as cost of printing (Atton,
moderated their ideology and strategy 1996a, 1996b). Alternative media are
in order to expand their appeal, seek- rarely mass media, seldom reaching
ing strength and exposure through the general public or even non-move-
maximizing the number of partici- ment activists. Yet strong internal me-
pants (Everett, 1992). Large groups dia do more than foster
can overcome selection and descrip- communication within the movement;
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they also help movement ideas enter through the mass media outlets”
the mainstream. First, they mobilize (p.1418). The Web provides the
and build solidarity in the movement, means for building alternative mass
increasing its strength and public pres- media and thus expands the capability
ence. Second, they can influence of activists to set and build public
mainstream media since journalists of- agendas.
ten look to alternative media for devel- Second, since it is accessible from
oping trends (Ryan, 1991). virtually anywhere, the Web over-
Nevertheless, the direct effect on non- comes the problems of low access and
movement actors is usually limited. distribution of alternative media (At-
Traditionally, activists have had to ton, 1996a). The Web connects geo-
strike a balance between high control/ graphically dispersed people sharing
low distribution alternative media and common interests (Rheingold, 1993;
low control/high distribution main- Wellman & Gulia, 1998), including so-
stream media. Movements use their cial movement groups and activists
own media for in-group communi- (Castells, 1997; Cleaver, 1999; Diani,
cation and solidarity building while 1999; Frederick, 1993; Myers, 1994,
courting mainstream media coverage 2002; Saxton, 1998). These Web-
in order to reach third parties and the based mass alternative media offer in-
general populace. But, as discussed creased range, immediacy, and ease
above, radical movements are unlikely over traditional alternatives.
ever to overcome both selection bias Activists also want to reach beyond
and description bias in the mainstream their own movement to ideologically
media, and thus will rarely communi- similar third parties. The flexibility of
cate their views to a wider population. computer networks facilitates the for-
Many scholars and activists argue mation of coalitions between different
that the World Wide Web allows users movements and organizations (Myers,
to bypass traditional alternative and 2002). Ideologically diverse, but com-
mainstream media and overcome the patible, communities can connect in
shortcomings of both. First, by making non-hierarchical, networked forms,
the means of media production more bridging activist groups and linking to-
widely available and giving activists gether similar messages (Arquilla &
new opportunities to share their views Ronfeldt, 1995; Castells, 1997; Freder-
with others (Kellner, 1997), it lays the ick, 1993; Keck & Sikkink, 1998).
foundation for a more democratic Cleaver (1998, 1999) argues, for exam-
public sphere (Downing et al., 2001; ple, that the Zapatistas and their sup-
Poster, 1995). The Web widens public porters have created a “left-alternative
discourse to include more oppositional political fabric” online, effectively us-
voices and “subaltern counterpublics” ing this network to distribute infor-
(Fraser, 1992); thus mainstream media mation excluded from the mainstream
lose their monopoly over the pro- media while simultaneously bringing
duction of images and ideas. For ex- together diverse groups.
ample, Smith et al. (2001) argue that The hyperlink structure of the Web
Web-based alternative media such as influences how it is used as a news
the Independent Media Center (IMC) medium; that is, it impacts which in-
“allow for a more decentralized chan- formation is consumed and by whom.
neling of information about public TheWeb’sbasicarchitecturalunit,the
demonstrations than is possible hyperlink, reflects its dual nature, con-
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necting people and structuring infor- fore, using the same medium to reach
mation (December, 1994). By connect- all three targets may be problematic.
ing individual Web sites, links Second, Web access is far more lim-
structure the larger community net- ited in practice than it is in theory.
work and establish the position of indi- Diani (1999) claims that the Web is
vidual sites within it. This network can not fully public communication, since
be read as a text, shaping how readers not everyone has access to the necess-
navigate the information (Jackson, ary technology. But access to the tech-
1997). Links can be interpreted both nology is not sufficient; interest is also
as a unit of structure, in that they necessary. The Web is characterized
determine the shape of the network, by the sheer volume of information
and as a unit of content, in that the available. Few will discover most of
type of links reveals much about indi- this information without a specific in-
vidual sites and the community as a terest in finding it. Without this inter-
whole (Miller, 1995). est, the Web’s potential to be used as a
Much of the rhetoric about the Web mass medium remains untapped.
