"This paper is the second in a series of three papers that explore the relationship between women in Africa today and Artificial Intelligence. In it, the authors explore the threats and benefits Artificial Intelligence brings to African women in different sectors; what it means to be an African woma
...
n today from a pre-colonial, colonial, and postcolonial lens and how the intersection of various forces of production and society give insight into the ways African women's lives are currently being and will continue to be impacted by this technology." (Executive summary)
more
"This is the final report in Pollicy's three-part series on African Women in AI. Launched in 2021, this project frames analysis of the state of artificial intelligence (AI) in Africa through a gender lens by exploring the impact of AI on women. This project emerged out of the need to fill the visibl
...
e gap in conversations surrounding the impact of AI in Africa on women and promoting the inclusion and representation of African women and the associated challenges." (Executive summary)
more
"This report is the product of an effort to understand the scale and scope of “transnational repression,” in which governments reach across national borders to silence dissent among their diaspora and exile communities. Freedom House assembled cases of transnational repression from public source
...
s, including UN and government documents, human rights reports, and credible news outlets, in order to generate a detailed picture of this global phenomenon.
The project compiled a catalogue of 608 direct, physical cases of transnational repression since 2014. In each incident, the origin country’s authorities physically reached an individual living abroad, whether through detention, assault, physical intimidation, unlawful deportation, rendition, or suspected assassination. The list includes 31 origin states conducting physical transnational repression in 79 host countries. This total is certainly only partial; hundreds of other physical cases that lacked sufficient documentation, especially detentions and unlawful deportations, are not included in Freedom House’s count. Nevertheless, even this conservative enumeration shows that what often appear to be isolated incidents—an assassination here, a kidnapping there—in fact represent a pernicious and pervasive threat to human freedom and security.
Moreover, physical transnational repression is only the tip of the iceberg. The consequences of each physical attack ripple out into a larger community. And beyond the physical cases compiled for this report are the much more widespread tactics of “everyday” transnational repression: digital threats, spyware, and coercion by proxy, such as the imprisonment of exiles’ families. For millions of people around the world, transnational repression has become not an exceptional tool, but a common and institutionalized practice used by dozens of regimes to control people outside their borders." (Executive summary)
more
"In the process of accession to the European Union, Serbia is harmonizing laws with the EU legislation. In this process, the majority of regulations related to the prevention of hate speech and the spread of disinformation generally meet standards or are in the process of being amended. This factshe
...
et briefly summarizes the basic information on the regulatory and self-regulatory framework in this area. It also provides examples from the practice of competent institutions and bodies, illustrating the application of the presented regulatory mechanisms in each explored area. This review is the fourth research report within the Resilience project. Its goal is to serve as the basis for a national debate to oppose hate speech and disinformation. It also contains a proposal of recommendations that will be finalized during the national debate." (Introduction, page 5)
more
"Gendered disinformation is a form of identity-based disinformation that threatens human rightsworldwide. It undermines the digital and political rights, as well as the safety and security, of itstargets. Its effects are far-reaching: gendered disinformation is used to justify human rightsabuses and
...
entrench repression of women and minority groups. This policy brief explains whatgendered disinformation is, how it impacts individuals and societies, and the challenges in com-bating it, drawing on case studies from Poland and the UK. It assesses how the UK and EU are re-sponding to gendered disinformation, and sets out a plan of action for governments, platforms, media and civil society." (Introduction)
more
"[...] Filipino youth characterize bullying and harassment on social media as an intersection of three key dimensions: targets, acts and, spaces. We thus need to account for this by rethinking our understanding of how young people identify and experience them. Bullying and harassment on social media
...
happen both in social and technological contexts and, as such, include a wide range of targets [individuals, groups and ideas], acts [direct or veiled], and spaces [bounded and open]. Since the youth interpret the many configurations of these dimensions in personal ways, we should broaden how bullying and harassment have been traditionally defined [...]" (Executive summary)
more
"This working paper argues that business models capable of supporting independent media are decreasingly available, that media markets are increasingly fertile territory for government co-option and that alternative sources of revenue for independent media are scarce." (Page 3)
"A global COVID-19 vaccine rollout must be coupled with funding and strategies to support trusted local media worldwide. The experience of communities in countries across the world demonstrates an urgent need to support groups at the local level if misinformation and mistrust is to be tackled effect
...
