"Investigating the root causes of the Syrian uprising of 2011, New Media and Revolution shows how acts of online resistance prepared the ground for better-organised street mobilisation. The book interprets the uprising not as the start of Syria’s social mobilisation but as a shift from online to o
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ffline contestation, and from localised and hidden practices of digital dissent to tangible mass street protests. Brownlee goes beyond the common dichotomy that frames new media as either a deus ex machina or a means of expression to demonstrate that, in Syria, media was a nontraditional institution that enabled resistance to digitally manifest and gestate below, within, and parallel to formal institutions of power. To refute the idea that the population of Syria was largely apathetic and apolitical prior to the uprising, Brownlee explains that social media and technology created camouflaged geographies and spaces where individuals could protest without being detected." (Publisher description)
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"1944 entstanden im Vernichtungslager Auschwitz-Birkenau eine Vielzahl von Fotografien, die zumeist den SS-Fotografen Bernhard Walter und Ernst Hoffmann zuzuordnen sind. Erhalten blieben die Bilder in Form eines Albums im Besitz der Holocaust-Überlebenden Lili Jacob, die es auf Vermittlung Serge Kl
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arsfelds 1980 der Gedenkstätte Yad Vashem übergab. Viele der in ihrer offenen oder subtilen Brutalität unerträglichen Aufnahmen zeigen aus der Distanz die Ankunft größerer Gruppen im Lager, andere bilden das Unbegreifliche aus nächster Nähe ab. Auf einigen Fotos sind Selektionen oder „Lagerarbeiten“ zu sehen, manche zeigen die Transportzüge sowie Koffer und Kleidung Verschleppter und Ermordeter, andere die Vernichtungsanlagen. Tal Bruttmann, Stefan Hördler und Christoph Kreutzmüller haben in akribischer Forschungsarbeit die Herkunft der abgebildeten Menschen, die Entstehung und den ideologischen Kontext des Albums analysiert und ordnen die Bilder in diese Zusammenhänge ein. Bewusst setzen sich die Autoren mit der Diskrepanz und den Deutungsebenen auseinander, die der Fotografie als (miss)interpretierbarer, (schein)objektiver Visualisierung eigen sind. Sie durchbrechen so zugleich die Intention des Albums – die Inszenierung des durchgeplanten und in Auschwitz und anderswo vollzogenen Menschheitsverbrechens der Nationalsozialisten als einen rationalen Akt." (Klappentext)
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"Die Propaganda der terroristischen Miliz "Islamischer Staat" hat für Aufsehen gesorgt und die Debatte um das Internet und vor allem das "Social Web" als Risikotechnologie oder Gefahrenraum mitbestimmt. Dabei setzt der IS auf ein breites Spektrum medialer und gestalterischer Formen und Formate eine
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r globalen, digitalen Medienkultur, um ein internationales Publikum zu erreichen: Online-Videos, anashid (Lieder) und Computerspiele; Internet-Meme, Social Media Posting oder Selfies. Der Sammelband gibt Einblick in die Bandbreite dieser jihadistischen Kommunikate, ihrer Ausdrucks- und Darstellungsweisen und zeigt dabei Möglichkeiten der Einordnung und der Auseinandersetzung auf." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"La violencia armada tiene también una dimensión narrativa, acaso tan devastadora como su dimensión física. No sólo destruye vidas y altera relaciones, sino que su ejercicio –especialmente cuando es sistemático– quiebra la propia posibilidad de otra narrativa que logre articular algún sen
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tido alrededor de la experiencia traumática. Cuando las personas no logran modular un significado sobre la violencia padecida, el ejercicio de ciudadanía para contrarrestar sus efectos se antoja imposible. Algo de lo que somos como individuos y como sociedad se transforma –acaso irremediablemente– a través de la experiencia límite del sufrimiento producido por la violencia. Parte de esa experiencia queda atrapada como lo inefable que solo comprende plenamente quien la ha sufrido. Pero como lo recuerda la escritora y periodista estadounidense Joan Didion, nos narramos historias para poder seguir viviendo. El ejercicio de articular una narrativa es entonces el ejercicio de buscar no desaparecer como ciudadanas y ciudadanos, de no sucumbir como sociedad. Lo que somos como seres sociales está constituido por redes de sentido: pertenecemos a un lugar, a una historia y a unas relaciones establecidas con los otros. El lugar que ocupamos en una sociedad lo ocupamos por referencia a la forma en que nos auto-reconocemos y también a la forma en que nos reconocen los demás. Nuestra existencia social es entonces narrativa: nos narramos y nos narran. Narrativas de paz para hacerla posible. Narrativas de paz, voces y sonidos recoge reflexiones, investigaciones, relatos y experiencias alrededor de cómo la ciudadanía aborda sus propias historias para narrar la paz. Un libro para pensar y pensar-NOS, para la resistencia y la reexistencia, para narrar la paz y luchar contra las guerras." (Descripción de la casa editorial)
