"This ground-breaking three-year global study on gender-based online violence against women journalists represents collaborative research covering 15 countries. It is the most geographically, linguistically, and ethnically diverse scoping of the crisis conducted up until late 2022. The research draw
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s on: the inputs of nearly 1,100 survey participants and interviewees; 2 big data case studies examining 2.5 million social media posts directed at Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa (The Philippines) and multi award-winning investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr (UK); 15 detailed individual country case studies. The Chilling illuminates the evolving challenges faced by women journalists dealing with prolific and/or sustained online violence around the world. It calls out the victim-blaming and slut-shaming that perpetuates sexist and misogynistic responses to offline violence against women in the online environment, where patriarchal norms are being aggressively reinforced. It also clearly demonstrates that the incidence and impacts of gender-based online violence are worse at the intersection of misogyny and other forms of discrimination, such as racism, religious bigotry, antisemitism, homophobia and transphobia. Further, it identifies political actors who leverage misogyny and anti-news media narratives in their attacks as top perpetrators of online violence against women journalists, while the main vectors are social media platforms - most notably Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube." (Exexutive summary)
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"Wars in films are […] always more than just the staging or presentation of a historical event; they offer an interpretation of these events that usually corresponds with other aspects, e. g. society's evaluation of war per se, or wishes about how specific events related to war should be commemora
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ted within the public conscience. Of course, films can also act as a medium to criticize war, but the functionality of the filmic stagings of collective violence is usually determined by the interaction between producers and the audience of the film. The following chapters try to provide a variety of insights into these relationships, and although they focus on different time periods and aspects related to the semiotics, narratives, and perceptions of war in film, they all circle around certain questions related to war films in general. These are: 1. To what extent do war films present historical events that are already socio-culturally embedded within national narratives, and to what extent do their semiotics support or challenge common views about wars and collective violence? 2. Which conscious or subconscious images or visual semiotics are used within war films to connect the audience to the film and its narrative? 3. How do films create, transport, or intensify the perception and interpretation of wars within societies? To answer these, each of the contributions of the present volume engages with specific war films and connects their respective war-related motifs and narratives with these questions." (Introduction, page 7-11)
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"The pandemic made inequality, discrimination, exclusion and structural inequity more palpable, and rather than stagnating in indignation, it reactivated a sense of rebellion and contestation. The strength and sharpness with which we connect social justice, gender justice, environmental justice, eco
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nomic justice and racial justice with the potentials and limitations of digital technologies is undeniable. Using this intersectional lens, we need to document and build our own narratives about the challenges that we face related to the impacts of the pandemic and reflect on how our advocacy priorities as well as the ways we do advocacy are changing and keep being modified and adjusted. At APC we have strengthened capacity to design and implement collective and contextual community responses to the multiple challenges and crises that we face, while having a greater awareness of the kind of global responses that should be prioritised, based on shared but differentiated responsibilities [...] GISWatch 2021-2022 focuses on responses to some of the fundamental questions brought by the pandemic to inform civil society’s advocacy around digital technology issues and their potential to shape future horizons. As illustrated on our cover, a sustained struggle will be necessary in the years ahead, but not only in the public spaces. A nuanced approach to advocacy will be essential to open multiple ways to bring about positive change." (Preface, page 6)
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"Journalists and independent press are tried and prosecuted with harsh charges that reach up to 20 years of imprisonment under the Penal Code, rather than the Press Code of 2016, which abolished imprisonment for criticising the monarch. The government closely monitors and controls media content thro
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ugh subsidies (fisking), advertising allocation, and rigorous regulation and licensing procedures. Opposition journalists have been jailed on dubious allegations, and been subjected to systematic slander and smear campaigns on social media platforms by pro-monarch media outlets that are largely dominated by the regime or echo the Moroccan authorities’ official line. These campaigns have largely centred on tarnishing the reputation and image of activists, reducing solidarity with their cause, and undermining their credibility in Moroccan society, resulting in self-censorship. In this stifling and threatening atmosphere, several journalists have opted for self-exile. Authorities regularly promise new reforms and democratic developments, yet they respond to protests with crackdowns, including by restricting access to information and critical tools, imposing internet shutdowns and throttling bandwidth during popular demonstrations which was the case for Hirak Al Rif movement." (Executive summary)
