"Centered around Mexico as a case study, the book explores the production of political entertainment in post-authoritarian legacy media and how political and economic conditions constrain the range and edge of discourse; how political entertainment in social media is shaped by the structure of platf
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orms, as creators are encouraged to conform to specific norms such as constant publication; and the impacts of these media on attitude formation among the population. The book proposes a theoretical framework for identifying the specific conditions of post-authoritarian democracies that constrain the production of political entertainment, as well as its outcomes in terms of content and effects. This framework can be applied to the analysis of similar case studies, particularly in the Global South at large." (Publisher description)
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"This paper explores the factors constraining public service and commercial television channels in constituting the public sphere in Ethiopia. It focuses on three television stations and their respective programs, such as the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation’s Ethiopian television (ETV)’s Medr
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ek, Fana Broadcasting Corporation’s Zuria Meles, and LTV’s Sefiw Mehidar. The data was collected starting from 2019 to 2020 in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, where the three TV stations are located. These programs were designed to entertain different views, including ideologies, policies, and strategies to be deliberated and critiqued. They have created opportunities for debate and discussion as the Ethiopian media did not have new program formats for public deliberation-related shows previously. However, results showed that these platforms remained ineffective to entertain a diversity of views. One of the major challenges for this is that the production process encounters multiple obstructions from the media, the guests, and the government authorities. Guests fear to deliberate their views openly and prefer to remain abstinent. Also, the hosts lacked the courage, professionalism, and basic knowledge about the topics for discussion. Government authorities do not want the programs to be critical and deliberative. Equally, failures to achieve an inclusive public sphere are the outcomes of the unstable political landscape in the country. Therefore, due to different factors, including a highly controlled media landscape in Ethiopia, creating platforms for public debate seems unattainable." (Abstract)
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"This paper analyzes how presidential candidates Fabricio Alvarado and Nayib Bukele used Facebook during the elections in Costa Rica (2018) and El Salvador (2019) respectively to develop a particular style of communication that blended populist elements and religious discourse. This style of communi
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cation extended traditional modes of populism that have prevailed in Latin America since the turn of the century (emphasizing the notion of the hero who comes to rescue “the people”) but expressed them in an explicitly religious way (stressing the role of a “messiah” who comes to alter the established political order). We conducted both content and multimodal discourse analyses of 838 posts made by these candidates on Facebook during their respective electoral campaigns. We argue that the study of these campaigns would be incomplete without accounting for the relationship between populism, religion, and social media. While populism gave political validity to religious discourse, a religious imaginary provided populism with charismatic and messianic authority. This populist/religious reason found an ideal expression in Facebook and, simultaneously, was resignified by this platform’s affordances. In this way, we assess how fundamentalist Christianity has become a legitimating force of knowledge and politics in the context of epistemic tensions that shape contemporary Latin-American societies." (Abstract)
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"El presente libro pretende arrojar luz sobre la importancia de la educación política a partir de hallazgos por parte de una academia crítica y comprometida con la democracia y la paz y desarrollar recomendaciones prácticas para el diseño de la educación política en Colombia. También pretend
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e facilitar un intercambio de experiencias entre el mundo académico y la práctica de Colombia y Alemania y, de esta manera, posibilitar procesos de aprendizaje mutuo y entre disciplinas, así como entre países. De esta manera, el presente libro busca contribuir al objetivo del Instituto Colombo-Alemán para la Paz de fortalecer intercambios académicos en temas relevantes para la construcción de paz en Colombia y más allá de Colombia." (Prefacio)
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"With contributions from scholars across the continent, Digital Citizenship in Africa illustrates how citizens have been using VPNs, encryption, and privacy-protecting browsers to resist limits on their rights to privacy and political speech. This book dramatically expands our understanding of the v
