commbox Conflicts & Peace

Social Media in Africa: An Emerging Force for Autocrats and Activists

Geoffrey York

In: Media and Mass Atrocity: The Rwanda Genocide and Beyond

Allan Thompson (ed.)

Waterloo, Ontario: Centre for International Governance Innovation (2019), pp. 415-430

"The most extreme damage inflicted by social media can be seen in South Sudan. As documented in the chapter by Theo Dolan, social media in South Sudan has contributed to hatred and conflict among ethnic groups. Many investigators, including UN investigators, have warned that South Sudan's social med ... ia are triggering violence against ethnic groups. Since the beginning of the civil war in late 2013, social media has fuelled waves of hate speech that have provoked deadly violence and ethnic conflict in South Sudan, including massacres and other atrocities. In that sense, social media has become a new variation of the "hate radio" phenomenon that flourished in Rwanda before and during the 1994 genocide … Social media is also emerging as a powerful way to harass and intimidate the opponents of a regime or a political party. In this sense, it adds another weapon to the arsenal of a powerful regime that already has multiple weapons at its disposal. A regime can mobilize its supporters to use social media in a targeted way against its foes, or it can use its financial resources to create a fake army of fictional users on social media. In either case, it is tilting the playing field against its enemies. A targeted attack through social media can be more effective than the telephone threats or messages often deployed in the past. The use of social media can be more intimidating because it belittles the targeted person in front of a much bigger audience. The presence of this audience means that the attack is more damaging, more difficult to ignore and has the potential to mobilize large numbers of people against the victim … While social media is often used for anti-democratic purposes in Africa's authoritarian states, it has also been used as a force for reform, accountability and justice. It has helped to safeguard the fairness of elections. It has allowed greater scrutiny of potential threats, such as vote-rigging or violence, allowing citizens to be alerted when there is still a chance to prevent the worst abuses. It has put a spotlight on corruption and political wrongdoing, allowing activists to mobilize pressure on governments to resolve these long-neglected problems. In some cases, as it did in the Arab Spring, social media has played a role in toppling an authoritarian state. When an election was called in the small West African state of Gambia, where the dictator Yahya Jammeh had ruled for 22 years, opposition candidates had little access to state-controlled media. So the main opposition party created more than a dozen WhatsApp groups, allowing it to communicate with voters. Other forms of social media also proliferated. A leading independent group, the Gambia Youth and Women's Forum, discussed election issues on a public Facebook group with 55,000 members. The government blocked access to WhatsApp and eventually extended the shutdown to the entire internet, but Gambians used virtual private network (VPN) technology to bypass the shutdown. The opposition won the election and Jammeh was forced to flee the country." (Pages 419-423) more

Comunicación, cultura de paz e igualdad: Tejiendo ciudadanía comunicativa

Claudia Cecilia Flores Pérez, Alex Iván Arévalo Salinas, Alejandro Barranquero Carretero (eds.)

Zacatecas, México: Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas “Francisco García Salinas” (2019), 173 pp.

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Journalism under pressure in conflict zones: A study of journalists and editors in seven countries

Marte Høiby, Rune Ottosen

Media, War & Conflict, volume 12, issue 1 (2019), pp. 69-86

"Through interviews with 100 journalists and editors in seven countries, the authors examine safety as the main challenge for journalists covering war and conflict in both local and international contexts. The article places a particular focus on the situation for Filipino and Norwegian journalists. ... more

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How Peruvian Police Became People’s Uncle

Katherine Durand

Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS) (2019)

"Thanks to social media, Peruvian police does a better job in communicating with people. In its videos and posts, it uses celebrities, popular phrases, famous movie scenes or lyrics of well-known songs. Its social media page has been encouraging people to refrain from drinking alcohol when taking th ... more

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"We Have Failed as a Continent:" Covering an African Atrocity for an African Audience

J. Siguru Wahutu

In: Media and Mass Atrocity: The Rwanda Genocide and Beyond

Allan Thompson (ed.)

Waterloo, Ontario: Centre for International Governance Innovation (2019), pp. 237-252

"This ethnic conflict frame performs three functions when used by African journalists. The first is that it works to domesticate the conflict [in Darfur] by relying on already sedimented knowledge among African audiences about identity formation … The second function of this frame is based on know ... more

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The Role of the Media in Fostering a Culture of Critical Engagement in the Context of Mass Atrocities: Examples from Rwanda, Colombia and South Sudan

Mark Frohardt, Paula Orlando

In: Media and Mass Atrocity: The Rwanda Genocide and Beyond

Allan Thompson (ed.)

