"To successfully monitor and counter hate speech, we must first identify specific terms and define the social and political context that makes them offensive, inflammatory, and potentially dangerous. To that end, PeaceTech Lab has pioneered a process to identify and contextualize inflammatory langua
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ge that can lead to violence, and has a growing portfolio of hate speech lexicons that can be used by civil society organizations, social media and technology companies, and other interested individuals and organizations to better identify, track, combat, and remove hate speech. The Lab is partnering with a growing network of local organizations that work to address hateful content and that seek to curb the potential for violence. This lexicon investigates the landscape of hate speech and narratives in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since 2018 there has been an uptick in violence in the country, with over 140 armed groups and militias (based in the DRC as well as in neighbouring countries) currently active in the DRC. There are more than 5 million people living in the country who are either internally displaced or who are refugees from neighbouring countries. Most recently, in the wake of the long-delayed December 2018 presidential election, tensions have increased between contenders and their followers, exacerbating old and new conflicts between ethnic communities and/or political groups. In this complex and multilayered context, hate speech in the DRC, as in other contexts, is used as a tool to achieve political and material ends (e.g., polarizing opinions, dehumanizing opponents in local or regional conflicts, exacerbating feelings of frustration and grievance, and calling for violent action). A steady increase in internet penetration as well as growth in the number of social media users are expected to increase the frequency of hate speech across all online platforms. This lexicon aims to serve as an initial guide to specific words and phrases identified during a finite period of time in the DRC." (Introduction)
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"PeaceTech Lab, in partnership with Andariya and the Sudan Development Initiative (SUDIA), intends this effort to contribute to understanding language and the context for potential conflict during the transition to civilian government and to eventual elections in Sudan. This project seeks to tackle
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the problem of identifying and contextualizing the particular type of language that’s likely to cause violence. Rather than assessing the existence or prevalence of hateful speech, this project instead examines the terms, their origins and context, and their use in a particular country context. To successfully monitor and counter hateful speech, we must first identify specific terms and the social and political context that makes them offensive, inflammatory, or even potentially dangerous. This research also seeks to identify alternative language that would mitigate or counter the impact of this speech and thereby contribute to building peace in the country. Finally, this resource intends to inform other individuals and organizations involved in monitoring and countering hateful speech in Sudan so that their work can be more effective." (Introduction)
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"La pobreza constituye un problema estructural en Argentina, realidad que se evidencia, más allá de las controversias en torno a su delimitación conceptual y su medición, desde diversos enfoques teórico metodológicos que abordan el fenómeno. Este trabajo busca aportar a la explicación de est
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a agenda urgente desde el análisis de la representación mediática de la problemática. El artículo presenta los primeros resultados de un estudio en curso sobre un sector de la prensa de la ciudad de Bahía Blanca, Argentina. Se analizan las agendas y noticias construidas sobre el tema en la actualidad focalizando en los criterios de selección informativa, los temas jerarquizados, y las ocurrencias y regularidades discursivas. En el período analizado, la pobreza en la región no constituye una agenda jerarquizada en el diario La Nueva, hecho que invisibiliza, de algún modo, la problemática social. La pobreza y los sujetos pobres son representados en la publicación desde una categoría amplia y abstracta, ligada a cifras que legitiman los discursos y son útiles para el conocimiento del problema, a la vez que lo despersonalizan y deshistorizan. Las noticias se presentan de manera descontextualizada, sin información sobre las causas de emergencia y profundización del fenómeno, ni acerca de posibles soluciones, con el riesgo de que se resienta la capacidad de interpretación y comprensión por parte del lectorado, ergo, el debate público y político sobre el tema." (Resumen)
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"Este libro tiene como finalidad presentar los resultados del proceso de investigación que se llevó a cabo entre enero de 2018 y noviembre de 2019 por parte de un grupo de docentes-investigadores de los programas de Comunicación Social de la Institución Universitaria Politécnico Grancolombiano
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y de la Universidad Santo Tomás (USTA), de Bogotá, cuyo objetivo fue analizar las narrativas de los magazines de siete emisoras comunitarias localizadas en Cundinamarca, Boyacá, Guaviare, Caquetá y Chocó, entre febrero y junio de 2018, y sus aportes en la construcción de una cultura de paz, entendiendo esta como parte de los Acuerdos de paz, con el fin de aportar a estudiantes de comunicación, a trabajadores de la radio, a la comunidad académica, y a la sociedad, en general, elementos para pensar una comunicación incluyente. Este contexto sirvió de marco para las tres partes en las que se distribuye el libro. En general, la primera parte muestra al lector un breve estado del arte de la radio comunitaria en el mundo a través de un estudio bibliométrico que recoge los acercamientos que desde allí se han realizado a la temática y su rol en procesos para preservar la paz —peacekeeping— en diversas regiones del mundo, donde destacan estudios realizados por Alhassan, Bhagwan-Rolls, Brisset-Foucault, Darder, Maldonado, Mezghanni y Patil, entre otros [...]
