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  • Distant Witness

  • Social Media, the Arab Spring, and a Journalism Revolution
  • By: Andy Carvin
  • Narrated by: Andy Carvin
  • Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins

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Distant Witness cover art

Distant Witness

By: Andy Carvin
Narrated by: Andy Carvin
Free with 30-day trial

$16.45/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

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Editorial reviews

The audio opens with Andy Carvin's claim that in order to write Distant Witness, he communicated - that is he exchanged phone calls, emails, Tweets, and Facebook posts - with more than 2,000 people around the world. The result is a thorough and media-based history of the Arab Spring, and how these uprising were shaped and recorded by social media. Carvin, who is NPR's senior product manager for online communities, explains how the instantaneous nature of social media has changed storytelling and news reporting; the public is now responsible for the witnessing and processing of modern history. Distant Witness is part memoir and part history. Carvin is a talented narrator who demands the listener's attention.

Publisher's Summary

The series of Arab uprisings collectively known as the Arab Spring is a flashpoint in history - perhaps the biggest we've seen since the collapse of the Soviet bloc 20 years ago. It's also been a stunning revolution in the way breaking news is reported around the world - and who controls the news.

In this book, NPR social media chief Andy Carvin - "the man who tweets revolutions" - offers a unique first-person recap of the Arab Spring. Part memoir, part history, the book includes intimate stories of the revolutionaries who fought for freedom on the streets and across the Internet - stories that would have never been recorded before the days of social media.

©2012 Andy Carvin (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

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