"Drawing on over a dozen new empirical case studies – from Kenya to Somalia, South Africa to Tanzania – this collection explores how rapidly growing social media use is reshaping political engagement in Africa. But while social media has often been hailed as a liberating tool, the book demonstra
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tes how it has often served to reinforce existing power dynamics, rather than challenge them. Featuring experts from a range of disciplines from across the continent, this collection is the first comprehensive overview of social media and politics in Africa. By examining the historical, political, and social context in which these media platforms are used, the book reveals the profound effects of cyber-activism, cyber-crime, state policing and surveillance on political participation." (Publisher description)
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"Section One (Elections 101) deals with the aspects of voter education and election regulations for both citizens and the media. Section Two (Your Community Radio Station at Election Time) suggests ways to reflect local issues in election coverage and how to make the most of the resources you’ve g
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ot. Section Three (Formats and Platforms to Amplify Broadcast) is a dive into social media approaches and tools that can extend the reach of your content to connect with more and diverse audiences. Section Four (Fact-checking) is all about how to make sure you’ve got it right, and you’re not being fooled by misinformation. The appendix contains a few issue-based resources. These are Fact Sheets compiled by Africa Check on hot election issues like poverty, land and gender violence. There is also a list of contacts and other tools." (Page 2)
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"Este artículo tiene como objetivo describir y analizar el uso de las redes sociales, en especial de WhatsApp, en el reciente proceso electoral brasileño, a partir de las siguientes estrategias: Caracterizar el escenario político y el telón de fondo sobre el que se dieron las elecciones, con el
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crecimiento de la nueva derecha; describir el modo en que las instituciones brasileñas y las plataformas digitales venían lidiando con la regulación electoral y el debate sobre desinformación y noticias falsas; reportar el resultado de algunos estudios empíricos sobre el uso de WhatsApp durante las elecciones; identificar las áreas de sombra y preguntas no respondidas en relación al uso de WhatsApp en las elecciones; y evaluar los caminos a seguir a fin de proteger y promover la libertad de expresión y garantizar los fundamentos esenciales de la democracia y la dinámica funcional de los procesos electorales." (Página 3)
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"Ranked fourth in the number of Facebook users in the world in 2018, Indonesia has witnessed increasing social media usage as a strategic platform for political campaigns since the third direct presidential election in 2014. Due to their accessibility and relatively low cost, social media platforms
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are extensively used by both the Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto camps to broadcast short and punchy messages directly to voters. Prabowo sees social media as the means to offset the incumbent president’s advantage of having favourable coverage by the mainstream media. Nevertheless, Widodo still has an edge over Prabowo in the number of online supporters. Reflecting the general nature of Indonesian politics and election campaign dynamics, the social media campaigning by both camps have focused on personal attacks against their opponents while highlighting their own candidates’ personal appeal. There is hardly room for meaningful policy discourse; in any case, policyrelated postings draw little enthusiasm from the netizens." (Executive summary)
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"Ahead of the general election in April and May 2019, Indian political parties are using social media aggressively to propagate their ideology, mobilise public opinion, set policy agendas, and discredit detractors. Since the 2014 general election, India’s two major political parties – the Bharat
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iya Janata Party, which currently leads the coalition government, and the Indian National Congress, the main opposition party – have invested heavily in digital political campaigning." (Abstract)
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"The central focus of this study is the dynamic and complex relationship between elections and (digital) media. This choice of focus is explained by the need to safeguard the integrity and credibility of electoral processes, as well as the role of the news media during election periods, in the face
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of new issues related to the digital environment. These issues include (i) online disinformation; (ii) the digital dimension of the safety of journalists and other media actors, and (iii) disruptive practices in election campaigning and communications." (Introduction)
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"The regulatory gap between online and offline political communication and elections is staggering. Even as monitors track broadcast media and advertising, elections are manipulated online. Initial responses by recent international electoral observation missions in Kenya, Georgia and Nigeria – as
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described in this report – have aimed to highlight false information or hate speech disseminated during election periods. This approach follows a similar focus by regulators and platforms on uncovering and removing false or harmful content online. Germany’s NetzDG and the UK’s white paper on Online Harms are examples, as are content oversight boards such as the one established by Facebook. These types of measures can harm free expression and offer only partial solutions [...] This scoping report explains why social media is one of the elements of a democratic, rule-of-law based state that observer groups should monitor. It aggregates experience from diverse civil society and non-governmental initiatives that are innovating in this field, and sets out questions to guide the development of new mandates for election observers." (Foreword)
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"This collaborative report between the Lokniti programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung analyzes the growth of online social networking sites and apps in India and their role in shaping political preferences and attitudes in the recently concluded 20
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19 Lok Sabha elections. The report is divided into four sections and relies heavily on Lokniti’s survey data." (Executive summary)
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"This paper analyses the potential impact of social media on the conduct and outcome of elections both to strengthen political participation and knowledge sharing as well as the more harmful effects. It looks at the various harms particularly those relevant in the context of Latin America. It docume
