This book is an extensive investigation of the complexities, ambiguities and shortcomings of contemporary digital activism. The author deconstructs the reductionism of the literature on social movements and communication, proposing a new conceptual vocabulary based on practices, ecologies, imaginaries and algorithms to account for the communicative complexity of protest movements. Drawing on extensive fieldwork on social movements, collectives and political parties in Spain, Italy and Mexico, this book disentangles the hybrid nature of contemporary activism. It shows how activists operate merging the physical and the digital, the human and the non-human, the old and the new, the internal and the external, the corporate and the alternative. The author illustrates the ambivalent character of contemporary digital activism, demonstrating that media imaginaries can be either used to conceal authoritarianism, or to reimagine democracy. The book looks at both side of algorithmic power, shedding light on strategies of repression and propaganda, and scrutinizing manifestations of algorithms as appropriation and resistance. The author analyses the way in which digital activism is not an immediate solution to intricate political problems, and argues that it can only be effective when a set of favourable social, political, and cultural conditions align. Assessing whether digital activism can generate and sustain long-term processes of social and political change, this book will be of interest to students and scholars researching radical politics, social movements, digital activism, political participation and current affairs more generally.

"This book presents a study that examined two large minority groups in Israeli society: Russian immigrants who arrived in the country from 1989 to 1998 as a "returning Diaspora," and the Arab citizens of Israel, who became an unwilling minority with the establishment of the State in 1948. Using institutional analysis and content analysis of the Russian and Arabic media available in Israel as well as survey research among samples of the two groups, the study focused on three interrelated issues: the nature and contents of the media provided for anti by these two minority communities: the way the minority members use domestic and global media in a multimedia and multilingual environment; and the patterns of media usage involved in the construction of hybrid identities that forms the basis for integration with in the mainstream society."--BOOK JACKET.

The first four films from the spy franchise starring Tom Cruise as a special agent. In 'Mission Impossible' (1996) Ethan Hunt (Cruise), an IMF (Impossible Mission Force) agent, is hunted by his own organisation after a mission in Prague goes wrong. Going to ground, Hunt enlists the help of two discredited agents to track down the real villain of the piece, a quest that takes him to the heart of CIA operations. In 'Mission Impossible 2' (2000), Impossible Missions Force's Ethan Hunt is charged with tracking down renegade fellow agent Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), who has stolen the only known supply of Bellophron - the antidote to man-made virus Chimera. Ethan enlists the help of Ambrose's ex-girlfriend, Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Thandie Newton), and, although the pair have fallen in love, Nyah agrees to return to Ambrose in order to gain information. However, Ambrose now intends to trigger off an epidemic of Chimera in order to sell Bellophron to the highest bidder and when he becomes suspicious of Nyah decides to use her as a guinea pig. In 'Mission Impossible 3' (2006), Hunt confronts the toughest villain he's ever faced - Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman), an international weapons and information provider with no remorse and no conscience. Hunt assembles his team, his old friend Luther Strickell (Ving Rhames), transportation expert Declan (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), background operative Zhen (Maggie Q) and fresh recruit Lindsey (Keri Russell) - to travel the globe pursuing Davian and rescue Hunt's love, Julia (Michelle Monaghan). In 'Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol' (2011), when the Kremlin is bombed by terrorists, the IMF is implicated and all its team members instantaneously disavowed by the United States government. Hunt and his new team must go rogue to clear the IMF's name - but are warned that if any one of them is captured during their mission they will be charged as terrorists plotting to incite global nuclear war. Hunt seeks the help of an enigmatic former IMF agent, Brandt (Jeremy Renner), and is surprised to learn how much the shadowy figure knows about his past.

Analyzing representations and practices of consumption in the Western world, this book offers a perspective on the themes of counter-consumerism, ecological crisis and sustainability. It is suitable for students in media, cultural, and literary studies as well as in sociology and environmental studies.

This is a compilation of writings on the economic and political impact of new media in traditional and online news organisations. Data from various countries, individual contributions from the major markets, function and context, and the nature of media are presented and discussed in detail.

Annotation. Waite (rhetoric and communication, Hamilton College) examines the essential features of the screen, the ways in which it changes our phenomenological awareness of space, sound, and motion, and the consequences of these alterations. The text includes a detailed study of the transition from orality to literacy, and argues that, where the emergence of the book contributed to a growing awareness of individuality, the screen undermines the autonomy of the person. Though Waite's theory has implications for both East and West, the focus is on the screen's unique challenge to American culture and its emphasis on individualism. Annotation 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).