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ast and growing arsenal of tech tools, tactics, and techniques now being deployed by repressive governments to limit the ability of citizens to safely and openly express opposition to government and corporate actions. AI-enabled surveillance, covertly deployed disinformation, and internet shutdowns are documented in ten countries, concluding with recommendations on how to curb government and corporate power, and how to re-invigorate digital citizenship across Africa." (Publisher description)
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"Desde Venezuela, en pleno siglo XXI, es válida la discusión sobre la necesidad de formular políticas públicas democráticas para las comunicaciones. Partiendo de que cuando se habla de políticas públicas se concibe la posibilidad de prácticas incluyentes, en las que se abra el horizonte de r
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epresentación diversa en la construcción de lo cultural nacional, y ello en la práctica puede estar garantizado por distintos niveles de participación ciudadana en el proceso de concebir, diseñar y ejecutar planes en el sector comunicacional. Una política pública no podría reducirse, en el contexto actual, a garantizar difusión y ampliar la recepción, que aun cuando pueda ser de mensajes concebidos desde otra óptica cultural serían igualmente unilaterales. Es por ello que coincidimos con diversos autores en resaltar la necesaria activación de ejes que desde los distintos escenarios sociales pasen por la experimentación, la apropiación y la invención por parte de los ciudadanos en una relación dialogante con el universo comunicacional, ya que –hasta ahora– solo han tenido la posibilidad de acceso, en el mejor de los casos. Esto requiere que la comunicación sea desplazada desde los medios hacia la mediación y reconocimiento sociales, como sostenía Martín Barbero, fallecido en 2021. Hoy diremos que debe ser entendida más allá de las redes sociales tecnológicas para llevarlas a verdaderas redes sociales de diálogo entre los ciudadanos. Con esta concepción democrática de políticas públicas debemos considerar que cuando hablamos de sociedad hablamos de un conglomerado plural, en el que se incluyen el Estado y sus instituciones, las y los ciudadanos, el mercado y las empresas privadas, el mundo comunicacional comunitario y universitario, así como los partidos, movimientos y organizaciones sociales." (Páginas 197-198)
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"Der politische Diskurs verroht, in den sozialen Medien toben Trolle und grenzüberschreitende Witze haben Hochkonjunktur. Rechtspopulist*innen und fragwürdige Influencer*innen nutzen bewusst sprachliche Unschärfen und ironische Zwischentöne, um das Gesagte im Nachhinein relativieren zu können.
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Fabian Schäfer untersucht die besondere Aufmerksamkeitsökonomie und die Konnektivität des Likens und Teilens der sozialen Medien, die die Ausbreitung von politischem und kulturellem Zynismus anfachen. Mit dem Konzept des konnektiven Zynismus zeigt er auf, wie aus randständigem Humor Profit geschlagen und mit antidemokratischen Diskursstrategien Politik gemacht wird." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"The essays in this report deepen our understanding of the escalating and evolving threats posed by global authoritarianism. While responses to authoritarian information manipulation have been robust in many ways across Latin America, much more can be done to counter it and enhance the quality of in
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formation available to citizens, particularly around elections. Key lessons include: Authoritarians are increasingly collaborating to undermine democracy [...]; Democratic actors must cooperate to address the speed and scale of the challenge to democracy [...]; Strategic responses to authoritarian information operations are essential." (Pages 3-4)
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"Social media influencers impact our collective societal mindset by shaping our thoughts and opinions or setting agendas. Past research on social influence must be unpacked to understand how social media influencers effectively create content using authenticity co mpared to celebrity. Establishing a
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sense of authenticity – consciously or unconsciously – enables them to come across as “being real.” This ability can be exploited and abused to amplify disinformation. The Digital Services Act’s approach to disinformation reflects the realization that platforms cannot adequately self-govern. Thus, it prescribes a structured role for civil society inclusion. For more oversight and accountability, EU member states will have to appoint Digital Services Coordinators who can be more effective if they work with platform councils made up of representatives from civil society, including influencer associations." (Page 1)
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"Investigating the impact of digital technology on contemporary constitutionalism, this book offers an overview of the transformations that are currently occurring at constitutional level, highlighting their link with ongoing societal changes. It reconstructs the multiple ways in which constitutiona
