Web Journalism in the Ultra Orthodox (Haredi) Community

Hello Readers,

Another publication is in the process of being published soon. It involves the worldviews and professional inclinations of web journalists in the ultra-Orthodox world, with an emphasis on the Israeli community. The work was generously supported by the EU's Research and Innovation initiative - Marie Curie foundation, as well as by the LINKS I-Core initiative of Israel's Science Foundation. Here are is the draft of the abstract that should be published shortly in a European journal.

Fundamentalist Web Journalism: Walking a Fine Line between Religious Ultra Orthodoxy and the New Media Ethos

Oren Golan and Nakhi Mishol-Shauli

New media journalism has perturbed traditional reporting not only in mainstream-modern societies, but also within religious-cum-insular communities. Focusing on the Jewish ultra-Orthodox community in Israel, and in light of web-journalists’ continuous struggle with leading clergy and an apprehensive public, this study grapples with the question, how do ultra-Orthodox web journalists view their work-mission as information brokers for an enclave culture? The study gleaned from 40 in-depth interviews with web journalists and discussions with community web activists. Results uncovered three major schematas that drive their praxis: (1) Communal-Haredi (2) Western-Democratic (3) Journalist Ecosystem. Findings suggest a rising archetype of fundamentalist web journalism that rests its professional ethos on writers’ practice, rather than on formalized training or communal dictums. Web-journalists were found to strongly identify with their community, yet, often unintentionally, also to act as a secondary form of authority and harbingers of change.

Upcoming Publication on the Haredi integration of ICTs

Upcoming Publication:

Exploring the religious worlds of the ultra Orthodox I have been developing, alongside my doctoral student, Nakhi Mishol Shauli, and Ben Gurion University doctoral student, Malka Shacham, a new paper, funded by the Israel LINKS I-Core program and the EU Marie Curie foundation, that explores the ultra Orthodox's integration into communal and family life. I am attaching its opening statement and inviting interested readers to write to me about it. The full manuscript should be published in 2018.

ICTs in Religious Communities: Communal and Domestic Integration of New Media among Jewish Ultra-Orthodoxy in Israel

            Nakhi Mishol Shauli, Malka Shacham and Oren Golan

Introduction

Since the 1990s, the integration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) into everyday life, including work, education, leisure and overall personal management, has become a hallmark of modern societies. Considering this development, British scholars (Horst, 2012; Silverstone & Haddon, 1996), established the domestication approach of technologies, contending that technological integration processes within modern families and communities are not technology-deterministic, but are largely affected by cultural and social factors. While these scholars explored modern-western populations’ legitimation of new media, further nuanced investigation of ICT integration among communities that manifest strong ideological, cultural or religious objections to modern practice is required. Despite overall resistance, an apparent boost in internet and new media use by members of such communities has been recorded and described by researchers representing various disciplines (Anderson, 2003; Busch, 2010; Horowitz, 2001; Lagerkvist, 2008; Lagerkvist, 2010). This study discusses the patterns and implications of ICTs domestication and use in Israel’s ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) community.

While ICT use has been rejected from Haredi formal educational settings, it has been largely integrated into informal home and workplace settings. Considering the apprehension expressed by religious communities—especially enclaved and marginalized groups—regarding ICTs, as well as the opportunities they embody for these sectors, we seek to examine the manner in which for religious communities, and particularly for enclaved and marginalized groups, we question how do socializing agents in Haredi society negotiate ICT use within informal educational spheres.