Hate Speech as Part of Contemporary Public Discourse and Possible Solutions to Support Public Administration: European Parliament Elections in Croatia

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-216
Author(s):  
Vlasta Kučiš ◽  
Darja Kupinić Gušić

This article deals with hate speech in public discourse and the media, emphasizing the importance of detecting it in a timely manner in order to remove it. This falls within the scope of the tasks of public administration according to the EU’s normative framework because language is one of the main ways that discrimination is enacted. To this end, the empirical research was carried out in two parts. The first part identifies and analyzes unacceptable public behavior (hate speech), defining types of occurrence as opposed to insults and slander, and identifying the advantages and disadvantages of using language technologies for timely identification. The second part of the research detects occurrences of hate speech in Croatian offline media using the example of the 2019 European Parliament elections, drawing attention to a number of methodological obstacles preventing timely identification of hate speech. The results of this investigation contribute to understanding the linguistic-discursive construction of offline and online hate speech in multicultural communities. It is hoped that regulatory authorities will use the results of this research to facilitate implementation of the EU normative framework.

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-439
Author(s):  
Kamber Güler

Discourses are mostly used by the elites as a means of controlling public discourse and hence, the public mind. In this way, they try to legitimate their ideology, values and norms in the society, which may result in social power abuse, dominance or inequality. The role of a critical discourse analyst is to understand and expose such abuses and inequalities. To this end, this paper is aimed at understanding and exposing the discursive construction of an anti-immigration Europe by the elites in the European Parliament (EP), through the example of Kristina Winberg, a member of the Sweden Democrats political party in Sweden and the political group of Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy in the EP. In the theoretical and methodological framework, the premises and strategies of van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach of critical discourse analysis make it possible to achieve the aim of the paper.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. P. Malecki ◽  
Marta Kowal ◽  
Małgorzata Dobrowolska ◽  
Piotr Sorokowski

According to a view widely held in the media and in public discourse more generally, online hating is a social problem on a global scale. However, thus far there has been little scientific literature on the subject, and, to our best knowledge, there is even no established scholarly definition of online hating and online haters in the first place. The purpose of this manuscript is to provide a new perspective on online hating by, first, distinguishing online hating from the phenomena it is often confused with, such as trolling, cyberstalking, and online hate speech, and, second, by proposing an operational definition of online hating and online haters based on ethnographic interviews and surveys of the existing scholarly literature.


Author(s):  
Dorian Pocovnicu ◽  
Mădălina Manolache ◽  
Gheorghe Epuran

Communication in marketing has always been a continuous conceptual hybrid of input from various domains: marketing, P.R., communication, sociology. With the constant transformation of web 2.0. phenomenon, the demarcation lines between these domains and their influence has become more blured and difficult to pinpoint. As a result, specific research methods and theories have become adaptable instruments, laying the path for grounded theory approaches or new research methods. Framing theory, having as basis that the media focuses attention on certain events and then places them within a field of meaning, has shifted towards organisations, and further on, to institutions. Framing is a quality of communication that leads others to accept one meaning over another. Framing theory suggests that how something is presented (the “frame”) influences the choices people make. In online communicative contexts, their own personal framings allows the communicative actors to make use of language and forethought so that specific embodiments of future evolutions may be depicted. In our case, we shall focus on the topic: European Parliament elections, which are to take place in 2014, and on the manner in which it has been framed in two online chat session with three MEPs. It is our intention to identify the framing techniques used, the framing links and the framing alignments.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 602-607 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sun Sun Lim

This article reflects on the growing scourge of hate speech and its propagation via digital social media networks. It discusses how media studies has drawn attention to salient aspects of online hate speech including technological affordances, communication tactics, representational tropes, and audience response. It argues that insights from media studies are vital for unpacking the societal impact of the media and indeed for tackling a destructive force such as online hate speech. It further encourages media studies scholars to engage vigorously with colleagues in and across other disciplines to forge interdisciplinary research collaborations to address pressing societal issues. It urges media studies scholars to connect with the realms of industry, policy making, and civic society to ensure that the public discourse on the challenges of digitalization and mediatization is academically informed, evidence-based, and finely balanced.


