Rhys Crilley

Bio: Rhys Crilley is an academic researcher from University of Glasgow. The author has contributed to research in topics: Social media & Soft power. The author has an hindex of 11, co-authored 33 publications receiving 305 citations. Previous affiliations of Rhys Crilley include Open University & University of Birmingham.

Visually framing the Gaza War of 2014: The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Twitter:

Abstract: Recent years have seen the migration of Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MFAs) to social media in a practice referred to as digital diplomacy. Social media enable MFAs to craft frames so as to influence audiences’ perception of foreign affairs. Such framing is especially relevant during times of war as states seek to legitimize their policies. Notably, given that social media are inherently visual platforms, MFAs are now visual narrators. Few studies to date have extended the reach of framing theory to that of digital diplomacy during conflict. This study addresses this gap by analysing 795 tweets published by the Israeli MFA during the 2014 Gaza War. The authors’ analysis demonstrates that the Israeli MFA crafted 14 linguistic frames that were used to legitimize Israel’s policies. Notably, the MFA used images to support these frames and it is through images that the linguistic frames were made to resonate with Israeli strategic narratives. The authors pay attention to how images published by the Israeli MFA constitute three visual tropes and highlight how images function to augment frames (which focus on the present) to broader narratives that involve the past, present and future. Here, they explore how images invoke the past to illuminate the present and future, and create a shared identity in the context of the Gaza War.

What to do about social media? Politics, populism and journalism:

Abstract: The single biggest challenge facing journalism today is the continued unregulated growth of social media platforms and associated ways in which they have been gamed by political actors for their own ends. This is contributing to the steady erosion of independent journalism and a deterioration of democratic politics. Finding a solution to these problems requires not only concerted political will but also state regulation of social media platforms to ensure greater privacy, data protection and transparency. A few important steps towards a solution include effective monitoring of the deployment of targeted advertising for political purposes; ensuring that their algorithms do not promote the circulation of racist, sexist, homophobic and other extremist content; and making social media companies editorially responsible for the content they publish and circulate. Recent revelations surrounding the use of social media to target and influence voters in elections across the world point to the single biggest challenge facing journalism today; the unregulated rise of social media platforms. This problem is not simply one of nefarious actors using social media to spread ‘fake news’. The problem is much bigger and it concerns how social media platforms themselves contribute to a toxic news media ecology by their very design, business model and lack of accountability. The true story underlying the Cambridge Analytica scandal, for example, is not that of a shadowy company exploiting Facebook user data to influence people, it is that the exploitation of user data is Facebook’s business model. In the age of ‘platform capitalism’ (Srnicek, 2016), users of social media platforms and the data trails they create have become the very product by which social media platforms make their profits through advertising. Targeted advertising represents 98 per cent of Facebook’s revenues which were $40 billion last year. That this advertising has been exploited by corrupt and suspect

Making Sense of Emotions and Affective Investments in War: RT and the Syrian Conflict on YouTube

Abstract: Within the context of an ‘affective turn’ in media studies and the social sciences, this article explores the methodological challenges of researching emotions when studying online videos of conflict. Our study focuses on videos of the Syrian conflict shared on YouTube by the Russian state funded international broadcaster, RT. We propose that the concept of affective investment is a useful pivot between online videos of conflict and audience responses to them. Our study interrogates the role that affective investments play in 1) RT’s YouTube representations of the Syrian conflict, and 2) audience comments on these videos. We draw attention to the important intersections of RT’s representations of the conflict and audiences’ affective investments in those representations, and draw attention to the methodological issues raised. Our empirical focus is two critical junctures in the Syrian conflict: the commencement of Russia’s military intervention; and following the announcement of plans to withdraw Russian troops. We conclude by discussing the utility of affective investments in war when assessing online coverage of conflict, and suggesting avenues for further development.

International relations in the age of ‘post-truth’ politics

Abstract: Book review essay. Post-truth: the new war on truth and how to fight back. By Matthew d'Ancona. London: Ebury Press. 2017. 176pp. Pb.: £4.89. ISBN978 1 78503 687 3. Available as e-book. Post-truth: how bullshit conquered the world. By James Ball. London: Biteback Publishing. 2017. 320pp. Pb.: £25.80. ISBN978 1 78590 214 7. Available as e-book. Post-truth: why we have reached peak bullshit and what we can do about it. By Evan Davis. London: Little, Brown. 2017. 368pp. £13.80. ISBN978 1 40870 331 1. Available as e-book. The invention of Russia: the rise of Putin and the age of fake news. By Arkady Ostrovsky. London: Penguin Books. 2017. 478pp. Pb.: £9.54. ISBN978 0 39956 417 8. Available as e-book.

