"This study furnishes the media, the civil society organisations, the public authorities and international organisations in the region with a point of reference in context to the rising debate about extremism, especially Islamic fundamentalism, and terrorism. It provides insight into how the mass me
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dia cover these sensitive issues and how the public authorities react to it. These issues have had resonance on a wider scale within the last two years. The recurring, and often violent, reactions in some Muslim countries on the publication of a set of controversial cartoons in Danish newspapers depicting the Prophet Muhammad also suggest that there is a need to look more closely at the relationship between the media and political extremism. The Central Asia findings in the research served as the basis to formulate recommendations to all parties involved in media policy and practice, both in the region and externally." (Page 5)
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"This book examines the crucial role the media played in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, bringing together local reporters and commentators from Rwanda, Western journalists, and media theorists. Part One (eight articles) describes and analyzes "Hate Media in Rwanda", mainly, but not exclusively, focusing
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on Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM). Part Two (thirteen articles) presents a critique of international media coverage of the genocide, including not only the United States and Western Europe, but also Kenya and Nigeria. Part three (five articles) covers the deliberations by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on the role of the media in the genocide, identifying various missed opportunities. Part Four, "After the Genocide and the Way Forward" (six articles), goes beyond the Rwanda experiences, tackling issues like the use and abuse of media in vulnerable societies. The authors outline how censorship and propaganda can be avoided, argue for a new responsibility in media reporting, and give recommendations for media intervention in the prevention of genocidal violence." (CAMECO Update 1-2008)
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"Sunni insurgents in Iraq and their supporters worldwide are exploiting the Internet to pursue a massive and far-reaching media campaign. Insurgent media are forming perceptions of the war in Iraq among the best-educated and most influential segment of the Arab population. The Iraqi insurgent media
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network is a boon to global jihadist media, which can use materials produced by the insurgency to reinforce their message. Mainstream Arab media amplify the insurgents’ efforts, transmitting their message to an audience of millions. The insurgent propaganda network does not have a headquarters, bureaucracy, or brick-and-mortar infrastructure. It is decentralized, fast-moving, and technologically adaptive. The rising tide of Sunni-Shi'ite hate speech in Iraqi insurgent media points to the danger of even greater sectarian bloodshed. A wealth of evidence shows that hate speech paved the way for genocide in Rwanda in 1994. The popularity of online Iraqi Sunni insurgent media reflects a genuine demand for their message in the Arab world. An alternative, no matter how lavishly funded and cleverly produced, will not eliminate this demand. There is little to counter this torrent of daily press releases, weekly and monthly magazines, books, video clips, full-length films, and even television channels." (Key findings)
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"This article describes an interdisciplinary and theory-based radio campaign that has been developed to counteract, and sensitize citizens to hate speech in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The article provides a brief overview of the instrumentalization of hate speech and the violent eff
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ects it has had in the Great Lakes region of Africa. A summary of the most recent events in the DRC is given. Here, hate speech was used in the presidential election campaigns in 2006, contributing to a polarization of the country and giving the campaign an ethnic underpinning. A radio program developed to counteract hate speech during the election campaigns is described. Its theoretical basis, the application of Staub’s (1989) theory of the evolution of mass violence to hate speech, is presented. Based on this and other relevant psychological concepts, characteristics and psychological aspects of hate speech are summarized, and markers and guidelines are provided that allow listeners to detect and counteract hate speech." (Abstract)
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"The importance of hate radio pervades commentary on the Rwandan genocide, and Rwanda has become a paradigmatic case of media sparking extreme violence. However, there exists little social scientific analysis of radio's impact on the onset of genocide and the mobilization of genocide participants. T
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hrough an analysis of exposure, timing, and content as well as interviews with perpetrators, the article refutes the conventional wisdom that broadcasts from the notorious radio station RTLM were a primary determinant of genocide. Instead, the article finds evidence of conditional media effects, which take on significance only when situated in a broader context of violence." (Abstract)
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"In this timely and eye-opening volume, Gabriel Weimann reveals that terrorist organizations and their supporters maintain hundreds of Web sites, taking advantage of the unregulated, anonymous, and accessible nature of the Internet to target an array of messages to diverse audiences. Drawing on an e
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ight-year study of the World Wide Web, the author examines how modern terrorist organizations exploit the Internet to raise funds, recruit members, plan and launch attacks, and publicize their chilling results. Weimann also investigates the effectiveness of counterterrorism measures, and warns that this cyberwar may cost us dearly in terms of civil rights." (Publisher description)
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"Konfliktakteure setzen weltweit das Internet in zunehmendem Maße strategisch ein. Lokal ausgetragene Konflikte erhalten so eine neue Dimension: Die veränderte Medialisierung führt zu ihrer Ausdehnung in den globalen Cyberspace. Auf der Grundlage ethnographischer Forschungen zu den Online-Aktivit
