"Social media technology is having a dramatic impact on social and political dynamics around the world. The contributors to this book document and illustrate this "techtonic" shift on violent conflict and democratic processes. They present vivid examples and case studies from countries in Africa, So
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uth and Southeast Asia, Latin America as well as Northern Ireland. Each author maps an array of peacebuilding solutions to social media threats, including coordinated action by civil society, governments and tech companies to protect human minds, relationships and institutions. Solutions presented include inoculating society with a new digital literacy agenda, designing technology for positive social impacts, and regulating technology to prohibit the worst behaviours." (Publisher description)
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"Recent studies on conflict and terrorism news coverage have documented an ingroup bias as well as an increasingly negative discourse about Muslims in the wake of Islamist terrorist attacks. Yet, as most of these studies have focused on Western media and settings, the determinants of news media’s
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religious biases and out-group categorizations remain insufficiently understood. In this article, we draw on interviews with Nigerian media practitioners and a comparison of Boko Haram news coverage in two Nigerian newspapers—one Southern-based / Christian-affiliated and one Northern-based / Muslim-affiliated—to argue that it is crucial to consider a country’s political-religious demography in order to understand the way in which religious-based violence is covered in the news. In this respect, we identify micro-, meso- and macro-level theoretical mechanisms through which a country’s demography can promote domestic news outlets—regardless of their background and readership—to cover conflict in a more balanced, nuanced, and objective way." (Abstract)
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"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
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m Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. It also provides critical reflections on the challenges faced by journalists and explores the implications of constructing human rights and peacebuilding options in their day-to-day professional activities." (Publisher description)
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"This policy brief analyses the use of social media by different groups affected by Boko Haram’s terrorist insurgence, including the group itself. The rate, speed, spread and belief which information from social media commands has changed theatres of war and amplified terrorist threats. The Nigeri
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an youth who are the forerunners of social media use in the country have further employed Hashtag (#) Activism for varied causes regarding Boko Haram. This study examines the interlinkages between the use of social media in ‘orchestrated data circulation’ (for the dissemination of information and propaganda) by both the insurgents and the Nigerian government, and the populace’s growing awareness of the power they wield by simply having internet data and a phone which enables them to challenge, counter and refute claims made by the government or security agencies. The populace does all of these by providing verifiable eye-witness accounts shared and made viral on social media. This brief further highlights the hidden enablers of the above interlinkages – Telecommunication Companies (TELCOs) whose role as Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) continues to oscillate between being government collaborators, targets for Boko Haram’s terrorist attacks and simply profit-driven enterprises competing for subscribers. As a base for contextual analysis, this study premises that while all parties involved attempt to appropriate social media for their benefits, specific parties such as social media tech companies, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and the populace have impactful roles to play. One of such is ensuring the benefits accrued from the continuous boom of social media are properly harnessed for peace processes and the safeguarding of individual rights to freedom of expression." (Abstract)
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"This book offers fresh insights on digital activism and cyberconflicts through a comparison of sociopolitical and ethnoreligious movements in Nigeria. Occupy Nigeria, Boko Haram and The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) highlight the digital and organizational aspects of confl
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ict mobilization in contemporary Nigeria." (Publisher description)
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"Social media is used by al-Shabaab, Boko Haram and ISIL in Africa. The importance of cross-media communications to the strategies of all three groups is underlined by the existence of dedicated branches for media planning, namely al-Shabaab’s al-Kata’ib, Boko Haram’s Media Office of West Afri
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ca Province and ISIL’s Al Hayat Media Center. In part driven by growing Internet access in Africa and on-going technological advancement, it is clear that the use of social media by all three groups has increased in recent years – although this inevitably varies by geographical area depending on the level of ICT penetration. There appears to be a spectrum of sophistication across the three groups in relation to their social media strategies: ISIL’s strategy is more advanced than those of its two counterparts, which may be linked to its more far-reaching and international support base. While still less sophisticated overall than those of ISIL and al-Shabaab, Boko Haram’s social media strategy has become more professionalised since its declaration of allegiance to ISIL in 2015, whether due to the direct or indirect influence of ISIL’s concerted online activities." (Summary of key findings, page 65-66)
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"This handbook attempts to fill the gap in empirical scholarship of media and communication research in Africa, from an Africanist perspective. The collection draws on expert knowledge of key media and communication scholars in Africa and the diaspora, offering a counter-narrative to existing Wester
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n and Eurocentric discourses of knowledge-production. As the decolonial turn takes centre stage across Africa, this collection further rethinks media and communication research in a post-colonial setting and provides empirical evidence as to why some of the methods conceptualised in Europe will not work in Africa. The result is a thorough appraisal of the current threats, challenges and opportunities facing the discipline on the continent." (Publisher description)
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"Africa’s Media Image in the 21st Century is the first book in over twenty years to examine the international media’s coverage of sub-Saharan Africa. It brings together leading researchers and prominent journalists to explore representation of the continent, and the production of that image, esp