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"Perpetrator Cinema explores a new trend in the cinematic depiction of genocide that has emerged in Cambodian documentary in the late twentieth- and early twenty-first centuries. While past films documenting the Holocaust and genocides in Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and elsewhere have focused on collecting
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and foregrounding the testimony of survivors and victims, the intimate horror of the autogenocide enables post-Khmer Rouge Cambodian documentarians to propose a direct confrontation between the first-generation survivor and the perpetrator of genocide. These films break with Western tradition and disrupt the political view that reconciliation is the only legitimate response to atrocities of the past. Rather, transcending the perpetrator's typical denial or partial confession, this extraordinary form of "duel" documentary creates confrontational tension and opens up the possibility of a transformation in power relations, allowing viewers to access feelings of moral resentment. Raya Morag examines works by Rithy Panh, Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath, and Lida Chan and Guillaume Suon, among others, to uncover the ways in which filmmakers endeavor to allow the survivors' moral status and courage to guide viewers to a new, more complete understanding of the processes of coming to terms with the past. These documentaries show how moral resentment becomes a way to experience, symbolize, judge, and finally incorporate evil into a system of ethics. Morag's analysis reveals how perpetrator cinema provides new epistemic tools and propels the recent social-cultural-psychological shift from the era of the witness to the era of the perpetrator." (Publisher description)
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"In this paper, we provide recommendations for protecting freedom of expression and opinion and the right to impart and receive information to enable governments to fight the COVID-19 health crisis in a rights-respecting manner. There will be an aftermath to the COVID-19 outbreak and the measures go
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vernments put in place right now will determine what it will look like. The recommendations outlined below will help ensure that the rule of law, and the rights to freedom of expression and opinion, as well as the right to receive and to impart information, are protected throughout this crisis and in the future. Under no circumstances should any government allow people’s fundamental rights to fall victim to this pandemic." (Executive summary)
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"This paper examines online discourse about the White Helmets, a volunteer rescue group that operates in rebel (anti-regime) areas of Syria. The White Helmet’s humanitarian activities, their efforts to document the targeting of civilians through video evidence, and their non-sectarian nature (that
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disrupted regime-preferred narratives of rebels as Islamic terrorists) put the group at odds with the Syrian government and their allies, including Russia. Consequently, they became a target of a persistent effort to undermine them. Disinformation can be defined as information that is deliberately false or misleading. Its purpose is not always to convince, but to create doubt. Bittman (1985) describes one tactic of disinformation as “public relations … in reverse” meant to damage an adversary’s image and undermine their objectives. We argue that disinformation is best understood as a campaign—an assemblage of information actions—employed to mislead for a strategic, political purpose. Prior research and investigative reporting have characterized the campaign against the White Helmets as disinformation, due to its connection to Russia’s influence apparatus, its use of false and misleading narratives to delegitimize the group, and its function to create doubt about their evidence documenting atrocities perpetrated by the Syrian regime and their Russian allies. This research examines “both sides” of the White Helmets discourse—exploring how the White Helmets promote their work and foster solidarity with online audiences through their own social media activity and through episodic attention from mainstream media, and examining how the campaign against the White Helmets attempts to counter and delegitimize their work through strategic use of alternative and social media. We do not make any claims about the veracity of specific pieces of content or specific narratives shared by accounts on either side of this conversation. However, we do highlight how the campaign against the White Helmets reflects emerging understandings of disinformation in this context." (Page 2)