Waterloo, Ontario: Centre for International Governance Innovation (2019), pp. 205-234

"A brief recap of the examples discussed here suggests, among other things, the following considerations: When information circulation is limited due to censorship or security concerns, it may be necessary to restrict information to what is essential for survival. In the case of BBTT in South Sudan, ... humanitarian information is produced and transmitted by residents of the UN protected sites, in local languages and for local residents only; Likewise, in post-genocide Rwanda, where broadcasting news about atrocities would have been very challenging, the newsreel project provided information and space for discussion for different groups, while creating a conversation that extended beyond each screening and location; BBTT and the newsreels project also demonstrate that closed environments may be the best option to provide information safely and allow for open discussions among individuals affected by violence. By employing the use of listening and discussion groups, the program furthers its goal of engaging residents and extending their participation in the local form of public sphere. These controlled environments are particularly important to encourage the participation of victims, women and other marginalized groups in dialogue; Training and engaging citizens to gather, curate and disseminate content, as BBTT does with community correspondents, is an effective way to provide information that matters to people's lives and to foster a culture of critical engagement. These processes potentially help communities rebuild media structures once the political situation stabilizes; Media outlets that create avenues for interaction and feedback tend to be most successful in providing content that is relevant and engaging to audiences, as in the case of Sawa Shabab in South Sudan; Drama, games, storytelling and other forms of engagement with narratives provide opportunities for individuals to work together, regain social trust, learn about alternate forms of participation and reconstruct symbolic narratives, as demonstrated by the examples in Colombia; Recognition of the suffering of the victims as well as of their agency in resisting violence is also crucial in a post-atrocities context. This may come in the form of interactive media-making by citizens or in initiatives supported by media or research organizations such as the National Center for Historical Memory." (Pages 226-227) more

Comunicar derechos en el posconflicto: Caja de herramientas y estrategias
Key Guidance

Guilherme Canela et al.

World Bank;UNESCO (2019), 304 pp.

"Queremos entender la comunicación y el acceso a la información como medios para la conquista de otros derechos. Hay innumerables rutas que podríamos tomar para llegar a este destino; la elegida acá es la que entiende la comunicación como un ecosistema complejo que debe estar imbricado en la co ... more

Media and Mass Atrocity: The Rwanda Genocide and Beyond
Top Insights

Allan Thompson (ed.)

Waterloo, Ontario: Centre for International Governance Innovation (2019), x, 637 pp.

"The book includes an extensive section on the echoes of Rwanda, which looks at the cases of Darfur, the Central African Republic, Myanmar, and South Sudan, while the impact of social media as a new actor is examined through chapters on social media use by the Islamic State and in Syria and in other ... more

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International Standards and Comparative National Approaches to Countering Disinformation in the Context of Freedom of the Media

Andrey Rikhter

Vienna: OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media;International Press Institute (IPI) (2019), 57 pp.

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Journalism on Darfur Between Social Fields: Global and National Forces

Joachim J. Savelsberg

In: Media and Mass Atrocity: The Rwanda Genocide and Beyond

Allan Thompson (ed.)

Waterloo, Ontario: Centre for International Governance Innovation (2019), pp. 237-252

"In presenting some of the findings from an analysis of 3,387 media reports and from interviews with Africa correspondents and other journalists from eight countries, this chapter provides several insights on patterns of media representations of the conflict in Darfur. After initial neglect, peaks i ... more

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Commitment Amid Conflict: The Experience of Central African Journalists Covering Their Country's War

Michelle Betz

In: Media and Mass Atrocity: The Rwanda Genocide and Beyond

Allan Thompson (ed.)

Waterloo, Ontario: Centre for International Governance Innovation (2019), pp. 275-289

"The trend in international newsgathering is to greater reliance on local journalists and fixers to provide crucial information to a global audience. At the same time, these local journalists are themselves becoming targets of violence. Increasingly, local journalists are being killed in the line of ... fire. Their deaths create stress for their colleagues, families and communities. It remains a challenge to discern areas in which the global community can provide support to journalists in these circumstances. As long as we continue to rely on fixers and local journalists for news and information from hot spots around the world, we must also provide them with adequate support to mitigate risk, including to their mental health. Local journalists, such as those in the Central African Republic, are one of the most likely groups of journalists to experience psychological trauma, thanks to the implicit risks of their work, combined with public pressure to provide news from these situations. What support can be provided to these journalists and how can it best meet the specific needs of such a community? Can we promote resiliency? The first step is to acknowledge the dearth of relevant research on mental health and psychosocial support for local journalists in conflict or emergency settings. There is a need for research on the kinds of trauma (and resilience) that journalists experience and their causes, including impacts on the individual and colleagues and impacts on the work […] Second, "little has been done to develop treatments based on local coping styles, culture-specific idioms of distress, and culturally appropriate helping methods" (de Jong 2017, 209) […] Third, any training efforts of journalists should be accompanied with mental health and psychosocial support […] Finally, the United Nations has adopted the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity This may at least give some wider symbolic support to journalists who are victims of traumatic attacks. Ultimately, there must be a recognition that the mental health of the journalist can have an impact on their reporting - something that is particularly critical in conflict environments." (Conclusion) more

Intensified Attacks, New Defences: Developments in the Fight to Protect Journalists and End Impunity

Paris: UNESCO (2019), 70 pp.

