Published: 22 December 2017

Country: United States

by Angelo Boccato

The “Me Too” movement has led to a change in the media approach towards sexual harassment allegations against men in position of power, but it has also exposed the lack, or a different standard of representation of black women who have denounced sexual harassment.

While the #MeToo hashtag was launched on Twitter in October 2017 by actress Alyssa Milano in the wake of sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein, the actual movement was founded back in 2006 by a black activist Tarana Burke. Although Burke was included in the story Person of the Year: “The Silence Breakers” by the TIME, she was omitted from the magazine’s cover.

Dates: 4-8 December 2017

Country: Romania, Bucharest

“Refugees are not the crisis. It is the narrative we tell about them”. This quote used in a presentation by Gabriela Leu from UNHCR, sums up the main message of a recent conference organised by the National Commission of Romania for UNESCO. Media representatives from 16 European countries gathered in Bucharest on 4 – 8 December to discuss the responsibility of journalists, editors and media outlets when reporting on topic related to refugees and migrants.

One of the topics discussed at the “The Role of Mass-Media in Treating the Refugees & Migrants Topic” conference was the language used in articles and reports on refugees and migrants. Depending on the country and depending on a status of an individual or a group, different terms are being used by the media. For instance “migrant”, “illegal migrant”, “asylum seeker”, “internally displaced person”, “refugee” – all these expressions refer to different situations and they must be used correctly.

Published: 12 December 2017

Country: Italy

By Angelo Boccato

In the current human rights crisis, migrants and refugees are not only victims of wars, wrong policies, smugglers’ greed, but often they are attacked, accused and discriminated by some media, mostly tabloids and right-wing publications.  On the occasion of the Human Rights Day, the Media Diversity Institute (MDI) has looked closely on the situation in Italy where, as Father Abba Mussie Zerai pointed out, it is possible to find different samples of the ‘new normal’ racist rhetoric.

Right-wing daily newspapers such as Il Giornale and Libero frequently publish inflammatory stories on migrants and refugees using expressions such as influx, invasion etc. Some of them label migrants as mad based on a research examining what kind of impact long journeys and violence can have on psyche and body of refugees and asylum seekers.

Published: 7 December 2017

Country: UK

“Retweets don't equal endorsements". Although used by many, this disclaimer does not take away the responsibility for what is said and done in the public sphere. The latter includes Twitter, Facebook and every other social media platform. But in case of Donald Trump who recently retweeted three anti-Muslim videos, the responsibility is not only on him. The responsibility for promoting or rather allowing hate speech, inflammatory content and messages that can spark violence and hatred, rest with Twitter too.

When the President of the United States promoted Britain First by retweeting its videos to 44 million followers, this far-right organisation was little known outside of the UK. After the President’s online move, Britain First claimed that it received hundreds of new members. Apart from boosting the far-right organisation’s membership and causing the online row with Theresa May who condemned this “hateful organisation”, Trump’s move has had, as the Guardian concluded, “the rare effect of uniting almost the entire British establishment in horror”.

Published: 7 December 2017

Region: Worldwide

Freedom House in its report Freedom on the Net 2017 concludes that online manipulation and disinformation tactics played an important role in elections in at least 18 countries over the past year, including the United States. Disinformation tactics contributed to a seventh consecutive year of overall decline in internet freedom, as did a rise in disruption and restriction to mobile internet service. Freedom House also concludes that China, for the third consecutive year was the world’s worst abuser of internet freedom, followed by Syria and Ethiopia.

“A record number of governments have restricted mobile internet service for political or security reasons, often in areas populated by ethnic or religious minorities”, says one of the key Freedom House’s report findings. Most of them are those who dispute the authority or fight for greater right, such as the Tibetan and Uighur communities in China, and also the Oromo and Amhara populations in Ethiopia. For instance, last year a Tibetan monk was sentenced to 13 years in prison for creating a WeChat group with intention of “offering prayers for Dalai Lama’s 80^th birthday”.

Deadline: 20 January 2018

Region: EU and Switzerland

CIVIS Media Foundation is calling applicants for CIVIS Media Prize 2018 to send their best radio, film and TV programmes as well as websites and webvideos on the theme of integration and cultural diversity. Closing date to apply for CIVIS Media Prize is 20 January 2018, while conditions of participation can be found here.

Production companies may directly submit to the competition. Webvideos on integration and cultural diversity may be submitted by residents of the European Union and Switzerland.