"This Handbook provides the first comprehensive reference book in English about the development of mass and social media in all Arab countries. Capturing the historical as well as current developments in the media scene, this collection maps the role of media in social and political movements. Contr
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ibutors include specialists in the field from North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Each chapter provides an overview of the history, regulatory frameworks and laws governing the press, and socio-political functions of the media. While the geopolitical complexities of the region have been reflected in the expert analyses collectively, the focus is always the local context of each member state. All 37 chapters consider the specific historical, political and media trajectories in each country, to provide a contextual background and foundation for further study about single states or comparative analysis in two or more Arab states." (Publisher description)
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"This work highlights ten years of support for media development in the Arab world, telling the story through photos, eye-witness accounts, journalist profiles and personal experiences. Ten years spent alongside men and women playing an active role in civil society, committed to citizen-centred, div
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erse news content, driving democratic debate in their country." (Foreword)
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"Since 2014, PeaceTech Lab has undertaken research and worked with local partners in 13 countries to understand the dynamics of hate speech and the connection between the proliferation of hateful narratives online and violent events offline. This research and the resulting lexicons seek to identify
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and contextualize the particular type of language that is likely to cause violence by exacerbating ongoing tensions and deepening ongoing crises within communities in conflict. Rather than assessing the general existence or prevalence of hate speech, each lexicon instead examines the most prevalent inflammatory terms, their origins and context, and their use in a particular country context. To successfully monitor and counter hateful speech in its degrees of severity, we must first identify the vocabulary most commonly used and the social and political context that makes these terms offensive, inflammatory, or potentially dangerous [...] As illustrated throughout this document, hate speech is both a symptom and cause of these divisions. In the context of CAR’s current reality of insecurity and conflict, inflammatory speech is used as a tool to achieve political and material ends. This ultimately results in the deepening of divisions between religious and ethnic communities, furthering of polarizing opinions, dehumanization of targeted groups, exacerbation of feelings of frustration and grievance, and lowering of the threshold to acts of violence." (Introduction)
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"Digital technologies have enabled the spread of all kinds of information, displacing traditional formats of usually more carefully curated information such as encyclopaedias and newspapers. The massive information flow of the digital era demands that readers be able to distinguish between fact and
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opinion. Readers must learn strategies to detect biased information and malicious content like fake news and phishing emails. What the PISA 21st-Century readers report reveals is that students’ access to digital technologies and training on how to use them greatly vary between countries and students’ socio-economic profiles. This report explores how 15-year-old students are developing reading skills to navigate the technology-rich 21st century. It sheds light on potential ways to strengthen students’ capacity to navigate the new world of information. It highlights how countries need to redouble their efforts to combat emerging digital divides. It also explores what teachers can do to help students navigate ambiguity and manage complexity." (Publisher description)
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"The smartphone is often literally right in front of our nose, so you would think we would know what it is. But do we? To find out, 11 anthropologists each spent 16 months living in communities in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America, focusing on the take up of smartphones by older people. Their r
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esearch reveals that smartphones are technology for everyone, not just for the young. The Global Smartphone presents a series of original perspectives deriving from this global and comparative research project. Smartphones have become as much a place within which we live as a device we use to provide 'perpetual opportunism', as they are always with us. The authors show how the smartphone is more than an 'app device' and explore differences between what people say about smartphones and how they use them. The smartphone is unprecedented in the degree to which we can transform it. As a result, it quickly assimilates personal values. In order to comprehend it, we must take into consideration a range of national and cultural nuances, such as visual communication in China and Japan, mobile money in Cameroon and Uganda, and access to health information in Chile and Ireland - all alongside diverse trajectories of ageing in Al Quds, Brazil and Italy. Only then can we know what a smartphone is and understand its consequences for people's lives around the world." (Publisher description)
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"Gendered disinformation is a form of identity-based disinformation that threatens human rightsworldwide. It undermines the digital and political rights, as well as the safety and security, of itstargets. Its effects are far-reaching: gendered disi
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nformation is used to justify human rightsabuses and entrench repression of women and minority groups. This policy brief explains whatgendered disinformation is, how it impacts individuals and societies, and the challenges in com-bating it, drawing on case studies from Poland and the UK. It assesses how the UK and EU are re-sponding to gendered disinformation, and sets out a plan of action for governments, platforms,media and civil society." (Introduction)
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"This pioneering curriculum presents a comprehensive competency framework of media and information literacy and offers educators and leraners structured pedagogical suggestions. It features various detailed modules covering the range of competencie