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"According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), half of the media in the country is owned by the government or affiliated with the intelligence services. The rest are owned by pro-government businessmen. The few independent press websites that are still open have been blocked. Their owners and editor
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s were arrested and then released shortly after, as happened to Mada Masr and Al-Manassa. More than 500 websites have been blocked in Egypt, and more than 100 journalists have been arrested since 2014. The adoption of new regulations like the anti-terrorism law and cyber crime law and the creation of the Supreme Council for Media Regulation suppressed the freedom of expression and shut down the way to a free press. These new laws and regulations have affected the work of journalists who are at risk of charges such as belonging to a terrorist group or spreading false news. To the international community, Egypt denies imprisoning journalists for their work, which is true to some extent because Egyptian security is trying and imprisoning journalists on charges such as belonging to terrorist groups, without directly linking it to their journalistic work. The Airtable analysis undertaken in this project attempts to reflect the situation around monitoring technology through online content over the past few years. We can see a repeated goal of restricting the freedom of online spaces and banning any narrative parallel to the official one. This can be seen in the Attorney General's orders to establish a unit to monitor and monitor social media platforms and activities, contrary to constitutional articles that protect people's privacy and their right to freedom of expression." (https://advox.globalvoices.org)
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"The Moroccan elections of September 2021 were unusual for various reasons. As electoral campaigning took place under pandemic circumstances, social media played a role previously unseen and contributed significantly to the unexpected victory of the National Rally of Independents (RNI), a liberal pa
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rty, against the Justice and Development Party (PJD), an Islamist party. The use of social media for campaigning purposes is not a completely new phenomenon in Morocco, given its prominent use by numerous social movements in the past. However, social media became a game-changer during the last elections. Considering the COVID-19 measures imposed, political parties shifted much of their campaigning online. Today, online spaces are no longer exclusively used by grassroots activists but have become increasingly popular among Moroccan political parties. While political parties converged in resorting to online spaces to compensate for the restrictions on offline campaigns, they diverged in their approaches; additionally, not all parties have the same financial capacity to exploit the full potential of social media. The huge disproportion in resources invested in online platforms was a main contributor to the victory of the RNI and the unexpected electoral wipeout of the PJD." (Abstract)
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"[…] The studies presented here […] seek to explore two questions: how have Arab diasporic communities in Europe used Arab media in transnational political action formation since 2011? And how does the use of different media platforms stimulate or confine particular diasporic action, and what do
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es this mean for our understanding of mediatized diaspora? The project conducts a comparative study between the use and users of Syrian, Tunisian, Bahraini, and Egyptian regime-critical and politically mobilized media. The four Arab countries have been selected because they represent different patterns of immigration that are formed by colonial connections and current conflicts." (Introduction, page 2)
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"This study points to several recommendations for how international donors can improve support for media sector reform in countries at critical political junctures, and how they can build upon and strengthen approaches that have been effective in the past. Donor support is more likely to be effectiv
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e when it is driven by a deeper understanding of the political dynamics surrounding media sector reform, including the potential weaknesses in state capacity and threats to sustained political will. As such, donor agencies need to provide robust funding and technical support for rigorous media sector assessments led by local experts, targeted efforts to cement local leadership, and dedicated technical and financial support for consensus building. A common blueprint for assistance does not exist—different strategies are needed that are attuned to the strength and commitment of the state, the capacity and cohesion of civil society, and the persistence of anti-democratic forces. Intervening early in a transition, when priorities are established and plans are drawn up, pays better dividends, and long-term assistance is critical to ensuring the sector is not co-opted by political and societal rivalries." (Conclusion, page 31-32)