has not paid enough attention to the Our research empirically examines
difficulties of implementing it as an how anarchists used the Web to over-
effective replacement for alternative come the problems of alternative and
and mass media. We identify two po- mainstream media. We then explore
tential limitations of Web-based ac- how they were also able to deal suc-
tivist media. First, the Web is a cessfully with the weaknesses of online
medium for both in-group and out- media. We argue that the emergent
group communication. In-group dis- network structure separated in- and
course is that which occurs among out-group communication while tacti-
members of the same group (for exam- cal innovation helped overcome the
ple, communication among anar- access problems of the Web.
chists), and it tends to reinforce
community and create solidarity. Out-
group discourse, on the other hand, The Anarchist Movement
involves reaching out to a broader and the Web
audience in order to spread infor-
mation beyond the movement and The Haymarket tragedy in 1886,
shape the movement’s image (Simons, with eight anarchists falsely arrested
1970). As Mitra (1997) argues, the for throwing a bomb at a labor rally
mixing of in-group and out-group on (David, 1958), marked the beginning
the Web can have unintended conse- of the decline of the North American
quences.In-groupdiscoursesarebased anarchist movement. Their public im-
upon real-life activism and on efforts age as bomb-tossing terrorists made
to confront and deal with internal them an easy target for both the state
conflicts. Consequently, they tend to and other rival movements. Squeezed
be messier and more contentious than out by competition from other socialist
out-group discourse. The situation is parties on the one hand, and facing
further complicated by the fact that increased government repression on
building and sustaining coalitions with the other, anarchism eventually disap-
other activists and organizations is peared from the political field (Saba-
based on some combination of both tini, 1995). Since that time, the
in- and out-group discourse. There- movement has remained largely mar-
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ginal and invisible. We show how two promote communication, so that
separate recent innovations worked to- small, poorly-financed, or regionally
gether to help spur a resurgence of isolated groups can still participate
anarchist activism: the Web and the fully in the movement and connect
Black Bloc. with all other areas of the movement”
Anarchists saw the Web’s potential (Sprite, n. d.). Using the Web, activists
early on, going online earlier than are better able to move beyond local
many other groups on the left (Klein, boundaries, strengthening movement
2000). The Spunk Press Web site (a ties and solidarity (Kemp, 1996).
central, core site in our dataset), an Anarchists are interested in develop-
anarchist text archive, went online ing working coalitions with other rad-
during the first year of the Web’s exist- ical social movements, and the Web is
ence, and many others quickly fol- seen as a simple means to reach these
lowed. While many anarchists cite the groups. According to Sprite (para. 27,
convergence between the decentraliza- n. d.), the online community should
tion of anarchist theory and the decen- therefore “extend beyond @ [anar-
tralizedstructureofcyberspace(Kriha, chist] groups to other autonomist,
1994), most users are drawn by the anti-authoritarian, and non-authori-
practical advantages of the Web (At- tarian groupings…thus leading to-
ton, 1996a; Zolla, 1998). wardsmorechangeandunderstanding
Anarchy is not chaos but, rather, of each other.” The goal is to situate
non-hierarchical social organization anarchism within the larger radical so-
(Kropotkin, 1910; Ward, 1996). Anar- cial movement milieu by extending
chists work to maximize individual lib- links to other groups in order to ex-
erty and social equality, which they press solidarity and create new ties.
regard as mutually self-supporting. Hoping to create sympathy for their
Anarchist praxis reflects these goals, cause, anarchists are eager to chal-
emphasizing direct action, mutual aid, lenge the negative stereotypes and ex-
and prefigurative politics, the building pose a wider audience to the “truth”
of alternative institutions within the about anarchism. Sprite (para. 6, n. d.)