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-68
Author(s):  
Elena Yu. Berezkina

The author studies how gender related topics are presented in the Italian populist parties and the populist political leader’s discourse. Based on the qualitative and quantitative content analysis of the texts of the representatives of political parties in the media and their posts on their Facebook page, as well as the texts of political programs of political parties that participated in the elections to the European Parliament in 2019, the main gender themes of contemporary Italian society are highlighted. The second part of the paper is devoted the analysis of women representation in the parties’ election lists for the European Parliament elections. The aim of the paper is to identify how gender topics are reflected in the speeches of politicians and political programs of the parties, to determine the relevance of this topic. The empirical basis of the study are the text units (comments, articles, posts in the social media), and the texts of political programs of Italian populist political parties. According to the article gender topics are usually integrated in the themes of economy development and financial support for different groups of the population. However, the gender related themes are not dominant in the discourse of Italian populists. The established populist parties cover gender issues much less than parties-newcomers. The reason of presence of women in the lists of candidates mainly is a legal requirement, but not a public need. The research results can be used as an auxiliary material in the study of the key peculiarities of Italian populism.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Franco Zappettini ◽  
Marzia Maccaferri

This paper analyses the digital communication of Italian parties Lega and Movimento 5 Stelle during their campaigns for the European Parliament elections (January-May 2019). We focus on the Italian case as it is representative of a generalised shift in European public discourse towards an overt delegitimation of the European project and its re-imagination. In the Italian case, Lega and Movimento 5 Stelle, which were in a Government coalition for fourteen months, have been instrumental in Italy’s shift from a strong Europhile country to one of the most Eurosceptic. However, while Lega has definitely aligned itself with a strong right-wing populist agenda, Movimento 5 Stelle has promoted a populist technocratic vision of democracy. Our analysis shows that the articulation of Eurosceptic discourses from both parties by and large reflects the two stances above with Lega’s messages (primarily produced by its leader Matteo Salvini) characterised by a ‘hyperled’ style of communication and stronger nativist elements (for example the appeal to an ethno-centric and ‘sovereign’ idea of Italy) than those of Movimento 5 Stelle, which instead relied on a ‘horizontal’ communicative style. However, our data also shows that the delegitimation of Europe in both parties occur along a similar domestication of European affairs into the national political agenda and the call for a reformed Europe along nationalistic logics which both parties claimed to champion.


Politologija ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Stasiak-Jazukiewicz ◽  
Marta Jas-Koziarkiewicz ◽  
Renata Mienkowska - Norkiene

The 2019 European Parliament (EP) elections coincided with the discussions about the need to change the European integration model. These discussions were forced by the refugee crisis and Brexit. In this article, the authors investigate the media representation of programs proposed by Polish political parties in the campaign for EP 2019 elections. The purpose is to determine how the media reported on these programs (media agenda). The research question required the supplementation of the study with an analysis of the political parties’ programs. The research model is based on an agenda-setting theory. The empirical section presents the results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis of both media and political agendas, confirming the discrepancy between them.


Author(s):  
Siti Aeisha Joharry ◽  
Nor Diyana Saupi

The International Convention for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), which was not ratified in Malaysia, created a heated public discourse in the media. This cross-linguistic comparative study investigates the representation of ICERD in Malaysian news reports of two online sources in Malaysia – the widely read English portal: The Star Online, and its Malay equivalent: Berita Harian. A corpus-assisted discourse analysis was conducted to examine how news on ‘ICERD’ were reported in both English and Malay online newspapers. Initial comparative analysis of both newspapers revealed that the search term co-occurs statistically more frequently with the verb ‘ratify’ and its equivalent: ‘meratifikasi’. Patterns indicate that ‘ICERD’ was mostly referring to the act of sanctioning the agreement –particularly to ‘not ratify’ or ‘tidak akan meratifikasi’, which is concurrent with the timeframe of events. Interestingly, different patterns can be found in Berita Harian (e.g. the expression of ‘thanks’ or gratitude of not ratifying ICERD) that are not as revealing in The Star Online reports. Some inconsistencies were also reported between the two newspapers, e.g. referring to different ministers’ speech about the initial plan to ratify ICERD alongside five (The Star Online) or six (Berita Harian) other treaties in the following year.  


Public Voices ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Nolan J. Argyle ◽  
Lee M. Allen

Pre-service and in-service MPA students share a common desire for hands-on, real world instruction related to their professional career goals, leading to a pedagogic discounting of fiction as an appropriate tool for analyzing and "solving" problems. However, several factors weigh heavily in favor of using science fiction short stories and novellas in the MPA classroom setting. These include the need for interesting case scenarios exploring various administrative issues; leveling the playing field between the two types of students by de-emphasizing the use of "contemporary" cases; access to literature that explores the future shock of increasing organizational complexity; and the desirability of Rorschach type materials that facilitate discussion of. values and administrative truths. The discussion proceeds by tracing the development of the case study technique, its advantages and disadvantages in the classroom, addressing the utility of "fiction" as an educational resource, and showing how the science fiction literature has matured to the point where it can be applied in all of the major sub-fields of public administration. Several outstanding examples are detailed, and a thorough bibliography is provided.


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