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"Die technischen Möglichkeiten der Cyberwelt haben gänzlich neue Potenziale zur Beeinflussung von politischen Präferenzen in anderen Staaten eröffnet. Die Meinungsbildung in offenen Gesellschaften wird zunehmend durch subversive Maßnahmen autoritärer Regime im Internet beeinflusst, wodurch der
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öffentliche Raum Internet stark eingeschränkt wird. In dieser Studie wird untersucht, wie die Resilienz von offenen Gesellschaften gegen Subversion aus dem Cyberraum gestärkt werden kann, ohne dabei die eigenen Grundsätze preiszugeben. Zunächst wird ein Überblick zu den Diskursen über Cyberbedrohungen gegeben, um sich dann auf die Frage nach der gesellschaftlichen Resilienz zu konzentrieren." (Zusammenfassung)
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"Safety of journalists has been studied as part of freedom of expression. This chapter seeks to address issues surrounding journalists' safety and censorship in Colombia by shedding light on a triple menace: the decrease in journalistic quality, citizens' right to information, and the influence on j
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ournalists' professional behavior by analysing the multifaceted press censorship from 2008 to 2012, which occurred before the Peace Accord between FARC guerrilla and former president Juan Manuel Santos. Media ethnography and in-depth interviews were used. Employing the Bourdieu's theory of professional field, the praxis, rationale, and censorship of journalists during the conflict were mapped. The findings shed light on how the censorship went on during a more stable period in the conflict and how journalists were silenced and threatened." (Abstract)
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"Este libro aborda tres aspectos que explican la crisis que vive actualmente el periodismo tradicional: la crisis de los contenidos, la crisis de estructura y la crisis de credibilidad. Asimismo, profundiza en el papel que tiene el periodismo en la promoción de algunos conflictos sociales, en la ex
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clusión de grupos minoritarios y su papel en el control social. En la segunda parte, desde un periodismo de paz, se definen cambios y propuestas que permitan reformular este escenario. Las reflexiones se apoyan en numerosos ejemplos, principalmente noticias; en investigaciones previas y en las vivencias del autor en la organización de iniciativas de evaluación de la responsabilidad mediática." (Cubierta del libro)
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"Este libro tiene como finalidad presentar los resultados del proceso de investigación que se llevó a cabo entre enero de 2018 y noviembre de 2019 por parte de un grupo de docentes-investigadores de los programas de Comunicación Social de la Institución Universitaria Politécnico Grancolombiano
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y de la Universidad Santo Tomás (USTA), de Bogotá, cuyo objetivo fue analizar las narrativas de los magazines de siete emisoras comunitarias localizadas en Cundinamarca, Boyacá, Guaviare, Caquetá y Chocó, entre febrero y junio de 2018, y sus aportes en la construcción de una cultura de paz, entendiendo esta como parte de los Acuerdos de paz, con el fin de aportar a estudiantes de comunicación, a trabajadores de la radio, a la comunidad académica, y a la sociedad, en general, elementos para pensar una comunicación incluyente. Este contexto sirvió de marco para las tres partes en las que se distribuye el libro. En general, la primera parte muestra al lector un breve estado del arte de la radio comunitaria en el mundo a través de un estudio bibliométrico que recoge los acercamientos que desde allí se han realizado a la temática y su rol en procesos para preservar la paz —peacekeeping— en diversas regiones del mundo, donde destacan estudios realizados por Alhassan, Bhagwan-Rolls, Brisset-Foucault, Darder, Maldonado, Mezghanni y Patil, entre otros [...]
