Media Activism in the Digital Age

The growing subfield of media activism studies has gained wide attention in recent years, but little consensus exists regarding its central questions and concerns. Media Activism in the Digital Age begins to chart an evolving research agenda by providing a cross-section of provocative work in this area.

Victor Pickard and Guobin Yang have assembled essays by leading scholars and activists to provide case studies of feminist, technological, and political interventions during different historical periods and at local, national, and global levels. Looking at the underlying theories, histories, politics, ideologies, tactics, strategies and aesthetics, the book takes an expansive view of media activism. It explores how varieties of activism are mediated through communication technologies, how activists deploy strategies for changing the structures of media systems, and how governments and corporations seek to police media activism. From memes to zines, hacktivism to artivism, this volume considers activist practices involving both older kinds of media and newer digital, social, and network-based forms.

Media Activism in the Digital Age captures an exciting moment in the evolution of media activism studies and offers an invaluable guide to a vibrant and evolving field of research.

Victor Pickard is an Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication. He is the author of America’s Battle for Media Democracy (2014), and co-editor of Will the Last Reporter Please Turn Out the Lights (2011) and The Future of Internet Policy (2015).

Guobin Yang is a Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication and Department of Sociology. He is the author of The Power of the Internet in China: Citizen Activism Online (2009) and The Red Guard Generation and Political Activism in China (2016). He has also edited several books.