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nts the more systematic approaches to election regulation of political parties and social media. It recommends adopting a hybrid system of co-regulation, where the regulator sets the outcomes but does not seek to impose detailed prescriptive requirements on companies (which would probably be beyond its technical expertise). While recognising the value of social media during an election as a way of empowering voters, it suggests the regulator develops a high-level code of practice for social media companies, to be drawn up in consultation with the companies themselves, the political parties and the wider public. The code of practice also should protect freedom of speech and the paper recommends that there be no attempt to impose controls on the consent of election communication which is protected under international human rights and free expression principles." (Executive summary)
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"Las personas basan sus decisiones y participación democrática en la información de la que disponen y si dicha información es deliberadamente manipulada a través del uso indebido de sus datos personales, sus decisiones posteriores podrían no ser genuinas. En el presente documento, los analista
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s de estudios se adentran en los principales elementos que problematizan la relación entre Democracia y Protección de Datos Personales en la era digital, reflexionando acerca de las investigaciones que comenzaron a gestarse desde las ciencias sociales, pero que se traspasaron a los actuales asesores y consultores políticos para que -con evidencia científica- fuese más probable la elección de algún candidato. También analizan el rol decisivo que han asumido los datos personales para que, a través de algoritmos y la integración de un sinnúmero de bases de datos, puedan influenciar las decisiones políticas de los ciudadanos. También indagan en la transformación y adaptación que han asumido los partidos políticos frente a la digitalización para no perder el nexo con la ciudadanía, la identificación de sus necesidades desde el comportamiento social visible, sus deseos y motivaciones, lo que evidencia un cambio de paradigma del control ciudadano. Exploran las herramientas para lograr influenciar las decisiones de los ciudadanos y analizan estrategias para minimizar el riesgo que conlleva la digitalización, actualizando, por ejemplo, la legislación vigente, empoderando a la ciudadanía respecto al uso de sus datos personales y generando un mayor comportamiento ético por parte de organismos o empresas que tratan esos datos personales. Dada la utilidad y los riesgos que se observan en la relación que se establece entre Democracia y Protección de Datos Personales en la era digital, consideramos que es tiempo de ir subsanando los vacíos regulatorios e informar a la ciudadanía sobre los eventuales riesgos que conlleva el desarrollo digital, para que así cada cual pueda disfrutar de sus beneficios y aceptar conscientemente sus riesgos o evitarlos, en la construcción de una sociedad mejor." (Presentación, página 4)
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"Este manual busca ser una herramienta para que los(as) periodistas tengan mayor información acerca de sus derechos y de cómo pueden protegerlos antes, durante y después de los comicios. Asimismo, pretende dar a conocer diferentes temáticas relevantes en el ambiente electoral, como la Agenda 203
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0 y los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible – ODS, el cubrimiento con enfoque de género y las fuentes útiles para realizar un efectivo ejercicio periodístico." (Página 7)
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"The first section of the chapter provides a brief overview of the legal framework that defines the concept of media space, with a specific focus on election day. Regulations included constraints on journalists' ability to cover the elections, which affected their access to polling stations. The sec
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ond section presents two very different -and often diametrically opposed - views held by the Union Election Commission (UEC) leadership and private media representatives. The root causes of the deeply entrenched mistrust that I observed will be placed in the context of recent private media expansion in the country following the lifting of pre-publication censorship. This includes very different institutional cultures, fundamental disagreements about the role of private media, and diverging political preferences. As a result of the mistrust, there were numerous missed opportunities that could have improved communication among key stakeholders and, in turn, increased awareness about the voting process among the general public. That being said, on election day, media played a fundamental role in legitimizing the vote and enabling a wider acceptance of the results." (Page 252)
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"Cet ouvrage donne les détails les plus précis sur la campagne menée par les principaux candidats à l'élection présidentielle 2018 au Congo. Ils ont été suivis chacun de très près, au jour le jour : Fayulu, Kamerhe, Shadary, Tshisekedi. Pendant 50 + 20 jours, leurs actes publics, leurs pro
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pos politiques ainsi que leurs apparitions dans l'univers internet ont été notés avec minutie. Ce livre offre la possibilité de revivre l'éclat du climat général de ces élections, avec ses épisodes de grave incertitude ou de vive animosité." (Description de la maison d'édition)
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"The Russian state media failed to provide sufficient information about political alternatives to incumbent Vladimir Putin ahead of the 18 March presidential election. Coverage on nationwide private channels was similarly limited. For the 2018 presidential election, a strong and independent media pr
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oviding unbiased coverage of the political situation in the country, thereby enabling the electorate to make an informed choice, were significantly lacking. Alexey Navalny, who was barred from running as a candidate, called for a boycott of the election. His political position was largely ignored by most of the monitored broadcast media, with the exception of TV Dozhd and Radio Ekho Moskvy. The nature of the election process, whereby the incumbent refrained in most respects from conventional campaign discourse, including non-participation in public debates, and the only real opponent was barred from running as a candidate, did not provide basic conditions necessary for a normal democratic election. First Channel, Russia 1, NTV and Ren TV, offered viewers an extremely limited range of political viewpoints. They presented only the official Kremlin position, and failed to offer any independent or alternative views, or any critical reporting challenging the performance of the authorities." (Executive summary)
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"The study concluded that the media in Zimbabwe falls short of standards of fair and balanced coverage of political actors in the country. ZANU PF and MDC T dominated the media’s coverage and combined for 94% of the space and time dedicated to political parties whilst the remaining 15 parties acco
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unted for 6% of the coverage. This is a reflection of the lack of diversity in the representation of political actors, given that over 100 political parties are contesting the upcoming elections." (Executive summary)
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