ively." (Summary)
more
"Fondation Hirondelle's approach to disinformation centres on the fundamental principles of journalism and on the lessons learned from over 25 years of applying these principles in highly fragile contexts, where access to reliable information for the majority is not a given, and where rumours, hate
...
speech and propaganda undermine peace building and development. Our response to disinformation is based on two complementary axes: sticking to the facts and building trust." (Our approach, page 2)
more
"COVID-19 has taken a heavy toll on freedom of expression, access to information, and media freedom. Amidst an ongoing global decline in democratic freedoms, the pandemic has severely affected the work of media outlets and independent journalists. Functioning media are, however, a precondition for r
...
eliable information, government accountability — and for an inclusive recovery from the repercussions of the global health crisis. What are the most pressing challenges the media have faced during the pandemic? And how can these challenges be addressed? What can governments, donors and civil society organizations do? This discussion paper highlights some of the most relevant problems and recommendations on how to tackle them." (Page 1)
more
"Disinformation undermines human rights and many elements of good quality democracy; but counter-disinformation measures can also have a prejudicial impact on human rights and democracy. COVID-19 compounds both these dynamics and has unleashed more intense waves of disinformation, allied to human ri
...
ghts and democracy setbacks. Effective responses to disinformation are needed at multiple levels, including formal laws and regulations, corporate measures and civil society action. While the EU has begun to tackle disinformation in its external actions, it has scope to place greater stress on the human rights dimension of this challenge. In doing so, the EU can draw upon best practice examples from around the world that tackle disinformation through a human rights lens. This study proposes steps the EU can take to build counter-disinformation more seamlessly into its global human rights and democracy policies." (Abstract)
more
"This briefing note is designed to give readers a basic understanding of the role of media regulatory and self-regulatory systems in promoting gender equality and inclusion. It highlights the main self- and regulatory systems that reflect or affect the role of media – from the perspective of gende
...
r – and will offer a basic understanding to inspire the reader to take action and initiate change in the field. The final goal is to help inspire the introduction of a co-regulatory system wherein both regulation and self-regulation models combine to improve women’s human rights and gender equality in and through media, telecommunications, and digital platforms. The note is aimed at media practitioners who do not necessarily have a deep understanding of the field of gender in media development; it also aims to be of interest to and relevance for women’s rights organisations, other civil society organisations, and those who want to push for gender equality and inclusion in and through the media." (Publisher description)
more
"The strategy presented in this document is the result of a year-long process of literature review and consultation with staff, partners, journalists and experts. A number of webinars for seminars and debates were organised, and several drafts were distributed and discussed. Consequently, this strat
...
egy constitutes a common construction of the larger IMS community. Much of it describes what IMS is already doing, and staff and partners alike will recognise elements of the current gender approach. The new perspective added – that of intersectional feminism – is not a miraculous and single solution to the challenges of media development. We believe, however, that it will allow us – the people who are the soul of IMS – to further express our commitment to gender equality." (Publisher description)
more
"The road to creating a successful corporate culture in the new hybrid work era is lined with landmines, but it is also loaded with new opportunities for more diverse, more motivated, and more talented workforces. Financial sustainability was already a dicey challenge pre-Covid. Companies producing
...
undifferentiated content for unengaged audiences on the back of display advertising were doomed in the long run. That long run was shortened to a matter of months. The companies that were already diversified were able to adapt and diversify further, bolstering streams that were working (subscription-driven newsletters), pivoting on streams that had to change (live events to virtual events), and adding new or enhancing existing streams that fit the moment (e-learning, clubs, and ecommerce). Publishers who were already creating unique content found readers willing and eager to pay for it. Readers reacted positively to long-form journalism, while also finding utility in quick-hit, information-packed short-form pieces and graphic-only content. Video in all its glories - searchable, animation, personalised, live, interactive, social media (TikTok), etc. - flourished. Some print publishers, while taking the expected hit from newsstand shut-downs, pivoted to a strategy of increasing quality and price while decreasing frequency, and they found ready, hungry, and growing audiences. Other print publishers leveraged the print media's reputation as a trusted source of information to drive subscriptions and sales of one-off topical publications. In a world awash in misinformation, readers have shown a willingness to pay for information they know they can trust. Audiences also began to reward media companies who engaged in and promoted their sustainable activities by voting with their subscription payments and donations for corporate environmental responsibility." (Executive summary, page 4)
more
"A significant number of the surveyed citizens consider the media in Serbia under the control of political groups at both ends of the spectrum. At the same time, many of the surveyed citizens think that the media is free to collect and publish information on all the relevant issues. These findings r
...