En la segunda parte del libro el lector inicia con el recorrido metodológico trazado desde los conceptos, discusiones y propuestas de Van Dijk, Valles, Haidar, Delgado y Gutiérrez, y en especial el aporte sobre teoría fundamentada de Strauss y Corbin. Desde allí se construyeron los lineamientos que permitieron la triangulación de datos. Tras la lectura e interpretación de la información cualitativa por medio del software Nvivo, observamos cómo se obtuvieron los resultados centrados en aspectos como las narrativas propias de esas siete emisoras comunitarias en torno a temas relacionados con alguno de los puntos del Acuerdo de paz ...
Por último, en la tercera parte el lector podrá conocer la estrategia digital Ondas, mensajes para conversar, un sitio web dirigido a quienes están interesados en producir medios de comunicación desde los cuales construir escenarios de convivencia, y donde se recogen algunos aspectos sobre el quehacer y el impacto de la radio comunitaria como escenario dialógico de las voces de las regiones y, sobre todo, como herramienta de construcción de paz." (Introduccion, página 21-24)
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"This Issue Paper examines nearly 1,500 news articles from four EU member states (Germany, Italy, Spain and the Czech Republic) published between May 2019 and July 2020. It shows that disinformation narratives about migration seek to exploit readers’ fears to polarise public opinion, manufacture d
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iscontent, sow divisions and set the political agenda. Disinformation actors link migration to existing insecurities, depicting it as a threat to three partly-overlapping areas: Health (migrants as violent criminals, potential terrorists, or a COVID-19 infection risk); Wealth (migrants as social benefits cheats, unfair competition for jobs, or a drain on community resources); Identity (migrants as a hostile invasion force, a threat to European or Christian traditions, or the subject of a conspiracy to replace white Europeans). An effective communication strategy based on alternative narratives should take account of the following recommendations: The message should aim to reframe the debate. It should resonate with the target audience’s lived experience, acknowledging their values and concerns, but avoid amplifying anxieties [...] The medium should aim to restore trust among groups. Institutions, which are often subject to discrediting campaigns, should prioritise communication through trusted intermediaries who can get messages to the hard-to-reach [...] The selection of the audience should aim to reclaim readers from the fringes. Audiences should be targeted based on their values and what they feel is important." (Executive summary)
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"Since the Arab uprisings of 2011, Palestinian youth movements have formed unofficial and leaderless networks of political activism, using the internet to mobilise and bring together three generations of Palestinian activists. This book focuses on three key case studies that have marked a turning po
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int in the development of youth-organised and grassroots Palestinian politics: the 15 March movement in Gaza, the Palestinians for Dignity movement in the West Bank, and the Prawer movement of young Palestinians in Israel. Drawing on extensive fieldwork composed of interviews with leading Palestinian activists in the West Bank and Gaza and detailed analysis of social media patterns, this book offers a fresh reading of Palestinian youth and their central online and offline role in popular protests against both Israeli and Palestinian power structures." (Publisher description)
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"WhatsApp is a key medium for the spread of news and rumors, often shared as images. We study a large collection of politically-oriented WhatsApp groups in India, focusing on the period leading up to the 2019 Indian national elections. By labeling samples of random and popular images, we find that a
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round 10% of shared images are known misinformation and most fall into three types of images. Machine learning methods can be used to predict whether a viral image is misinformation, but are brittle to shifts in content over time." (Abstract)
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"[...] MiCT conducted a comparative content analysis on coverage of two issues of national concern on eight different Iraqi TV channels in August 2019: (1) the shelling of a PMF-held position near the Balad Air Base in Salahuddin and (2) the lifting of parliamentary immunity of select Members of Par