En la segunda parte del libro el lector inicia con el recorrido metodológico trazado desde los conceptos, discusiones y propuestas de Van Dijk, Valles, Haidar, Delgado y Gutiérrez, y en especial el aporte sobre teoría fundamentada de Strauss y Corbin. Desde allí se construyeron los lineamientos que permitieron la triangulación de datos. Tras la lectura e interpretación de la información cualitativa por medio del software Nvivo, observamos cómo se obtuvieron los resultados centrados en aspectos como las narrativas propias de esas siete emisoras comunitarias en torno a temas relacionados con alguno de los puntos del Acuerdo de paz ...
Por último, en la tercera parte el lector podrá conocer la estrategia digital Ondas, mensajes para conversar, un sitio web dirigido a quienes están interesados en producir medios de comunicación desde los cuales construir escenarios de convivencia, y donde se recogen algunos aspectos sobre el quehacer y el impacto de la radio comunitaria como escenario dialógico de las voces de las regiones y, sobre todo, como herramienta de construcción de paz." (Introduccion, página 21-24)
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"The increased political capture of the Yemeni media since 2014 has reinforced diverging political discourses and has contributed to polarization across society and to political fragmentation. Content of newspapers, television and online platforms has further eroded journalistic standards through th
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e circulation of articles and news with biased angles, ungrounded “facts” and ethical disregard. Practitioners face steep chal- lenges in composing professional stories. Journalists are subject to harassment, intimidation, abduction and violence. The destruction of infrastructure, currency devaluation and delays in salary payment also inhibit media operations. Yet, journalists remain hopeful of the prospect of media reform and are eager to detail the prerequisites for proactive change. Encouraging the development of independent news outlets, independent funding and capacity-building activities could en- able the media to contribute to mutual understanding, de-escalation and the requirements for peace." (Executive summary)
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"This Handbook, which provides non-compulsory technical guidance to EU Delegations, aims to provide tools and hands-on examples to support them in implementing the the 2014 'EU Human Rights Guidelines on Freedom of Expression Online and Offline' and in taking actions to support the safety and securi
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ty of journalists in their context. First, the Handbook presents a brief on the European and international policy framework regarding safety of journalists and clarifies relevant concepts. The second section focuses on the actions EU Delegations can carry out in their own local context – working in an emergency situation, or as tools for mid- and long-term policy and programming." (Purpose of this handbook, page 7)
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"The new militant movement in Kashmir, which began with Burhan Wani in the southern areas, has escalated the conflict in the Valley. While militancy is not new in Kashmir, the Pulwama attack put the conflict back on the radar of the international community. This paper examines the changing nature of
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militancy in Kashmir, specifically with regard to training, recruitment patterns and the use of social media, public support for militants, and an apparent ideological drift. The paper identifies four new variables that have changed the contours of militancy in Kashmir, further complicating the security threats to the Indian state." (Abstract)
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"This article makes an exploratory contribution to the theoretical foundations of the study of gaming in radicalization research. It is argued that both top-down and bottom up gamification have already impacted extremist discourse and potentially radicalization processes but that research on gamific
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ation in other contexts points to a much wider application of gamification to extremist propaganda distribution tools in the future. The potential influence of video games on radicalization processes exceeds the transfer of the popular argument that exposure to violent media leads to desensitization to the context of radicalization and includes the exploitation of pop culture references, increases in self-efficacy regarding violence, and the direct experience of retropian visions through the content of games." (Abstract)
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"This research project contributes to the CVE (countering violent extremism) literature by studying narratives as tools of reflections on self-identity designed intentionally within gaming exercises to help contextualize and account for as much environmental complexity as possible. This paper provid
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es theoretical understandings of narratives (and their role in our lives), discusses narratives as they relate to violent extremist ideologies, and proposes how narrative reflections may serve as a deradicalization tool within cooperative games. Additionally, this article highlights elements of narrative reflection within current CVE resources and provides a list of exercises (games) that can be used in the field to promote narrative reflections." (Abstract)
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