"Suicide attempt rates are on the rise in predominantly Islamic Republic of Pakistan. However, there exists an indigenous academic apathy toward exploring media-suicide relationships. This study, using content analysis and interviews, examines the lack of compliance with international ethical guidel
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ines for suicide reporting by Pakistani newspapers. In 553 reported suicide cases, 2,355 guideline violations were detected. The overall tone of suicide news stories remained overwhelmingly irresponsible, and analysis indicates that both Urdu and English language newspapers made similar violations. Largely ignorant of international standards, Pakistani journalists report attempted suicide cases just like any other crime. This study suggests a prompt action on the part of appropriate bodies to amend relevant codes of ethics and eventually educate relevant journalist fraternities to report suicides in a socially responsible way." (Abstract)
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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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"This study presents a snapshot of the framing used in reporting on Syria. To ensure a diverse representation, the sample includes a selection of domestic (Syrian) and pan-Arab media organisations, whose alleged preferences towards the dominant parties in the Syrian conflict are mixed. The findings
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of the research show that many partisan media demonstrate significant polarising in their reporting. These media present biased, graphic and emotive images to their audiences. The black and white portrayal by these media dehumanises groups of people and has the potential to exacerbate tensions in Syria even further. Independent outlets are noticeable for their neutrality in reporting. Also, these media outlets diverge in their use of framing: rather than acting as a mouthpiece for a political actor, they follow their individual organisation’s editorial line." (Executive summary, page 3)
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"This study was conducted between April 2018 and July 2019 with the aim of assessing the impact of Studio Kalangou’s radio broadcasts on women’s rights and empowerment in Niger. It comprised: A content analysis of approximately 60 hours of radio programmes broadcast in 2018 by Studio Kalangou in
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Niger; A series of 40 focus groups, 20 conducted before, and 20 after, the programmes were broadcast; Two knowledge exchange workshops in Niger with representatives from the media, civil society organisations, NGOs, and donors, held before and after the programmes were broadcast; A third and final knowledge exchange workshop, on completion of the research [...] Radio remains a main source of information in Niger and, based on the data collected during the study, is accessed primarily by mobile phone. Use of social media to access sources of information, including radio, remains limited. Whilst radio remains the main source of information amongst older focus group respondents, younger participants demonstrate little interest in radio, preferring social media. A generational divide exists between older and younger listeners. Older listeners are adamant about what youth should be doing, what they should like and what they should enjoy listening to. This does not chime with what young people want or are interested in. Female empowerment, according to the broadcasts, is a long-term process and affects women as part of a group. In contrast, according to listeners, empowerment must affect their daily lives and be on a personal, more micro level. Women-focused programmes, whilst necessary and beneficial, may serve to isolate information and themes as they depart from the normal expectations of a male-dominated society. Gender equality, which already emerges in Studio Kalangou’s mainstream broadcasts, needs to be encouraged and extended throughout the schedule to impact all listeners. There is evidence of changes in behaviour amongst listeners as a result of Studio Kalangou broadcasts. Improvements in general and specific awareness of subject matter and themes emerge strongly. There are differences in editorial priorities between what Studio Kalangou offers and what the listeners want." (Pages 4-5)
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"The information ecosystem in DRC is fragmented and fragile. It is characterised by a great number of media outlets, however their level of professionalism is low and their vulnerability to partisan capture is high. This fragility is replicated in the online space. The Congolese population rely heav
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ily on informal sources of information such as word of mouth, interpersonal communication with family and friends. The scarcity of reliable information open avenues for the rumours and misinformation to spread. This context presents serious challenges for the promotion of good governance and accountability that requires well informed citizens. To better address those challenges, it is necessary to understand the main sources and dynamics of information flows both offline and online, and through media and non-media channels. A consortium composed of Fondation Hirondelle (FH), Demos, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) and the Institut Congolais de Recherche en Développement et Etudes Stratégiques (ICREDES) was created in order to provide a more holistic view of the Congolese information ecosystem and to identify opportunities for entry. Due to the limited time and resources of the study, and because of the pre-existing networks and capacities of the consortium in this region, its focus is on North Kivu. To identify the voices, networks and themes that dominated this information ecosystem in this region, three levels of analysis were chosen: 1. The sources and level of information of the local populations. This analysis was provided by HHI that implemented household surveys of large samples of populations in Eastern DRC; 2. The sources of information of local journalists. This analysis was provided by FH that surveyed a network of 18 local radios in North Kivu; 3. The network and content analysis of digital and social media provided by DEMOS [...] Findings: Radio is the primary media source of information for the population of Eastern DRC (78% of the sample listens to it occasionally and 43% daily [...] The main sources of information depend on the context and the nature of the information people are seeking [...] The results highlight the lack of reliability of information sources (46% of respondents expressed a moderate to high level of confidence in local radio, and 39% for national radio) ..." (Executive summary)