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liament (MPs), namely Talal al-Zobaie, the former head of the Integrity Committee. The purpose of this research is to understand the differences between how local TV channels select and frame political events and the news time they dedicate to these events. The channels included in the sample were selected from the North, Center and South of the country, representing different political, regional and sectarian strands across Iraq. The study recorded, transcribed and compared the content of main news bulletins from eight Iraqi TV channels over four days during the third week of August 2019 (19-23 August 2019). The shelling revealed polarisation between al-Ahed, owned by Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) (the Iran-controlled wing of the Popular Mobilization Forces) and the public channel al-Iraqiya, known to be controlled by the government. The analysis found that the two antagonists used ‘their’ channels to promote opposing narratives on this event. The polarisation is however not between the Sunni and Shia camp, but rather highlights the inner-Shia conflict between certain factions within the PMF and the government. Countering this polarisation, the content analysis of the shelling also revealed a major midfield of discourse in which no significant differences between Sunni- and Shia-backed channels were found. Iraqi channels engage in broad and pluralistic debate, producing and circulating an array of frames across regional and sectarian borders. These channels’ scope of coverage, wealth of opinions and critical analyses position them as evidence of media pluralism at work. From this angle, as salient as it may be, polarisation appears to be a remnant from the time of ethno-sectarian politics, which still work inside the system but are slowly fading." (Executive summary, page 4)
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"Placed at the crossroads of diverse disciplines – medical sciences, information and communication science, sociology of food, agricultural sciences – this book focuses on media, food and nutrition. Contributors to this volume come from different countries including the United Kingdom, Germany,
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Mexico and Romania, and consider comparatively their native cultures. The book answers several questions: How are food and nutrition made visible and publicized? What is the role of media in relation to food and nutrition? What are the strategies of discourses surrounding food and nutrition within new public spaces?" (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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"Die Propaganda der terroristischen Miliz "Islamischer Staat" hat für Aufsehen gesorgt und die Debatte um das Internet und vor allem das "Social Web" als Risikotechnologie oder Gefahrenraum mitbestimmt. Dabei setzt der IS auf ein breites Spektrum medialer und gestalterischer Formen und Formate eine
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r globalen, digitalen Medienkultur, um ein internationales Publikum zu erreichen: Online-Videos, anashid (Lieder) und Computerspiele; Internet-Meme, Social Media Posting oder Selfies. Der Sammelband gibt Einblick in die Bandbreite dieser jihadistischen Kommunikate, ihrer Ausdrucks- und Darstellungsweisen und zeigt dabei Möglichkeiten der Einordnung und der Auseinandersetzung auf." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Le discours politique de la Commission électorale nationale indépendante révèle des informations inédites qui décrivent les intérêts conflictuels que cette institution gère. La CENI, admise parmi les structures d’interaction entre l’État et le peuple, évolue dans un contexte où les
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normes universelles de la démocratie électorale lui assignent une position de neutralité (qui correspond à sa vraie mission) pendant que, sur le terrain, elle doit se construire un positionnement qui combine les visées contradictoires imposées par les différents partenaires et les acteurs qui contribuent au financement et à la réussite du processus électoral." (Dos de couverture)
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"Based on literature review and interviews with journalists, we argue that the BRICS countries are constructing a collective vision, guided by logics of recognition and of transformation. The production of discourse reaches its high point during the BRICS leaders’ summits. To go beyond analysis of