eflect the media reality in Serbia: after twenty years of reforms, the country has managed to create a system in which the freedom of the media implies (only) that our media freely report on issues relevant to the option whose interests they represent. Both the media workers in the focus group and the surveyed citizens agree that propaganda and hatred are ubiquitous in the media. The media instrumentalizes hatred based on gender, national and other stereotypes in order to realize the particular interests of the groups to which they are loyal for ideological or financial reasons. But as the media workers warn, the media is also abusing the hatred rooted in society to increase circulation, viewership, or reach, and again, in the end, to make a profit. The position of women journalists in Serbia is especially difficult. As many as 95% of the surveyed citizens agree that women journalists are exposed to attacks, threats, insults and harassment because they do their job well. The journalists and editors in the focus group do not see gender prejudices and stereotypes as a cause of attacks but rather as a tool to discredit female journalists. Not their work—because that is difficult to discredit—but rather female journalists personally, where attacks are dominated by discourse strategies stemming from classic misogyny." (Conclusion, page 25)
more
"A thematic meta-analysis – of recent literature on online propaganda in the context of the Global South, and 20 Facebook-funded research projects in 2018 – shows that research is overwhelmingly focused on the psychological and behavioral impacts of propaganda. This research advocates for promot
...
ing “media literacy” and helping citizens “inoculate” themselves against propaganda. This approach has limited use in tackling propaganda in the Global South. It not only oversimplifies “media literacy,” but also fails to examine, quite crucially, how the state, corporations, and media institutions interact – the political economy of propaganda. Further, scholars need to reflect on how entities such as Facebook fund such research to deflect scrutiny of their institutional role in propaganda-related violence in the Global South." (Essay summary)
more
"The report presents a plan to guarantee up to 0.1% of GDP a year into journalism to safeguard its social function for the future. The New Deal would be a massive commitment both at the national and the international scale to ensure the social function of journalism. Christophe Deloire, chair of the
...
Forum, explains: “The New Deal for Journalism consists of linking together various points that up to now have been separate, i.e. how the market is organised, the technological environment, and the work of journalists, with its working practices and ethics. This amounts to rebuilding journalism, not as the ‘media sector’, but as an essential element of freedom of opinion and expression, predicated on the right to information.” The report is structured around four fields of action: media freedom, the independence of journalism, a favourable economic climate and support for a sustainable digital model. Among the recommendations are: Ensure full transparency of media ownership as part of broader measures on transparency, anti-corruption and financial integrity; Implement initiatives allowing quality journalism to be singled out and given a comparative advantage again, such as the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI), to restore confidence among all stakeholders; Support and adopt international measures for taxing digital platforms, such as the global minimum corporate tax rate proposed by the OECD; Develop hybrid funding for the media, combining philanthropy and public support by establishing private-public blended financial instruments for commercial and non-profit media; Secure from governments a commitment to spending 1% of official development assistance on support for independent media and their enabling environment; Establish support mechanisms allowing citizens to support media organizations of their choice (such as media vouchers, tax relief on subscriptions, or income tax designations); Structure the reflection on the impact of AI on journalism by including journalism and media as strategic sectors in national Artificial Intelligence strategies and roadmaps." (IAMCR email, 2021/6/16)
more
"Sustainable journalism addresses two intertwined challenges of our time: * The sustainability crisis of society, e.g. environmental crises, democratic crises, poverty, financial crises, armed conflicts, etc. Obviously, journalism has a crucial role to play here since it contributes greatly to the p
...
ublic agenda, as well as people’s understanding – and hence the handling – of such challenges. * The sustainability crisis of journalism itself, which stems from lower advertising, decreasing subsidies for public service media, falling consumption, lack of trust in media among citizens, and fierce competition from online information brokers and advertising. The complex reality of today requires this kind of integrated journalistic approach in order to uphold the democratic function and not least the legitimacy of professional journalism. Consequently, journalism’s response to the sustainability challenges can be seen as a prerequisite for the future sustainability of journalism itself, ranging from high-quality, in-depth coverage to robust business models, but also extending into considerations of media systems and relations with governments and business interests. In this way, sustainable journalism attempts to counter the obvious risk that the efforts to maintain economic sustainability of the journalistic enterprise take place at the expense of professional journalism’s social/democratic mission – to hold power to account and to inform citizens, and to spur public engagement about current and future economic, social, and environmental challenges." (Executive summary)
more