already existing society (Ehrlich, argues that the Web can “provide an
1996). Additionally, anarchist political alternative media, which would coun-
organization favors decentralized, ter the lies and illusions of the capital-
non-hierarchical collectives over large- ist media. To create a forum for our
scale, bureaucratic forms (Fitzgerald & own voices and analyses to be heard,
Rodgers, 2000). debated, and acted upon.” The Web
Historically, anarchists’ strict adher- marks “a dissolution of the constraints
ence to these principles of equality, on freedom of expression and on the
decentralization, and small groups has monopoly of publishing and distri-
hampered their ability to grow as a bution,” allowing more participation
social movement (Tarrow, 1998). To- in media production (Atton, 1996a,
day, many in the movement see the p.115). In a study of French-speaking
Web as a tool for connecting adher- anarchist organizations, Zolla (1998)
ents, building coalitions, and reaching found that the goal most cited when
a wider audience. The Web allows using the Web is to spread anarchist
community building without compro- ideas and convert outsiders. Atton’s
mising anarchist principles, with the (1996a) interviews with anarchists
power “to break down the isolation, to found that most viewed the growing
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MAKINGTHENEWS DECEMBER2003
anarchist Web presence as a “positive dia connects anarchists into a com-
move, since it would increase access to munity online. We then argue that the
documents and publicize anarchism in specific structure and content of these
general, and do much to counter its media manage the insider-outsider
negative image in the mainstream problem of the Web by channeling the
press” (p.124). public to central Web sites that intro-
Although anarchists were busy in- duce them to anarchism, while allow-
creasing their presence online, they re- ing more interested readers (most
mained invisible in the real world. likely third-party activists) to ease their
Some saw the Black Bloc protest tactic way into internal anarchist discourse.
as a way of generating a higher level of However, we also argue that it re-
visibility for anarchist activists and quired an “external” shock from the
ideas. Normally, the Black Bloc is used Black Bloc to realize the Web’s latent
to escalate the disruptiveness of protest potential as a mass medium for radical
tactics, with the size and anonymity of social protest, as increased mainstream
the group a shield for committing il- media interest in anarchism drew
legal acts. It is also a means to express more readers to the Web sites, over-
group solidarity. The bloc’s distinctive coming the access problems of the
black clothing and facemasks facilitate Web. We investigate the dynamics be-
these goals of increasing visibility, cre- tween the mainstream coverage of an-
ating solidarity, and ensuring anon- archists and the anarchist online
ymity (“Black Blocs,” 2000). First used counter-public relations campaign in
byGermanAutonomenduringthe1980s order to examine how anarchist Web
(Katsiaficas, 1997), the tactic had been media exploited the new attention and
used only occasionally in the United how it affected the larger public dis-
States before becoming a prominent course.
feature in recent protests against cor-
porate globalization (Glavin, 2000).
Methods and Data
The Black Bloc remains a contro-
versial tactic, even among anarchists.
The goals of this project require a
Some find the tactic inappropriate for
complex methodological setup, with
mass actions, as it places nonviolent
several stages of analysis, both quanti-
protestors in danger and ultimately is
tative and qualitative, over time. In
ineffective in reaching its goals (Do-
this section, we detail our methodolog-
minick, 1999). Others, while support-
ical process.
ive of the tactic in general, criticize it
for excluding women through its
overly masculine style (Maggie, Structure and Content of Anarchist Web
Rayna, Michael, & Matt, 2001), as Media
well as for its exclusion of minorities
and the poor, who cannot as easily risk In this first component of our
arrest (Glavin, 2000). methodology, we gathered data on the
In the analysis that follows, we first structure and content of the anarchist
examine the structure and content of Web media by searching for
the anarchist Web community, to in- “anarchism” on Yahoo.com in the fall
vestigate how anarchists use the me- of 1998, before the Seattle protests of
dium to reach their target groups, and November 1999. We then collected
to explore how the anarchist Web me- the links from each of the 17 sites
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found by Yahoo. Linked sites were all links from each anarchist site. Un-
classified by content as either anarchist fortunately, constraints did not allow
ornon-anarchist.Sitesidentifiedasan- us to gather systematic data on the
archist then formed the basis for the links from the non-anarchist sites.
next wave of the snowball sample, in Thus, we have data for links between
which we repeated this process of col- anarchist sites and links to non-anar-
lecting and classifying links. Data col- chist sites from anarchist ones. Using
lection went through eight waves these data in combination with quali-
before reaching redundancy, generat- tative content analysis of the most im-
ing 390 anarchist sites and 2408 addi- portant anarchist sites—measured by
tional non-anarchist sites, to which the number of links they receive from
they link. When the collection process other anarchist sites—we mapped and
was complete, we searched on several described the online network.