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the discourse revealed in the media, this article examines projects, thereby aiming to qualify and label the justificatory discourses, in order to develop an understanding of intentions. The BRICS countries have become a reference point as the press increasingly makes comparisons between these countries. The notion of recognition, present in the political elites, also appears as a part of the public imagination and in the press. The leaders too seek transformation. The first official multilateral institution founded by the BRICS countries was the New Development Bank. Current efforts indicate the development of common scientific and technological research initiatives and official support for the establishment of an innovative BRICS Network University. Initiatives will appear as these countries try to consolidate their position." (Abstract)
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"El análisis hecho en esta investigación de los distintos personajes protagónicos femeninos de los cuatro relatos seleccionados [Dina Paucar, la lucho por un sueño; Por la Sarita; Las reinas de las carrefillas; Amor de Madre], me permite señalar que las representaciones femeninas que nos ofrece
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n estos productos culturales del siglo XXI evidencian continuidades importantes pero también transformaciones y rupturas respecto a los modelos femeninos asociados al marianismo y la domesticidad; transformaciones y rupturas, que permiten visibilizar una pluralidad de representaciones femeninas conviviendo en el tiempo actual y que nos hablan de contextos de tensión y de conflicto. Este hallazgo también me permite confirmar que los mandatos de género operan de manera diferenciada en tiempos y espacios sociales diferentes. No encontramos en esta investigación personajes que se ajusten íntegramente al modelo mariano, por ejemplo, aunque sí mantienen algunas características importantes de este, como la maternidad. Un hallazgo importante de esta investigación es que la maternidad permanece como un hecho importante –diría fundante- en la definición misma de la identidad femenina y de las diversas representaciones televisivas melodramáticas, sin embargo, no es la única: aparecen las saberes domésticos aprendidos desde la infancia en el hogar familiar, saberes que se transmiten de madres a hijas –costura, cocina, canto-; los estudios y el trabajo en la esfera pública como ejes importantes que complejizan las representaciones que, de las mujeres, hacen estos relatos audiovisuales. La representación de lo femenino continua presentando a estas mujeres como responsables, amorosas, maternales, sin embargo, la pasividad y la sumisión –condiciones del pasado para la heroína de los melodramas televisivos- cuando aparecen, son solo lugares de inicio de la representación que se van transformando en agencia y empoderamiento, a partir de experiencias que fortalecen a nuestras protagonistas." (Conclusiones, página 206)
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"Are online audiences today fragmented into echo chambers or ilter bubbles? Do users only see what digital platforms (like search engines or social media) let them see? And if so, what are the consequences for the cohesion of a society? Concerns like these abound in recent years. They attest to wide
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ly held assumptions about a negative inluence of digital media or even the Internet in general on society. Empirical studies on these phenomena are, however, not as unequivocal. To understand why results from previous research are so far inconclusive, this study investigates the role of the Internet for social integration from a more general point of view. The integrative potential of the Internet is assessed to compare it with other media and ultimately better understand to what degree and due to which factors the Internet may or may not help bring society together. Using survey data, clickstream data on actual usage of websites, and data on content structures, the present work investigates how user behavior and structural features of the Internet determine its positive or negative effects on social integration. The results reveal that the Internet in general is not as bad as popular accounts of digital fragmentation may suggest. How much integrative potential can be realized via online offerings, however, depends on numerous factors on the side of the users as well as content and platform providers." (Back cover)
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"In Deutschland nutzen laut ARD/ZDF-Online-Studie von 2018 zwei Drittel der 14- bis 29-Jährigen täglich YouTube, bei Kindern dürfte der Anteil sogar noch höher liegen. Sie wollen sich damit in erster Linie zerstreuen. Die Auswertung der deutschen Top-100-Kanäle ergab: über ein Drittel bietet U