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ecially by international news media. The book highlights factors that have transformed the global media system, changing whose perspectives are told and the forms of media that empower new voices. Case studies consider questions such as: how has new media changed whose views are represented? Does Chinese or diaspora media offer alternative perspectives for viewing the continent? How do foreign correspondents interact with their audiences in a social media age? What is the contemporary role of charity groups and PR firms in shaping news content? They also examine how recent high profile events and issues been covered by the international media, from the Ebola crisis, and Boko Haram to debates surrounding the "Africa Rising" narrative and neo-imperialism. The book makes a substantial contribution by moving the academic discussion beyond the traditional critiques of journalistic stereotyping, Afro-pessimism, and ‘darkest Africa’ news coverage. It explores the news outlets, international power dynamics, and technologies that shape and reshape the contemporary image of Africa and Africans in journalism and global culture." (Publisher description)
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"In April 2014, Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group, abducted over 200 Nigerian girls from the town of Chibok in Nigeria. The kidnapping caused global outrage and the local community responded by designing an online social media campaign they called "Bring Back Our Girls" that used Facebook and Tw
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itter and quickly went viral. The campaign garnered worldwide attention and as interest grew, celebrity participation increased. In the United States, First Lady Michelle Obama was part of a massive appeal for the terrorist group to return the community's children. Dorothy Njoroge seeks to understand the role of online community activism. Questioning whether such campaigns provide opportunities for global citizenship, her research grapples with the debate over whether social media campaigns should be understood as mere "clicktivism," or if they are able to lead to other forms of political participation and off line involvement. She explores the discursive constructions of the Facebook postings using three action frames drawn from social movement literature-diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational. She concludes that given broad global lack of effective institutionalized leadership, social media campaigns may perhaps speak to the beginnings of a growing people's movement powered by technology." (Introduction to part 8, page 436-437)
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"Although not always consistent, Boko Haram has ensured its narrative is publicly disseminated, which is revealing for a group that is extremely secretive. Messaging creates awareness about the group and its activities, which can tie into recruitment. Messaging demonstrates a clear pattern of expand
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ed target groups and geographic areas, while outlining group grievances. Boko Haram’s intended audience has shifted over time, but core groups have likely been augmented by expanding dynamics, rather than supplanted. Further research on Boko Haram messaging and its resonance within the local population should be conducted." (Key points, page 2)
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"Seib traces how terrorism has proliferated and increased significantly in menace in the relatively brief period between the rise of al-Qaeda and the creation of Islamic State. With close attention to the linkages between media, religion, and violence, the book offers incisive analysis of how organi
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zations such as Islamic State, al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram operate and reflects on how terrorism may continue to evolve. Seib argues that twenty-first-century terrorism is enabled by new media and depends on social networks as connective tissue, while interacting simultaneously with religion and socio-economic and political grievances. As Terrorism Evolves prescribes new measures for counterterrorism efforts, underscores the importance of soft power, and makes a strong case for recognizing that we have entered an era of terrorism of undetermined duration." (Publisher description)
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"The Boko Haram terrorism and violent extremism that ravaged North East Nigeria and Republics of Chad, Niger and Cameroons from 2009-2015 exposed weaknesses in the safety policy and protocols for local journalists in times and zones of tension in Nigeria. Boko Haram terrorists killed 30,000 people a
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nd destroyed property worth billions of dollars. In the midst of the violence and killings, journalists demonstrated their resilience to report, with severe consequences for their safety and professional integrity. Some were killed, many injured, and most were threatened by the terrorists and the authorities. Pressure mounted on journalists and media houses from the public, the terrorists and the security agencies. This chapter explains the dangers, risks and challenges encountered by Nigerian journalists and media and the safety options they adopted to maintain professional correctness in reporting terror and violence in hostile circumstances." (Abstract)
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"In today's Africa racism and ethnicity have been implicated in serious conflicts - from Egypt to Mali to South Africa - that have cost lives and undermined efforts to achieve national cohesion and meaningful development. Racism, Ethnicity and the Media in Africa sets about rethinking the role of me
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dia and communication in perpetuating, reinforcing and reining in racism, absolute ethnicity and other discriminations across Africa. It goes beyond the customary discussion of media racism and ethnic stereotyping to critically address broader issues of identity, belonging and exclusion. Topics covered include racism in South African newspapers, pluralist media debates in Kenya, media discourses on same-sex relations in Uganda and ethnicised news coverage in Nigerian newspapers." (Publisher description)
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"This article seeks to analyse and explain the emergence of the extremists Islamist Boko Haram sect that is currently perpetuating a reign of violence in Northern Nigerian cities and factors that have aided its rise. It takes a look at the changing political and socio-economic situations in the coun
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try especially from the early 1980s when, despite of the oil boom of the late 1970s, people’s standard of living continued to deteriorate. Following a field study in some Northern Nigerian cities and interviews with some Nigerians in the United Kingdom this writer argues that: the violent Islamist group is using religion as a decoy, as its main motivation is economic; it is capitalizing on the extreme level of poverty in the north-east of Nigeria to swell its rank of foot soldiers; and the growing use of the new media (the Internet and mobile phone) is rapidly contributing to the success of the group’s violent agenda. The article suggests the use of dialogue and reconciliation to de-escalate the violence and economic empowerment to dissuade young people from making themselves available for manipulation and in the execution of campaigns of violence." (Abstract)
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