mediadev library

"The evidence amounts to a persuasive refutation of the commonly held beliefs that radio had widespread, direct effects and that hate radio was the primary driver of the genocide and participation in it. That said, the evidence suggests radio had some marginal and conditional effects. RTLM broadcast ... more

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Weaponised Information in Brazil: Digitising Hate

Diego Casaes, Yasodara Córdova

Tokyo: Toda Peace Institute (2019), 18 pp.

"In the last few years, the world information ecosystem has been flooded by the “fake news” phenomena, augmented by the widespread use of social media. The fragmentation and scale of the new communication tools help spread old ideologies, that uphold racism, homophobia, and oppression. This phen ... more

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Media and Mass Atrocity: The Rwanda Genocide and Beyond
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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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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

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Direito à comunicação no Brasil 2018

São Paulo: Intervozes (2019), 80 pp.

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Facebooking in Myanmar: From Hate Speech to Fake News to Partisan Political Communication

Nyi Nyi Kyaw

Singapore: ISEAS (2019), 10 pp.

"Facebook is the Internet in Myanmar, and it presents both opportunities for and challenges to the government, the opposition, and the people in a country that is in transition. Facebook has gained notoriety as a platform for hate speech and fake news in Myanmar over the past seven years. Facebook h ... more

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Satellite Sectarianisation or Plain Old Partisanship? Inciting Violence in the Arab Mainstream Media

Jessica Watkins

London: LSE Middle East Centre (2019), 23 pp.

"This report assesses widespread claims that pan-Arab satellite news channels are responsible for inciting sectarian violence during the Arab uprisings. Based on an empirical study of how the most popular channels (Al-Jazeera Arabic and Al-Arabiya) and a competitive newcomer (Al-Mayadeen) have frame ... more

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Avoiding Discrimination & Hate Speech in Media: Guidebook

Muhammad Khamaiseh

Al Jazeera Media Institute (2019), 42 pp.

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Free Speech in the Digital Age

Susan J. Brison, Katharine Gelber (eds.)

New York: Oxford University Press (2019), xvi, 259 pp.

"This collection of thirteen new essays is the first to examine, from a range of disciplinary perspectives, how the new technologies and global reach of the internet are changing the theory and practice of free speech. The rapid expansion of online communication, as well as the changing roles of gov ... more

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Digital Threats to Democracy

Marianne Elliott, Jess Berentson-Shaw, Kathleen Kuehn, Leon Salter, Ella Brownlie

The Workshop; Law Foundation; Luminate Foundation (2019), 244 pp.

"At the heart of the challenges to democracy posed by digital media are three core problems: 1. Platform monopolies: two or three corporations control not only our means of communication, but also the content which is distributed, both of which are core aspects of our democracy. Whilst the market po ... more

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From Preachers to Comedians: Ideal Types of Hate Speakers in Brazil

Liriam Sponholz, Rogério Christofoletti

Global Media and Communication, volume 15, issue 1 (2019), pp. 67-84

"This article attempts to develop a theoretical framework in order to understand how the media system has been enabling public figures to use hate speech to enhance their media prominence. The current scenario in Brazil, shaped by a high concentration of (private) media ownership, an economic crisis ... more

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Counter-Narratives: Myanmar's Digital Media Activists

Sarah Oh

In: Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change

Lisa Brooten, Jane Madlyn McElhone, Gayathry Venkiteswaran (eds.)

Singapore: ISEAS (2019), pp. 377-386

"In the months before Myanmar's national elections in November 2015, Khin Oo says she began to engage directly with Facebook users to dispel rumours and misinformation that, in her view, propagated hate and inflamed intercommunal tensions. She posted "right speech" and "right information" by comment ... more

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Reporting Hate Speech, Terrorism & Violence: Guidelines for Journalists and Media Workers in South East Asia

Norwich: Public Media Alliance (2019), 14 pp.

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Social Media and Conflict in Iraq: A Lexicon of Hate Speech Terms

Dina Obaid et al.

Washington, DC: PeaceTech Lab; Better World Organization; Iraqi Alfourdus Organization; Iraqi Network for Social Media; Youth Without Borders (2019), 36 pp.

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Social Media and Conflict in Yemen: A Lexicon of Hate Speech Terms

Jacqueline Lacroix

Washington, DC: PeaceTech Lab; Development Transformations; Peace Track Initiative (2019), 31 pp.

"Conflict in Yemen plays out along various fault lines—regional, sectarian, class, political, tribal, and ethnic—which are reflected in the hateful language employed on and offline to incite violence. The sectarian aspect of conflict in Yemen is relatively new, as prior to 2011, “religious coe ... xistence and intermingling was taken for granted by most Yemenis and seen as a normal feature of everyday life.” But with the outbreak of conflict after the removal of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, “sectarian discourse has become more heated, reorganizing Yemeni society along sectarian lines and rearranging people’s relationships to one another on a non-nationalist basis.” Furthermore, the social and political dynamics in Yemen have fostered a permissive environment for hate speech. According to information gathered from a community meeting held in Sana’a in 2015, “many leaders have normalized and legitimized antagonistic, exclusionary rhetoric to consolidate their power and dehumanize their enemies.” In terms of access to online networks, despite a weak telecommunications sector relative to other Middle Eastern countries, an estimated 90 percent of the Yemeni population has access to the internet through mobile phones and, as of 2015, 93 percent of internet users are on Facebook and 92 percent utilize WhatsApp. The heavy saturation of these online communications networks highlights a growing need to understand and address the hate speech being spread within Yemen’s complex context. PeaceTech Lab’s work on hateful speech aims to identify and contextualize the particular terms and phrases that have the potential to lead to violence. This project identifies relevant terms through on-the-ground information gathering and examines their origins, context, and usages in a particular country environment. To successfully monitor and counter hateful speech, we must first identify specific terms and the social and political context that makes them offensive, inflammatory, and potentially dangerous. The research also seeks to identify alternative terms that might be used to mitigate or replace this language and thereby contribute to building peace. Finally, this report is intended as a resource for individuals and organizations involved in monitoring and combatting hateful speech as well as those involved in conflict prevention and mitigation so that their work can be more effective." (Introduction) more

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Social Media and Conflict in Libya: A Lexicon of Hate Speech Terms

Jacqueline Lacroix

Washington, DC: PeaceTech Lab; Development Transformations; Elbiro Foundation (2019), 36 pp.

"PeaceTech Lab’s work on hate speech aims to identify and contextualize the particular types of language that are likely to cause violence. This project identifies relevant terms through on-theground information gathering and examines their origins, background context, and use in a particular coun ... more

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Social Media and Conflict in South Sudan II: A Lexicon of Hate Speech Terms 2017-2018

Will Ferroggiaro

Washington, DC: PeaceTech Lab (2019), 36 pp.

"This report — Social Media and Conflict in South Sudan II: A Lexicon of Hate Speech Terms 2017-2018 — follows on its predecessor which was released in December 2016 after three years of civil war in South Sudan. It identifies key terms being used in the conflict, as well as new terms, context, ... more

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Social Media, Discrimination and Intolerance in South Africa: A Lexicon of Hateful Terms

Will Ferroggiaro

Washington, DC: PeaceTech Lab; Media Monitoring Africa (2019), 36 pp.

"South Africa’s upcoming general election marks 25 years of multi-racial democracy: a milestone which has us reflecting on how far the country has come - and how far it has to go. Despite real and lasting achievements, problems of massive economic inequalities, disparities in land ownership, and h ... more

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

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