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nterhaltung (Comedy, Streiche, Wettkämpfe, Video-Tagebücher); ein Viertel sind reine Musikkanäle; 15 % der Angebote sind primär durch Spiele (Gaming) geprägt; knapp zehn Prozent der Videokanäle sind dem Bereich Beauty & Lifestyle zuzuordnen; gerade einmal vier Kanäle beschäftigen sich im weiten Sinne mit Politik und Wissen. Eine herausragende Stellung als Akteure nehmen dabei die so genannten Influencer ein. Diese digitalen Meinungsführer spielen in 56 der Top-100-Kanäle die Hauptrolle, unter den Top 20 sind allein 15 Influencer vertreten. Influencer wollen und sollen auf ihr Publikum „authentisch“ wirken, in jedem Fall haben sie Einfluss auf die Identitätsbildung von Jugendlichen und vor allem Kindern. Häufig auf sehr einseitige Weise und – nimmt man die Bildungsansprüche der Aufklärung als Bewertungsgrundlage – meist nicht zum Guten. Während Umfragen zeigen, dass die ‚Jugend von heute‘ weltoffen, pragmatisch und bis zu einem gewissen Grade auch postmaterialistisch eingestellt ist, predigt die große Mehrheit der digitalen Meinungsführer einen ungezügelten Konsum und führt dem jungen Publikum tradierte Rollenbilder von Mann und Frau vor. Auffällig ist zudem die hohe Quote (43 %) von Influencern mit Migrationshintergrund bei den deutschen Top-100-Kanälen – ein Hinweis darauf, dass migrantische Publizisten so einen leichteren Zugang zum Mediensystem als über die klassischen Medien finden. Insgesamt zeigt sich, dass die implizit gesellschaftspolitischen Botschaften tendenziell neoliberalen (Konsumismus) oder konservativen Charakter (tradierte Geschlechterrollen) haben." (Zusammenfassung, Seite 6-7)
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"The author demonstrates how core concepts from anthropology—participant-observation, reciprocity, and community—apply to sociality on YouTube. Lange’s book reconceptualizes and updates these concepts for video-sharing cultures. Lange draws on 152 interviews with YouTube participants at gather
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ings throughout the United States, content analyses of more than 300 videos, observations of interactions on and off the site, and participant-observation. She documents how the introduction of monetization options impacted perceived opportunities for open sharing and creative exploration of personal and social messages. Lange’s book provides new insight into patterns of digital migration, YouTube’s influence on off-site interactions, and the emotional impact of losing control over images. The book also debunks traditional myths about online interaction, such as the supposed online/offline binary, the notion that anonymity always degrades public discourse, and the popular characterization of online participants as over-sharing narcissists. YouTubers’ experiences illustrate fascinating hybrid forms of contemporary sociality that are neither purely mediated nor sufficient when conducted only in person. Combining intensive ethnography, analysis of video artifacts, and Lange’s personal vlogging experiences, the book explores how YouTubers are creating a posthuman collective characterized by interaction, support, and controversy." (Publisher description)
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"Through a content analysis of 532 programs screened on various national television networks in Colombia, this paper examines portrayals of women in the country’s narconovelas, fictional series derived from the telenovela genre that resonate forcefully with the public. We do so in order to gain a
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better understanding of their role in representing gender in Colombia. Relevant topics include: the widespread violence against women in a traditional, patriarchal country, the ineffectiveness of policies targeting gender discrimination, and ideologies of machismo and Marianismo. These practices are discussed as factors that may prevent women’s social empowerment and participation in the workforce and politics of the country. Our results show that, as per Colombia’s prevailing social relations, narconovelas demonstrate a gendered power imbalance and mestizo heteronormativity via macho plots that glamorize violence against women. Women are rarely key characters in narconovelas, and when they appear, they are dependent on men, and attain status through men or their families. In addition, the genre represents continuous verbal and physical aggression against women, especially if they belong to ethnic or racial minorities." (Abstract)
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