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äten christlicher wie muslimischer Akteure im Molukkenkonflikt (1999-2002) untersucht die Studie Prozesse der Identitätskonstruktion und Gemeinschaftsbildung im Internet. Die Autorin leistet damit einen innovativen Beitrag zur Konflikt- und Internetforschung und ebnet methodisch den Weg für eine neue Cyberethnologie." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Los sitios en internet de organizaciones vinculadas a las dinámicas del conflicto y de la paz en Colombia expresan una pugna por la visibilidad social, la legitimación de discursos y prácticas, y la construcción de identidad. Son testimonio de la decisión política de confrontar y debatir medi
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ados por la comunicación y el lenguaje. Son intentos por hacer resistencia y, al mismo tiempo, socavar y competir con los discursos de los medios y la mediación social alcanzada por ellos. La guerra es representada como eje dinamizador de la vida social pasada, presente y futura, y como un factor que copa todos los lugares y tiempos. La paz es vista como un ideal, un sueño sin referentes propios ni definiciones, un correlato de la guerra. El discurso de la guerra crea víctimas y victimarios e identifica hechos injustos que comprometen la dignidad de sus agentes y sirven para justificar o motivar su participación o su aislamiento de la guerra. Los victimarios son los únicos responsables de las afrentas, y al lado de las víctimas, emergen los mártires, salvadores o mesías llamados a responderlas y a construir un nuevo orden social. El discurso dramático sobre la guerra muestra la historia sin finales, ni cierres, pero mantiene un signo trágico permanente en el tiempo. El potencial de esta investigación fue asistir analíticamente a un proceso, el comunicativo e informativo, desde una perspectiva cultural, y desde allí poder decir que el conflicto colombiano mantiene un trasfondo político que se ha opacado públicamente, así como algunos de sus análisis. La paz se ve como un discurso etéreo y desgastado. En este sentido, estar o no estar en guerra parece minúsculo al preguntarse cómo se llegó allí, y cómo encontrar salidas a sus múltiples causas. Lo que "Internet, guerra y paz en Colombia" hizo fue encontrar algunas pistas para entender cómo y por qué seguimos enfrascados allí." (Cubierta del libro)
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"This paper is an analytical study and presentation of the Nightwatch column (Nocna kronika) that has been published weekly in the Slovenian Sunday paper Nedelo since the end of summer 1995. The author in the first place endeavors to present this phenomenon in the light of its chauvinist, macho and
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racist nature, and (possible as well as actual) the anti-political and extremist impact of the discourse communicated through this column. The ‘products’ of the Nightwatch column presented here are: foreigners, those from the south, Yugoslavia, Balkan creatures, being s with a half-roof over their heads, citizenship granted to foreigners, Bosnians, Muslims, Islam, refugees, sevdah, pedophiles, transvestites, girls, chicks, and women. Through the analysis of this rich material and particularly the characteristic ‘bar flies discourse’, the author exposes the inner workings of unprecedented dehumanization of those seen as “other” and different in Slovenia. He also proves that dreams about a racism-free Slovenia are the dreams of people who believe they are “innocent” and hence can indulge in comfortable pretense and ‘unknowingness’. The analysis of Nightwatch reveals numerous criminal dimensions of chauvinism, sexism, racism and radical intolerance in general. The author’s main interpretative point is directed towards antipolitical and criminal impacts of the Nightwatch discourse which should be taken extremely seriously as a direct incitement to more or less violent action against those who are seen as other and different." (Abstract)
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"For me, growing up in Detroit, Coughlin was a fascinating figure of local lore: both loved and hated, he was clearly someone whose career cannot be reduced to a single dimension. It may well be argued that the conventional standards of biography should not be applied to media figures, for theirs is
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a life of fused private and public selves. In the case of Charles Coughlin, to know the real man behind the microphone is certainly beyond the ken of the author. Here lies the particular dilemma of this study: how to discern whether the subject is the mirror of his audience or its manipulator. And this remains the problem regardless of how one feels about his message. Moreover, the temptation to obliterate this duality—inner versus other-directed self—must be set aside. For as a media personality Charles Coughlin was both the creator and the captive of his enthusiastic public." (Preface)
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"Dans les situations de crise, de troubles ou de guerre, la désinformation et la propagande ont toujours été utilisées pour mobiliser les foules et tromper l'ennemi. Mais, aujourd'hui, les médias sont devenus beaucoup plus sophistiqués qu'autrefois, et le bourrage de crâne a fait place à de
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véritables médias tueurs. En Afrique, au Moyen-Orient ou dans les républiques de l'ex-Union soviétique, des organes de presse sont directement utilisés pour lancer des appels à la haine et à la violence. Au Rwanda, la tristement célèbre Radio des Milles Collines a ainsi préparé et accompagné le génocide, n'hésitant pas à appeler à remplir les fosses encore à moitié vides. Les miliciens, une radio dans une main, une machette dans l'autre, ont été les auditeurs les plus fidèles de cette véritable machine de mort. Devant la montée de ces médias de la haine, Reporters sans frontières, une organisation de défense de la liberté de la presse dans le monde, a envoyé des journalistes dans une dizaine de pays (Rwanda, Burundi, Niger, ex-Yougoslavie, Roumanie, Crimée, Caucase, Israël-Palestine, Égypte), pour comprendre pourquoi et comment fonctionnent ces journaux et ces radios. Pour les dénoncer, et obtenir leur mise hors-la-loi. Ce lïvre devrait permettre au grand public de savoir qui sont les journalistes de ces médias, qui les contrôle, qui les finance et, surtout, quels ravages ils sont susceptibles de provoquer si rien n'est entrepris pour les combattre." (Description de la maison d'édition)
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