"The period between 2014 through the end of 2018 has seen 495 journalists killed, according to UNESCO data, which represents an 18% increase in the number of killings as compared to the preceding 5-year period (2009-2013). Based on the number of killings, the most dangerous regions for journalists a ... more

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Moving Images: Visual Metaphors of Peace in the Movie Mango Dreams

Engelkamp, Stephan, Kristina Roepstorff, Alexander Spencer

Peace & Change, volume 45, issue 1 (2019), pp. 126-150

"Visual metaphors stand at the border between text and image, as they are linguistic figures that visualize the spoken. Based on this assumption and on the existing knowledge on the discourse analytical method of metaphor analysis, Part One of the article develops a method of visual metaphor analysi ... more

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'Screening' Transitional Justice in Serbia: ICTY Representations and the Memory of War Crimes in Serb Television Media

Anna Geis, Katarina Ristic, Vladimir Petrovic

Osnabrück: Deutsche Stiftung Friedensforschung (DSF) (2019), 41 pp.

"The visual presentation of the Serb accused in TV news was based on iconic images of the accused combined with symbolic images of the state and its power, with nearly complete absence of visuals of atrocities and victims. In contrast, the visual presentation of the Croatian, Bosniak and Albanian de ... more

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Kino in Kolumbien: Der innerkolumbianische Konflikt im Film zwischen Gewaltdiskurs und (trans-)nationaler Identität

Anne Burkhardt

Bielefeld: transcript (2019), 422 pp.

"Der landesinterne Konflikt in Kolumbien und die damit einhergehende Gewalt sind seit deren Ausbruch in den 1940er Jahren zentraler Gegenstand des kolumbianischen Kinos. Unter dem Einfluss sich wandelnder Gewaltdiskurse und Produktionsbedingungen entwerfen die kolumbianischen Filmemacher_innen viels ... more

ISIS Media

Annenberg School for Communication, Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC) (2019), 45 pp.

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Reporting Human Rights, Conflicts, and Peacebuilding: Critical and Global Perspectives

Ibrahim Seaga Shaw, Senthan Selvarajah (eds.)

Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan (2019), xxi, 280 pp.

"This book focuses on the reporting of human rights in broadly defined times of conflict. It brings together scholarly and professional perspectives on the role of the media in constructing human rights and peacebuilding options in conflict and post-conflict environments, drawing on case studies fro ... more

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African Cinema and Human Rights

Mette Hjort, Eva Jørholt (eds.)

Bloomington: Indiana University Press (2019), x, 314 pp.

"Bringing theory and practice together, 'African Cinema and Human Rights' argues that moving images have a significant role to play in advancing the causes of justice and fairness. The contributors to this volume identify three key ways in which film can achieve these goals: documenting human rights ... more

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Information Flows and Radicalization Leading to Violent Extremism in Central Asia

Search for Common Ground;Internews (2019), 77 pp.

"The study is comprised of three main parts: a desk study of available and accessible material – reports, documents and media material; a qualitative study comprising over 200 interviews with ordinary people, experts, and persons with direct experience with radicalization leading to violent extrem ... ism (RVE); and a quantitative component consisting of national surveys of people’s information consumption habits. For the desk study, the effort was made to gain as broad a picture as possible, that is, to cover all five countries of Central Asia – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. However, predictably and unfortunately, Uzbekistan and especially Turkmenistan proved difficult cases to study in full. For both the qualitative and quantitative field research activities, for several reasons, only the first three countries were included. As a result, this study is able to report most robustly on these three countries and propose observations regarding Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan only to a limited extent. Based on the desk study, the drivers of extremist sympathies as established in existing research have been political grievances (injustice from state structures; identity-based discrimination; oppressive political regimes, etc), economic difficulties (unemployment; indebtedness; poverty; and desire for quick and greater income) and ideological motivations (resentment of false values; striving for the singularly just and true life; for reward in a perceived afterlife). To these push and pull factors are added a range of enabling factors, such as migration, young age, gender (women), and means of communication. All these drivers of RVE need to be treated with caution, as stressed by various authors and suggested by evidence gained in field research. A general observation, gained from the desk research and supported by evidence in both qualitative and quantitative field studies, was the difference among the countries in degree of control over the information space, or the degree of hegemony over public discourse. Of the three most fully studied countries, hegemonic discourse was the strongest in Tajikistan, followed by Kazakhstan, and the least in Kyrgyzstan. Uzbekistan, analyzed to a limited extent, would be closer to the extreme of Tajikistan, whereas Turkmenistan was too closed to make reasonably robust observations." (Page 3) more