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"This report provides an in-depth overview of the current state and trends of data protection regulation of seven North African countries – namely Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco, Libya, Sudan, and Tunisia. The st udy tackles regulatory approaches, key principles, and selected instruments. Fro
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m the outset, the analysis was limited to a textual analysis of the respective data protection laws, including constitutional law (i.e., the “law in the books”). In detail, the study engages with the development and status of regional and sub-regional data protection frameworks in Africa. Political as well as international influences on the development (or the lack of) of data protection laws in North Africa were considered. In addition, for countries with a comprehensive data protection laws (i.e. Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia), the comparative assessment also looked into the scope of alignment and of divergence with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)." (Back cover)
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"Key findings include: Connectivity infrastructure is fairly well developed in coastal urban areas but lags behind in Libya’s sparsely populated southern region; COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of digital tools and services across sectors; however, Libyans are reluctant to adopt new tools du
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e to unfamiliarity with specific platforms, lack of trust, lack of digital literacy, or when they feel these tools and services are unnecessary; Many Libyan internet users are “Facebook literate,” but are less familiar with more advanced digital tools such as online payments; Libya’s decade-long conflict and instability have limited the House of Representatives' ability to clarify roles, and responsibilities, and to pass new legislation. Laws from the previous regime are still technically in force; The government is prioritizing digitalization; however, there are significant barriers to execution. These are tied to inadequate digital infrastructure, a piecemeal approach rather than an overall strategy, and insufficient legal and regulatory frameworks; Libyan government institutions have uneven cybersecurity capabilities and there is no information publicly available on cybersecurity strategies, data privacy laws or authority, or effective cyber crisis management; Civil society organizations and journalists have limited capacity to respond to cyber attacks and online harassment, often leading to self-censorship." (https://www.usaid.gov/digital-development)
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"This report examines eight cases of police and/or judicial harassment targeting known Moroccan dissidents, and two cases targeting independent media institutions. The report examines in detail 12 cases tried by Morocco courts." (Methodology)
"Drawing on cases from revolutionary France to the Russia of Vladimir Putin, the international authors probe the nature and agency of local blasphemy accusations, the historical and legal framework in which they were expressed and the violence, both physical and symbolic, accompanying them. In doing
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so, the volume reveals how cultures of blasphemy, and related acts of heresy, apostasy and sacrilege, were a companion to or acted as a trigger for physical action but also a form of how violence was experienced. More generally, it shows the importance of religious sensibilities in modern society and the violent potential contained in criticism or ridicule of the sacred and secular alike." (Publisher description)
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"Media of the Masses investigates the social life of an everyday technology - the cassette tape - to offer a multisensory history of modern Egypt. Over the 1970s and 1980s, cassettes became a ubiquitous presence in Egyptian homes and stores. Audiocassette technology gave an opening to ordinary indiv
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iduals, from singers to smugglers, to challenge state-controlled Egyptian media. Enabling an unprecedented number of people to participate in the creation of culture and circulation of content, cassette players and tapes soon informed broader cultural, political, and economic developments and defined "modern" Egyptian households. Drawing on a wide array of audio, visual, and textual sources that exist outside the Egyptian National Archives, Andrew Simon provides a new entry point into understanding everyday life and culture. Cassettes and cassette players, he demonstrates, did not simply join other twentieth century mass media, like records and radio; they were the media of the masses. Comprised of little more than magnetic reels in plastic cases, cassettes empowered cultural consumers to become cultural producers long before the advent of the Internet." (Publisher description)
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"Global Sceptical Publics is the first major study of the significance of different media for the (re)production of non-religious publics and publicity. While much work has documented how religious subjectivities are shaped by media, until now the crucial role of diverse media for producing and part
