| Abstrakt: |
This article investigates a core practice of the Yellow Vest movement (YVM), born in the fall of 2018 in France: its publicizing through social media. While other mobilized groups organized events that conformed to routine media framing, the Yellow Vests (YVs) did not seek to adhere to journalistic representations and expectations. In fact, the general coverage did not match their own experiences of the YVM, which gave rise to a direct hostility toward the media. In contrast, the efforts of some individuals to provide an alternative public image of the demonstrations on social media became popular within the movement, especially the productions of videographers emanating from (or sympathizers of) the YVs. We focus here specifically on this latter group, examining their uses of social media, their social trajectories, and characteristics (i.e., previous politicization, professional skills, and experiences of repression and police violence). While the text merely exhibits excerpts from semi-structured interviews with videographers (n = 11), our findings are based on a larger qualitative research consisting of observations of marches throughout the movement (from late November 2018 to early December 2019), interviews with journalists and photographers (n = 24), and the analysis of their videos disseminated on social media (n = 224 videos). We argue that these videographers, though diverse in terms of their social backgrounds and concerns, generally all occupied devalued social positions while also possessing a necessary cultural capital (broadly intended) and a degree of politicization that fueled their self-confidence and ability to raise their voices. The aims of their heterogeneous forms of expression evolved over time, gradually coalescing around the issue of protecting people by tracking and denouncing police violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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