Baudrillard’ın İletişim Kuramı Bağlamında Dijital Savaş Haberciliği Uygulamalarının İncelenmesi: Liveuamap Örneği
İpek KarakoyunFransız düşünür Jean Baudrillard, ele aldığı çalışmaların büyük bir kısmında kapitalizmin doğasını ve medyanın da kapitalist sistemin sürekliliği için sağladığı katkıyı açıklamayı amaçlamıştır. Bu çalışmanın amacı ise günümüzde var olan ve önemini gittikçe artıran dijital savaş haberciliği uygulamalarının izler kitle tarafından hangi motivasyonlarla ve nasıl kullanıldığını anlamaya çalışmak ve bu uygulamaların, izler kitlenin savaş olgusuna karşı yaklaşımına etkisini Baudrillard’ın iletişim olgusuna yönelik analizleri ile ilişkilendirmektir. Bu doğrultuda çalışmanın alanyazın bölümünde savaş olgusunun ve savaş haberciliğinin süreç içerisinde yaşadığı dönüşümler ile Baudrillard’ın iletişim ve kitle iletişim araçları ile ilgili ortaya koyduğu çeşitli analizler ele alınmıştır. Araştırma bölümünde ise etnografik çalışma yöntemi tercih edilerek elde edilen bulgular, Baudrillard’ın iletişim olgusuna yönelik saptamaları ile yorumlanmıştır. Çalışmanın örneklemini LiveUAmap savaş haberciliği uygulamasını düzenli olarak takip eden izler kitle oluşturmaktadır. Elde edilen bulgulara göre katılımcıların, sanallaşan iletişim dolayımı ile savaş olgusunun gerçekliğine uzaklaştıkları saptanmıştır. Ayrıca Baudrillard’ın hızın belirlenimci yapısı ve hiper-uzamda gerçekleşen enformasyona yönelik saptamalarının günümüzde de geçerliliğini koruduğu görülmektedir.
Examination of Digital War Reporting Applications in the Context of Baudrillard's Communication Theory: Liveuamap Sample
İpek KarakoyunFrench thinker Jean Baudrillard, in most of his work, aimed at explaining the nature of capitalism as well as the contribution made by the media for the sake of perpetuity of the system. This study seeks to understand the motives of the audience of digital warjournalism applications and the way they use them as well as to analyse the effects of such applications on the audience’s approach to the war in the context of Baudrillard’s mass media theory. In the chapter devoted to research, the evidence elicited from the sample audience will be interpreted in line with Baudrillard’s concepts. The audience that regularly follows the war-journalism application LiveUAmap constitutes the sample. The study adopted the ethnographic methodology by preference. According to the findings, it was determined that the participants moved away from the reality of the war phenomenon through virtualise communication. In addition, it is seen that Baudrillard’s determination regarding the deterministic structure of speed and information realised in hyper-space are still valid today
The phenomenon of war, which is one of the existing methods for solving problems related to international relations, has been defined in different ways by various disciplines and thinkers because it affects all areas of life. The social, economic and technological developments experienced during the process have changed the meaning of the concept of war and the way it is implemented.
Developments such as the urban life that emerged in Mesopotamia and Egypt in 5000 BC, the existence of an organised army in the Sumerians in 2700 BC, and the emergence of gunpowder in the Middle Ages were effective in the transformation of war throughout the historical process.
In the later period, as the destructive power of weapons increased with the development of modern warfare techniques, the distinction between soldiers and civilians in war situations disappeared. I. and II. World wars can be cited as examples of wars in which the distinction between military and civilians disappears and wars with high destructive power.
When it came to the Cold War Period, which did not define a hot conflict and took place between the USA and the USSR, atomic bomb tests began. While the main purpose of the wars that took place in the periods before the Cold War was the desire to win the war, the aim with the possession of nuclear weapon technology was to prevent wars and create a deterrent effect.
Nowadays, with the influence of technological developments, in addition to traditional wars, cyber wars, defined as activities carried out in cyberspace in order to damage the network systems of the attacked party and prevent the use of these systems temporarily or permanently, have begun to emerge.
War journalism, which can be defined as all journalistic activities carried out during the war to inform the public about the information obtained on the battlefield, has also transformed with the developments in the process. War journalism as a professional field emerged in the 19th century.
World War I, in particular, became a war that enabled worldwide reporting of the war, with the influence of technological developments brought about by the Industrial Revolution. The emergence of radio during the II. The World War allowed the sounds of the battlefield to be transmitted to the masses. The start of television broadcasting during the Vietnam War, which took place between 1955 and 1975, enabled the establishment of a connection between the battlefield and people’s homes, and thanks to television broadcasts, the Vietnam War became very involved in people’s lives. The Gulf War, which occurred in 1991, is considered another turning point in terms of war journalism, as it was the first war to be covered by “live broadcast.”
In the present day, the capacity of digital technologies to transform and disseminate all kinds of information has begun to be used in the field of war journalism and has caused certain changes in terms of war journalism practises. The LiveUAmap application, which constitutes the sample of the study, is one of the digital war journalism applications that emerged in parallel with these developments. Working through crowdsourced information collection and compilation, Liveuamap (Live Universal Awareness Map) can be described as a web-based war journalism application. Although it was first created to follow the Ukrainian civil war, over time it began to convey the armed conflicts, protests and natural disasters occurring in many parts of the world in real time.
In the study, how digital war journalism practises transformed the audience’s perception of reality about war was analysed with the determinations of French thinker Jean Baudrillard, especially regarding mass media. Since the purpose and design of the study required interpretation of the data obtained, the ethnographic research method was preferred as the method of the study.
According to Baudrillard, from a system perspective, the only thing that is successfully presented through communication tools is hyperreality. Moreover, the news transmitted through mass media constantly changes place at the speed of light. This speed causes the news to change spatially and reality to disappear.
Moreover, Baudrillard states that in the age we live in, the phenomenon of reality has become dysfunctional over time. The inadequacy of reality in this sense has moved us to the simulation universe and reality has reached the meta level and become a virtual reality. In a phase that makes all ideological structures unimportant and gives importance only to network systems, network systems have begun to replace ideologies. In short, network logic destroys not only historical realities but also all realities about life. As a result, according to the data obtained from the audience in line with the sample of the study, it has been determined that Baudrillard’s analyses are valid for the audience.