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"This book examines the dynamic interplay between media representations of migrants and refugees on the one hand and the governmental and societal (re)actions to these on the other. Largely focusing on Belgium and Sweden, this collection of interdisciplinary research essays attempts to unravel the d
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eterminants of people’s preferences regarding migration policy, expectations towards newcomers, and economic, humanitarian and cultural concerns about immigration’s effect on the majority population’s life. Whilst migrants and refugees remain voiceless and highly underrepresented in the legacy media, this volume allows their voices to be heard." (Publisher description)
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"Governments with strict control over the information that their citizens hear from foreign sources are regular targets of human rights pressure, but we know little about how this information matters in the domestic realm. I argue that authoritarian regimes strategically pass on certain types of ext
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ernal pressure to their public to “internationalize” human rights violations, making citizens view human rights in terms of defending their nation internationally rather than in terms of individual violations, and making them more likely to be satisfied with their government’s behavior. I find strong support for this model through statistical analysis of Chinese state media reports of external human rights pressure and a survey experiment on Chinese citizens’ responses to pressure on women’s rights. This analysis demonstrates that authoritarian regimes may be able to manipulate international human rights diplomacy to help them retain the support of their population while suppressing their human rights." (Abstract)
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"Stories about Africa appeared infrequently on U.S. television: a mention appeared once in every five hours of TV programming. Viewers were seven times more likely to see references to Europe. Despite the low frequency of mentions, we know that there were more than 3.6 billion views of these depicti
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ons of Africa in the U.S. in March. Five countries — Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, Seychelles and “Congo” — accounted for almost half (49%) of all mentions of any African nation. Most mentions of Africa (43%) appeared on national or local news, with over 1.5 billion views. Business, technology and economy in Africa accounted for 8% of news coverage while crime accounted for 16%. Viewers saw one out of five references to Africa in unscripted entertainment, including talk shows, game shows and reality programming. Twenty percent of those mentions were on the game show Jeopardy. Documentaries (17%) and scripted entertainment (15%) account for almost all the rest of Africa depictions." (Summary of key findings, page 6)
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"Wie unsere Langzeitanalyse zeigt, hat sich die Fernsehberichterstattung über Gewaltkriminalität gravierend verändert: Während die Herkunft von Tatverdächtigen 2014 praktisch keine Rolle spielte, wurde sie 2017 in jedem sechsten und 2019 in jedem dritten Beitrag erwähnt. In den untersuchten Ze
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itungsberichten ist der Anteil mit 44,1 Prozent besonders hoch. Doch die Herkunft von mutmaßlichen Gewalttätern wird meist nur dann hervorgehoben, wenn sie Ausländer sind. Damit ist der mediale Blick nicht klarer geworden, sondern verzerrter. Die Berichterstattung kehrt die Erkenntnisse der Polizei komplett um: Laut Polizeilicher Kriminalstatistik waren 2018 etwa 69 Prozent aller Tatverdächtigen bei Gewaltdelikten Deutsche und rund 31 Prozent Nichtdeutsche. In aktuellen Fernsehberichten hingegen werden nur etwa 3 Prozent aller Tatverdächtigen als Deutsche erkennbar und 28 Prozent als Nichtdeutsche. In Zeitungsberichten sind Ausländer mit 41 Prozent gegenüber 3 Prozent deutschen Tatverdächtigen noch stärker überrepräsentiert." (Fazit, Seite 14)
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"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
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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)
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"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
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try 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, or even potentially dangerous. The research also seeks to identify alternative terms that would 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 so that their work can be more effective." (Introduction)
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"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,
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and dynamics in South Sudan’s conflict over the period of 2017-2018." (Introduction)
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"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
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igh unemployment persist and are exacerbated by issues like migration and the climate crisis. It’s within this context that hateful language has spiked; certain politicians and members of the public have pushed anti-immigrant rhetoric while others have called for the expropriation without compensation of white-owned land, leading to fears that the chasms between and among South Africa’s political, social, and economic classes will only grow larger. In response, PeaceTech Lab partnered with South Africa’s Media Monitoring Africa to examine the origins, context, and influence of hateful speech in the country. [This publication] pairs social media analysis with in-depth qualitative research to help everyone - from civil society activists to government officials - in their efforts to address the surging problem of hate speech." (Publisher description)