“Talk about terror in our back gardens”: an analysis of online comments about British foreign fighters in Syria

Abstract: The phenomenon of foreign fighters has become a central issue to the ongoing conflict in Syria. This article explores how members of the public answer the question ‘Why do British citizens join the conflict in Syria’ on social media sites and in response to online news articles. Building upon research on everyday narratives of security and terrorism, we analyse 807 comments, and in doing so, we argue that online comments are important in producing the discursive environment for making sense of British foreign fighters and what should be done in response to them. We find that there is a tendency to view British foreign fighters as being purely motivated by religion, and there is also a belief that British foreign fighters should be responded to through exceptional measures. We discuss the implications of such perceptions, and we highlight how problematic misconceptions about Islam and Muslims are not just disseminated through elite and media discourse, but through everyday narratives published by m...

What is Narrative Analysis

Abstract: Recording of presentation introducing narrative analysis, outlining what it is, why it can be a useful approach, how to do it and where to find out more. Presentation given at methods@manchester seminar at University of Manchester on 4 March 2010.

Regarding the Pain of Others

Abstract: Continuous casting process for the production of hollow ingot using an improved direct chill casting equipment having a molding system comprising a hollow mold and a movable platform, wherein at least one core and a pipe for introducing outer air are provided, said core being made from a refractory material unwettable with a molten metal and having a convergent taper at the side and an air runner for introducing outer air, which is packed with an air-permeable material, at the bottom, and said pipe for introducing outer air extending upwards from the air runner and passing through the core. The continuous casting process comprises continuously pouring a molten metal into a space surrounded with the hollow mold and the core of the above equipment; cooling the molten metal only at the side wall of the hollow mold without cooling at the side of the core; thereby solidifying the molten metal to form an ingot having a hollow, wherein the interface of the frozen metal and the liquid metal is present at the position around the core; and continuously lowering the ingot thus formed while introducing spontaneously outer air into the hollow part via the pipe for introducing outer air and the air runner of the core.

Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah

Abstract: Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah, by Olivier Roy. New York: Columbia University Press, in association with the Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales, Paris, 2004. xi + 340 pages. Index to p. 349. $29.50. Olivier Roy devotes much of Globalized Islam to the distinction between what he calls "Islamism" and "neofundamentalism." He argues that Islamist movements tend to seek power in specific countries and have become increasingly nationalistic. Neofundamentalist movements, on the other hand, tend to focus on the Islamic world as a whole and do not concentrate on achieving power. According to Roy, neofundamentalists usually favor da'wa, or preaching, over jihad. "For neofundamentalists the aim of action is salvation, not revolution" (p. 248). Even when neofundamentalists do engage in jihad, they still shun "political action" (p. 250). Yet, Roy's list of "neofundamentalist" movements includes al-Qa'ida as well as the Tablighi Jama'a (p. 234). It is hard to see how anyone could argue that al-Qa'ida is more interested in salvation than revolution or that its acts of violence are not political. Roy is a knowledgeable and insightful scholar, and he makes many important points. He rightly stresses that Islam often serves primarily as a marker of national and/ or ethnic identity rather than as a political program. He rightly criticizes those who think that the behavior of Muslims today can simply be explained by examining verses of the Qur'an. And he correctly emphasizes that al-Qa'ida has an anti-imperialist dimension that should not be ignored (although this is hard to reconcile with his characterization of al-Qa'ida as an apolitical neofundamentalist movement). At the same time, however, Roy makes many sweeping generalizations that are simply inaccurate. He claims that "Bin Laden only paid lip-service to Palestine till the end of 2001" (p. 3). This is a common assertion. It is also an erroneous one. In a 1994 letter to Sheikh 'Abd al-'Aziz bin Baz, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Bin Laden wrote: "The Shar'i obligation regarding Palestine and our Palestinian brothers, [who are] among the helpless oppressed men, women, and children, is jihad in the path of God and inciting the Umma to jihad to liberate all of Palestine and return it to Islamic rule." Much of this letter is devoted to rejecting the very idea of a peace agreement with Israel. (The Arabic text of the letter is available online at http://www.alwahabiya.org/articles/binladen_to_binbaz.htm) Roy asserts that "popular mobilisation in the Middle East centres around nationalism...not around Islam" (p. 51). Similarly, he contends that "Osama Bin Laden did not grasp that the genuine antiAmericanism of the 'average' Arab had never led to a sustainable political mobilisation, and that if such mobilisation ever did happen it would be over Palestine and Iraq that is, over Arab and not Islamic issues" (p. 56). It is true that groups like Hamas and the main movements fighting the American-led occupation of Iraq have a nationalist dimension, and this is an important point. …