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s needed to navigate today’s communications ecosystem. This resource links media and information literacy to emerging issues, such as artificial intelligence, digital citizenship education, education for sustainable development, cultural literacy and the exponential rise in misinformation and disinformation. With effective use of this media and information literacy curriculum, everyone can become media and information literate as well as peer-educators of media and information literacy." (Short summary)
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"The aim of this Instruction – the result of a wide-ranging consultation of all Ecclesiastical Faculties and Universities (q.v. Circular Letter n. 1, of 8 December 2018), expert contributions from international specialists in the field, as well a
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s proposals from the Members of this Congregation and from various administrations of the Roman Curia – is to offer guidelines and rules for using distance learning in Ecclesiastical Faculties and Universities." (Page 2)
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"Hay una variedad de estrategias y enfoques que se pueden aplicar para enseñar a la Alfabetización mediática e informacional (AMI), los cuales se centran en el conocimiento, la actitud y las habilidades. Por supuesto, las y los capacitadores est
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án en la libertad de modificar las metodologías propuestas y desarrollar sus propios métodos de enseñanza. Sin embargo, deben tener muy claros sus objetivos y la manera de alcanzarlos. Deben también reflexionar sobre sus estrategias de formación después de cada sesión. Asimismo, es importante que sean conscientes de sus hábitos con relación a los medios de comunicación y de cómo estos influyen en su enseñanza. Se anima a las y los capacitadores a que sigan estos cinco pasos para la formación en AMI: acceder, analizar, crear, reflexionar y actuar (AACRA)." (Página 9-10)
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"Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) bring a wide range of skill sets to the problem of digital disinformation. Some organizations focus on digital media literacy and education; others engage in advocacy and policy work. Another segment has develope
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d expertise in fact-checking and verification. Other organizations have developed refined technical skills for extracting and analyzing data from social media platforms. This research yielded several clear observations about the state of CSO responses to disinformation and, in turn, suggests several recommendations for paths forward. • Prioritize Skill Diffusion and Knowledge Transfer. Civil society organizations seeking funding for counter-disinformation initiatives should emphasize the importance of skill diffusion and knowledge-transfer initiatives. The siloed nature of disinformation research points to a growing need to blend technical expertise with deep cultural and political knowledge. • CSO researchers lack sufficient access to social media data. Survey respondents identified insufficient access to data as a challenge. Sometimes data are not made available to CSOs; in other instances, data are made available in formats that are not workable for meaningful research purposes. Unequal access to the data that private companies do provide can exacerbate regional inequities, and the nature of data sharing by social media platforms can unduly shape the space for inquiry by civil society and other researchers. Funders, platforms, and other key actors should develop approaches that provide more consistent, inclusive data access to CSOs. • Duplicative programming hampers innovation. CSOs drawing on similar tools, approaches, and techniques to meet similar goals pointed to three main factors preventing more specialized, innovative initiatives: lack of coordination, lack of specific expertise, and lack of flexible funding. Community building and collaboration among relevant organizations deserve more investment, as do initiatives that partner larger, established organizations with smaller or growing ones, or pool efforts, skill sets, and expertise to encourage diverse research by design rather than by coincidence. • Relationships with tech platforms vary across regions. Surveyed CSOs often held simultaneously skeptical and positive opinions about their relationships with social media companies. Some receive preferential access to data and even funding for their work (raising concerns about independence), while others report a lack of responsiveness from company representatives. In the Global South and Eastern Europe, many CSOs expressed concern that platforms failed to meaningfully engage with them on issues of critical concern. • More flexible funding and more diverse research are both necessary. To encourage greater platform accountability across varied geographic contexts, CSOs and their funders should draw on the perspectives of specific, under-analyzed communities." (Executive summary, page 3-4)
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"This document reports an increase in so-called “hate speech” posts on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although dissimilar, such an increase can be observed in the transparency reports of the different platforms and the surge in content moderation since M
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arch 2020. During the same period—as a result of the lockdown measures adopted in most countries around the world—platforms increased the use of AI tools for content moderation. Therefore, we can’t fully say whether the interannual growth is linked to increased posts or changes in monitoring systems." (Executive summary)
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"[...] the exercise of freedom of expression remains relatively practised and differs from one region to the next. It is easier to exercise freedom of expression in big cities than in small towns or rural areas. Since 2012, Mali has been plagued by terrorist groups’ attacks from the north. The det
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erioration of the security situation, which impacts all aspects of national life, causes a climate of self-censorship, especially among media professionals, most notably in the countryside. From Ségou (centre of Mali) to the far north, community radio stations are cautious with the terms they use. Journalists systematically refuse specific programmes for fear of being physically hurt or seeing their facilities attacked. Some journalists have been kidnapped, although most are released after secret negotiations involving state security. Threats and pressures on journalists and the media do not come only from state officials. People named in investigative articles sometimes use deceptive methods to intimidate journalists. People singled out by publications also put pressure on the family of journalists to get the investigation dropped or for journalists to self-censor. Furthermore, some laws restrict freedom of expression, such as Act of 5 December 2019 on the repression of cybercrime in its articles 74, 75 and 76 ..." (Summary, page 5)
