Media, Mobilization and the Umbrella Movement

The Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong caught the world?s attention and imagination at the end of 2014. The 79-day occupation campaign took on some of the characteristics of the recent wave of large-scale protest movements around the world, including the prominent roles played by the media ? both conventional and digital ? in the mobilization and communication processes of the movement.

This edited volume, Media, Mobilization and the Umbrella Movement, brings together nine contributions which examine various aspects of the media-movement nexus, including the power of televised images to mobilize people, the role of social media in the insurgent public sphere, young activists? social media strategies, media influence on citizens? understanding of civil disobedience, the government?s response to digital media tactics, public discourses about the rule of law, and local and foreign media coverage of the movement. We believe that this high-quality collection can not only enhance our understanding of the Umbrella Movement, but also facilitate and trigger more research and dialogue comparing the Umbrella Movement with other similar protest movements around the world. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Chinese Journal of Communication.

Introduction: Media Communication and the Umbrella Movement1. Mobilization by images: TV screen and mediated instant grievances in the Umbrella Movement2. Social media and Umbrella Movement: insurgent public sphere in formation3. Media and information praxis of young activists in the Umbrella Movement4. Social movement as civic education: communication activities and understanding of civil disobedience in the Umbrella Movement5. A legal realist view on citizen actions in Hong Kong’s umbrella movement6. Contested news values and media performance during the Umbrella Movement7. Business as usual: the UK national daily press and the Occupy Central movement8. The coming colonization of Hong Kong cyberspace: government responses to the use of new technologies by the umbrella movement9. Yellow or blue ribbons: analysing discourses in conflict in the televised government-student meeting during the Occupy Movement in Hong Kong

Francis L. F. Lee is a Professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is lead author of Media, Social Mobilization, and Mass Protests in Post-colonial Hong Kong (2011) and author of Talk Radio, the Mainstream Press, and Public Opinion in Hong Kong (2014).