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"El texto es un análisis visual sobre varios videos de dos grupos de música del resguardo Emberá Chamí del municipio de Pueblo Rico Risaralda, Bidika y Ibanafarag, estos grupos cuentan con características especiales en su concepción que logran permear en sus canciones, en la construcción est
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tica del video y que reflejan una realidad social que ha impactado tanto a su comunidad como a otros grupos sociales que han sido partícipes y a la vez víctimas del conflicto armado en Colombia, estas reflexiones sobre la estética, la composición y la denuncia social de la situación de los pueblos indígenas en Colombia es posible gracias a la apropiación que los miembros de estos grupos han hecho de las cámaras de video y circulación de su producción en Internet." (Resumen)
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"The aim of this report is to offer a broad overview of migration (both immigration and emigration) discourses in European media for researchers in comparative media and migration studies in the coming years. It also aims at those involved in journalistic news production as well as policy decisions
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related to European migration in general, and intra-European migration and mobility in particular. We focus on the concepts of salience, sentiment and framing to qualify dynamics in media discourses in seven European countries – Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Poland, Hungary and Romania – using semi-automated approaches to computational media analysis. In our report, we tackle three main gaps in the existing work: (i) a lack of comparative studies dealing with European migration media discourses of the last decade(s); (ii) insufficient attention to the intricacies of multilingual text analysis in computational text analysis; (iii) insufficient evidence on country-specific differences in discourses about intra-European mobility and migration compared to migration discourses more generally." (Executive summary)
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"The complexity and duration of the so-called ‘European refugee crisis’ created a climate of uncertainty, which left ample room for mass media to shape citizens’ understanding of what the arrival of these refugees meant for their respective country. This study analyses the national media disco
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urses in Hungary, Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Spain for this time period. Applying Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modelling in five languages and based on N=130,042 articles from 24 news outlets, we reveal country-specific media frames to track the overall course of the refugee debate and to uncover dynamics and shifts in discourses. While results show similarities across countries, due to media coverage responding to real-world developments, there are differences in media framing as well. Possible sources of these differences such as countries’ geographic location or status as receiving country are discussed." (Abstract)
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"In this chapter we use the twin concepts of precarity and mobilization to explore the tensions associated with media reporting about Myanmar over time, analysing the reporting of the (formerly) exiled media publication The Irrawaddy. The chapter explores coverage through an examination of the sourc
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es utilized and the substantive content and tone of the articles.We begin by reviewing The Irrawaddy's history and then position it through the lenses of mobility and precarity. After a discussion of methods, we compare the coverage in The Irrawaddy of three natural disasters, in both the English and the Burmese editions, and supplement our analysis with interviews with members of staff. Our findings indicate that risks associated with reporting have lessened considerably, but tension remains as The Irrawaddy is harmstrung by conflicting goals that influence its coverage." (Pages 177-178)
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"When created, international criminal tribunals (ICTs) were not only expected to do justice but also to provide stabilization to postconflict regions, contribute to reconciliation and curb the potential denial of atrocities. Based on media content analysis, this article examines whether controversia
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l ICT decisions triggered changes in narratives or frames about the conflicts which formed the background of the respective ICT decisions. There is no evidence for dramatic changes in the preexisting narratives about these conflicts, but we found some cases in which tribunal decisions caused changes in media frames and in elements of such frames, mostly by emphasizing outgroup victimhood and individual responsibility of ingroup perpetrators, as well as triggering effects of collective guilt externalization. Although frame changes were often observed in both democratic and nondemocratic countries, only in democratic countries with pluralist and competitive media systems could they be attributed to tribunal decisions." (Abstract)
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"Die vorliegende Studie untersucht, welche Rolle Massenmedien in der politischen Transformation im Irak nach 2003 gespielt haben. Dabei diskutiert Anja Wollenberg zunächst, ob und in welcher Weise politischer Wettbewerb, Partizipation, Kritik und Kontrolle von irakischen Rundfunkmedien ermöglicht
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und mobilisiert wurden. Die Untersuchung von klassisch-demokratischen Kernfunktionen wird erweitert um die Frage nach den spezifischen Merkmalen von Öffentlichkeit im Kontext von fragiler Staatlichkeit. Das Spannungsverhältnis zwischen Stabilisierung und Demokratisierung sowie die Überlagerung alter und neuer Verhaltensmuster in der journalistischen Praxis rücken damit in den Fokus der Untersuchung." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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