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"Trade unionists, human rights activists, journalists, dignitaries of endogenous religions, and even ordinary citizens feel threatened when exercising their right to freedom of expression. Generally, they fear prosecution cases against them being mounted by the authorities. Business people and entre
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preneurs are also targeted through fiscal pressure or unexpected controls placed on their companies. The Digital Code, passed in 2017, is a source of fear for Benin journalists. Under this code, the Central Cybercrime Repression Authority arrested journalist Ignace Sossou on 19 December 2019 at his house. At his trial, Sossou was sentenced to 12-months imprisonment, six of which he served in prison, and a fine for harassment for relaying the prosecutor’s words during a seminar on Twitter. Fear of reprisals pushes the media to practice self-censorship. Psychological pressure seems to prevent journalists from freely exercising freedom of expression. There are also fears regarding the use of social media networks. There is an explicit restriction of civic space in general, and citizens are afraid of being tapped. Due to abuse by the press and certain citizens, several provisions of the Digital Code hamper freedom of expression. This is perceived as a political manoeuvre to dampen the citizens’ desire to express themselves freely [...]" (Summary, page 5)
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"In this manual, we discuss key disability issues, key messages and principles for journalists wanting to support the human rights of Africans with disabilities. The manual also deals with terminology - it is about using words and that puts the person rather than the disability first. Jounalists wil
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l learn how to create disability programs that resonate with their audiences and encourage wider PwDs (Persons with Disability) participation at every level of the society despite the barriers they must deal with [...] This manual has been developed for handling the workshops based on the contents of the guide. It provides guidelines and tools for a three-day workshop on the guide." (Pages 3-4)
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"Côte d’Ivoire’s national election in 2010 descended into civil war into 2011 when incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo refused to concede the presidency to the internationally recognized winner Alassane Ouattara. The three political players in this election—the parties of Ouattara, Gbagbo, and
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France—had deep economic incentives in the outcome of Côte d’Ivoire’s election. Drawing from interviews conducted in 2016 and 2017 in Côte d’Ivoire with 24 journalists, findings show that journalists endured many acts of harassment from political parties trying to manipulate the news coverage of this election. I argue that the mechanisms observed in Côte d’Ivoire’s electoral crisis reflect how conditions of war activate informal power alliances within the political–economic dynamics of a Global South nation in the postcolonial era. These alliances push on media in ways they would not normally during peacetime. Côte d’Ivoire is a former colony of France. It is a part of “Françafrique,” a region of 12 French-speaking African countries where France still retains considerable economic impact and has intervened militarily dozens of times since the colonies were emancipated in the early 1960s." (Abstract)
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"This report presents a snapshot of the first substantial findings from a global survey about online violence against women journalists conducted by UNESCO and the International Center for Journal
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ists (ICFJ) in late 2020. Over 900 validated participants from 125 countries completed the survey in Arabic, English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. The findings shared here reflect the input of the 714 respondents identifying as women. 73% of women respondents said they had experienced online violence. Threats of physical (25%) and sexual violence (18%) plagued the women journalists surveyed. And these threats radiated - 13% said they had received threats of violence against those close to them. 20% of women respondents said they had been attacked or abused offline in connection with online violence they had experienced. 13% increased their physical security in response to online violence and 4% said that they had missed work due to concerns about the attacks jumping offline. The mental health impacts of online violence were the most frequently identified (26%) consequence. 12% of respondents said they had sought medical or psychological help due to the effects of online violence. The story theme most often identified in association with increased attacks was gender (47%), followed by politics and elections (44%), and human rights and social policy (31%). 41% of the respondents to this survey said they had been targeted in online attacks that appeared to be linked to orchestrated disinformation campaigns. Political actors are the second most frequently noted sources (37%) of attacks and abuse after, anonymous or unknown attackers (57%), according to the women respondents." (Introduction)
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"On December 15, Facebook announced that it had taken down three separate networks that it had discovered for “coordinated inauthentic behavior” that targeted communities across Africa. One, centered on the Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali, was linked to individuals associated with the
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French military. The other two, centered respectively on CAR and Libya, were connected to the business and influence operations of Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Prigozhin, founder of the mercenary organization Wagner Group and the Internet Research Agency “troll farm.” The French and Russian operations in the CAR tried to expose each other, and repeatedly clashed in groups, comments, and cartoon wars. We have documented the first of the Russian operations in a joint report with Stanford University entitled “Stoking Conflict by Keystroke”; this report focuses on the French and Russian operations that targeted CAR. For the sake of brevity, the operation linked to individuals with ties to the French military will be referred to as the “French operation” in this report, while the Russian operation attributed to individuals associated with past activity by the Internet Research Agency (IRA) and previous operations attributed to entities associated with Russian financier Yevgeniy Prigozhin is referred to as the “Russian operation” in this report. It is worth highlighting that Facebook did not attribute the operation directly to the French Government or the French military, and that this report similarly does not offer evidence of institutional involvement from French governmental and military entities." (Executive summary)
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