other search engines to find any sites
missed in the snowball sample. This
produced only one additional site for Quantity and Content of Mass Media
the dataset. While these 391 sites may Coverage
not in fact make up the entire popu-
lation of anarchist Web sites at the The next step in our methodology
time the data were collected, we argue was to gather measures of mainstream
that we did collect all the primary mass media coverage of anarchism.
sites, and therefore have a reasonably We examined the coverage through
accuratedepictionofthegeneralstruc- the lens of selection and description
ture of the network. bias; that is, we were concerned with
We categorized each site in our the quantity of coverage of anarchism
dataset by its content and links. Con- and the content of that coverage.
tent falls into two main groups: anar- Thus, we tracked both the changes in
chist and non-anarchist. An anarchist the rate of coverage over time and the
site is defined as any site whose pri- general tone and depth of the cover-
mary focus is the anarchist political age. The key date here was of course
ideology and movement. The non-an- the November 30, 1999 re-emergence
archist group is further divided based of anarchism (through the Black Bloc
on the specific focus of the site. Most tactic) during the Seattle protests. To
are politically orientated and grouped track the rate of coverage, we searched
by their primary political affiliation LexisNexis by the keyword “anarchist”
(labor, environmental, anti-racism, to identify mainstream media stories
and so on). Many sites defy such easy about anarchists and anarchism from
categorization, tending to be multi-is- 1991 to 2001. We use these data to
sue rather than single issue. These show how the publicity from the Black
were classified either as “radical” (if Bloc overcame selection bias against
they advocated extra-parliamentary anarchists and generated mainstream
tactics) or “progressive” (if they advo- media attention.
cated working within the system). A Once selection bias is overcome, de-
large number of sites fall into no par- scription bias becomes an issue. We
ticular classification, and are thus first document initial description bias
lumped into an explicitly non-political by tracking the mass media coverage
category, “other.” of the Black Bloc tactic used in the
To measure structure, we collected Seattle protests. To do this, we survey
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TABLE 1
CLASSIFICATION OF LINKS FROM ANARCHIST SITES
Total no of Mean no of links per % of total
Links to links anarchist site anarchist links
Other anarchist sites 3399 8.7 40.9
Other left political sites 3335 8.5 40.1
All other sites 1576 4.0 19.0
Total 8310 21.3 100.0
analyses of the media coverage of the wayactivistsandinformationareorga-
Seattle protests, identifying positive nized online and thus indicates the
and negative, episodic and thematic, effectiveness of anarchist Web media
descriptions of anarchists. before Seattle in reaching the three
primary media goals of activists: 1)
connecting adherents, 2) forming
Reactions from Anarchist Web Media
coalitions, and 3) spreading their ideas
and Their Impact
to a wider audience. We show how
Finally, we show how anarchists structure and content impact the
took advantage of the publicity from achievement of these three goals and
coverage of the Black Bloc and used deal with the problem of simultaneous
the pre-existing structure of their Web insider and outsider communication.
media, and its unprecedented speed The first media goal, traditionally
“to press,” to counter the mainstream the domain of alternative media, is to
media’s description bias and to spread connect anarchists into an online com-
their own message.1 To do this, we munity. Our data indicate that anar-
followed the discussions of anarchist chists have built a strong, densely
tactics online, particularly on the IMC connected community, bringing to-
Web site, and the development and gether activists from around the world.
updates of the main anarchist sites in We use the basic architectural unit of
our dataset, especially the Infoshop, the Web—the link—as a signal of soli-
thekeyanarchistsitedetailingcontem- darity and connection between sites.
porary movement tactics, tracking Anarchist linking patterns to other an-
changes in both content and Web archist Web pages, other left-political
traffic. We then study the development sites, and non-political sites are sum-
of mainstream media coverage of an- marized in Table 1.
archism in the two years following In this section, we focus on anar-
Seattle, paying particular attention to chist linking patterns to other anar-
changesinthecontentofthecoverage. chist Web pages. A total of 3399 links
connect the 391 anarchist sites in the
dataset. This means that, on average,
Analysis
each anarchist site received, and sent,
about 8.7 links to other anarchist sites.
Structure and Content of the Anarchist
Of course, simple means can hide a
Web
wealth of information. Table 2 brings
The structure and content of the out additional details of the anarchist
anarchist Web media determine the Web network by looking at the distri-