Kuala Lampur, Aug. 4 -- AUG 5 - There was a time when I believed reading the news was a straightforward process. An event happened, journalists reported it, and audiences simply learned what was going on. Like many people, I rarely questioned why a particular photograph was chosen, why one quote appeared before another, or why some stories received prominent coverage while others barely made the news.

That perspective changed during my final year project. My research focused on how Instagram posts shared by activists involved in the Global Sumud Flotilla were recontextualised by mainstream news organisations. At first, I expected to compare different ways of reporting the same event. Instead, I found myself looking much deeper into the m...