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icipating in religion-sceptical publics and debates has remained under-researched. With some chapters focusing on locations hitherto barely considered by scholarship on non-religion, the book places in comparative perspective how atheists, secularists and humanists engage with media – as means of communication and forming non-religious publics, but also on occasion as something to be resisted. Its conceptually rich interdisciplinary chapters thereby contribute important new insights to the growing field of non-religion studies and to scholarship on media and materiality more generally." (uclpress.co.uk)
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"Depuis le début du siècle courant, le Maroc a entrepris une série de stratégies centrées sur les technologies numériques. Il en a fait un choix politique délibéré et de premier ordre. La logique sous-jacente à l’ensemble de ces stratégies consistait à faire du numérique un outil de d
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éveloppement économique et social. Et l’ambition qui présidait était de faire de la transformation numérique la clef de voute de la transformation de l’économie, de l’administration, du territoire et de la société. Après presque deux décennies, et malgré les quelques avancées quantitatives réalisées ici ou là, les stratégies mises en oeuvre ont débouché sur un bilan mitigé. La montée en puissance demeure toujours un voeu pieux, faute d’une vision claire, de niveaux de pilotage cohérents et de mécanismes d’évaluation et de gouvernance probants." (Dos de couverture)
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"The online harassment of journalists is a phenomenon which has been on the rise in Europe over the last decade and it affects journalists' working lives. As an expression of mob censorship, online harassment raises questions about how media organisations react to online aggressions targeting their
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journalists, the consequences on the victims’ well-being and on the role of journalism in society. Yet, previous research has shown the lack of support mechanisms provided by journalists’ employers. In this article, we explore the hypothesis that the lack of organisational support towards targeted journalists is partly due to the challenges faced by media managers when trying to make sense of the phenomenon. This article offers a unique viewpoint on how 22 Belgian media managers from five media organisations struggle to define what online harassment is and how to respond to it. In turn, it shows that the vague understanding of what online harassment is seems to favour case-by-case organisational responses. Missing words and unstructured actions related to online harassment impede media managers from addressing online harassment as a collective issue in journalism and its consequences on the democratic debate." (Abstract)
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"By the time readers arrive at the end of Jones’s astonishing examination of social media in the Middle East, they will be completely persuaded that it is now impossible to tell whether anything they read online is true. Replete with bots and sock puppets, trolls and dupes, this online world is bo
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th profoundly silly and deeply scary. Accordingly, the book is by turns funny and terrifying as it details efforts by governments, notably Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, to shape what people say, think, and do. Jones acknowledges that governments have always used public relations and propaganda to influence audiences at home and abroad. But he shows that the new information and communication technologies, which were once thought destined to free civil society and strengthen the public sphere, are also tremendously effective tools of deception and tyranny. Armies of bots and trolls motivated by money, power, and, sometimes, it seems, sheer perversity, spew out tweets and posts, fake news articles, fake news outlets, and even fake journalists; as Jones puts it, “You are being lied to by people who do not even exist.” This deception pollutes public discourse across the Middle East and, more important, inhibits the critical thinking of the citizenry." (Review by Lisa Anderson in Foreign Affairs, January/February 2023)
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"El Kul is seen as an impartial, timely, relevant and trusted source of information in Libya: the vast majority of the survey respondents (over 90%) agreed or strongly agreed that El Kul is informative and provides balanced and trustworthy content. There was a 7% increase in the proportion of respon
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dents who strongly agreed with each of these statements between March 2020 and March 2021.
• El Kul helps to promote social cohesion and acceptance of diversity: 93% agreed or strongly agreed that El Kul represents Libyan society in its diversity, and 45% could recall examples of El Kul content demonstrating Libyans taking actions that contribute towards peace and reconciliation. They mentioned for instance recalling content showing individuals taking part in reconciliation or peace initiatives at the local/ community level or doing acts of solidarity between different regions or groups. Participants also reported that El Kul content prompted interest in understanding more about different ethnic groups and regions in Libya.
• El Kul supports women’s empowerment: Participants said that El Kul publishes useful content on women’s rights, issues and experiences. They said this made them think differently about the role of women in society and the violence and discrimination they experience. Two-fifths (42%) of survey respondents reported speaking in support of women’s empowerment/equality, and 26% of these said that they were strongly encouraged to do so by El Kul." (Key findings)
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