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l law is reacting to these challenges and explores the role of one original response to this phenomenon: the emergence of Internet bills of rights. Over the past few years, a significant number of Internet bills of rights have emerged around the world. These documents represent non-legally binding declarations promoted mostly by individuals and civil society groups that articulate rights and principles for the digital society. This book argues that these initiatives reflect a change in the constitutional ecosystem. The transformations prompted by the digital revolution in our society ferment under a vault of constitutional norms shaped for 'analogue' communities. Constitutional law struggles to address all the challenges of the digital environment. In this context, Internet bills of rights, by emerging outside traditional institutional processes, represent a unique response to suggest new constitutional solutions for the digital age." (Publisher description)
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"The popular encrypted messaging and chat app WhatsApp played a key role in the election of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in 2018. The present study builds on this knowledge and showcases how the app continued to be used in a governmental operation spreading false and misleading information pop
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ularly known in Brazil as the Office of Hatred (OOH). By harnessing in-depth expert interviews with documentarians of the office’s daily operations—researchers, journalists, and fact-checkers (N = 10)—this study draws up a chronology of the OOH. Via this methodological approach, we trace and chronologize events, actions, and actors associated with the OOH. Specifically, findings (a) document the rise of antipetismo and disinformation campaigns associated with attacks on the Brazilian Worker’s party from 2012 until the election of Bolsonaro in 2018, (b) describe the emergence of the OOH at the heels of the election and subsequent radicalization in WhatsApp groups, (c) provide an overview of the types of disinformation that are spread on the app by the OOH, and (d) illustrate how the OOH operates by mapping key actors and places, communicative strategies, and audiences. These findings are discussed in light of ramifications that government-sponsored forms of disinformation might have in other antidemocratic polities marked by strongman populist leadership." (Abstract)
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"Politics and religion are traditionally connected in large democracies, with many examples in the Global South. Recently in Brazil, a specific Bible verse has been assimilated into political expression and amplified by social media: John 8:32 (“And you shall know the truth, and the truth will set
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you free”). In this article, we employ thematic analysis of Twitter1 data referencing this verse, collected during the 2022 Brazilian presidential election. The analysis shows how the verse became symbolic shorthand for a bundle of values associated with political and religious righteousness, reinforcing the connections between conservative politics and religion. Strongly associated with the persona of former president Jair Bolsonaro, the verse wasdeployed by his supporters as a symbolic debunking tool against perceived misinformation but was also used ironically by Bolsonaro’s detractors to criticize the former president. By zooming in on the multifaceted use of this Biblical verse in the online political sphere, this article illuminates the multilayered interconnections between political expression on social media, religion, and misinformation in the context of Brazil." (Abstract)
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"Community media is widely recognized as a tool to give voice to the voiceless. This study investigates the transformative potential of community media in India as a vehicle for promoting inclusive development and enhancing democracy. The research aims to examine the distinctive ways that community
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media promotes diverse viewpoints, local content, and participatory communication, contributing to social change and community empowerment. It draws on secondary data and case studies of successful community media initiatives in India and other nations with comparable socio-political contexts. A thorough literature review and thematic analysis are used in the study’s qualitative methodology to identify major topics, such as community participation and empowerment, local content and cultural preservation, solving development difficulties, and challenges and opportunities. The results show that community media projects like Radio Namaskar and Radio Mewat effectively foster community ownership, empower marginalized populations, and involve community members in content development and decision-making processes. The findings also emphasize how community media may help with local development challenges and cultural heritage preservation. However, community media initiatives in India encounter several obstacles, such as legal restrictions, a lack of funding, and low media literacy among underprivileged groups. The findings of the study also provide policy recommendations for boosting community media efforts’ efficacy in India, dealing with the problems they encounter, and utilizing the advantages offered by digital technologies and social media platforms. The research adds to the current discussion about the function of community media in advancing democratic ideals, inclusive growth, and social transformation in India and elsewhere." (Abstract)
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