Glossary of Hate Speech in Egyptian Media Launches in Cairo
24 October 2017
Ethical Journalism Network, American University in Cairo and Egypt Media Development Programme launch Glossary of Hate Speech in Egyptian Media to help media identify hate speech and deal ethically with dangerous words and images.
The Glossary of Hate Speech in Egyptian Media, launched this week in at the American University in Cairo, provides a legal background on hate speech in an Egyptian, regional and international context. The guide provides examples of where media have fallen short of their ethical responsibilities when dealing with dangerous language and images. But it also illustrates good practice and provides guidance to help journalists and media identify hate speech and report on it in an ethical context using the EJN's five-point test for hate speech.
The EJN five-point test for speech, which has been developed by EJN advisers and is based upon international standards, highlights some of the questions that need to be asked in the gathering, preparation and dissemination of news and information to help journalists and editors place what is said and who is saying it in an ethical context. For more background read our in-depth guide on how to use the test.
To follow up on the positive response to the Egyptian hate speech glossary the EJN will be hosting a workshop on how to use the guide at the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism's annual conference in Jordan in December and plan to launch new glossary initiatives in Lebanon and Jordan in 2018.
Clashes between white supremacists and anti-racist protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia in mid-August highlighted the blurry lines between freedom of speech and hate speech in the public sphere. But how does the media industry differentiate between the two, as the rise of social media makes expressing oneself online easier than ever – but harder and harder to control?
In this article for the World Association of Newspapers, Collette Davidson interviews EJN Director of Campaigns and Communications Tom Law and EJN Board Member Chris Elliott, as well as Maria Ressa, CEO of Rappler in the Philippines.
HATE SPEECH - A Dilemma for Journalists the World Over
In the EJN's Ethics in the News report from earlier this year, Cherian George wrote that: Hate speech presents a major challenge to today’s journalism. Socially conscious journalists have been rightly alarmed at how rapidly hate-filled messages seep into, and often overwhelm, comment on the internet. Less talked about is how journalists’ own professional procedures — including how news is defined — may amplify the voices of hate propagandists. Then there are the media outlets that purvey intolerance, serving as ideological spokesmen and cheerleaders for forces of hate, from xenophobics to religious extremists.
ETHICS & GOOD GOVERNANCE AT THE CENTRE OF MEDIA DEVELOPMENT
In the face of a growing global information crisis and collapsing public confidence in journalism one of the world’s leading media development agencies this week adopted a ground-breaking strategy to put ethics and good governance at the heart of its multi-million global programme. The Denmark-based International Media Support, has launched a global standard for quality journalism drawing upon policies and strategies pioneered by the Ethical Journalism Network. The new strategy responds to increasing concerns over so-called fake news and the rise of technology-driven propaganda which have blurred the lines between reliable journalism and misinformation.
Aidan White at the IMS offices in Copenhagen last week to discuss the launch of a global standard for quality journalism drawing upon policies and strategies pioneered by the Ethical Journalism Network. (Photo: IMS)
For decades media development groups have taken for granted the familiar values and principles of journalism, but turbo-charged propaganda from a new breed of authoritarian politician; a rapid decline in journalistic capacity; and the emergence of Internet business models that make no distinction between abusive content and reliable public information have prompted some radical rethinking.
IMS sets out a challenge that should resonate with media development groups across the globe: “The need for reliable and relevant journalism has never been greater, prompting IMS to put even more emphasis on the production and distribution of journalism that is ethical and professional, and in the public-interest. This requires us to be clear about the standards of journalism we subscribe to, and how we want to uphold these standards in the work we do, so that the public can trust, rely on and relate to the journalism we promote.”
CYPRUS JOURNALISTS JOIN FORCES TO BUILD BRIDGES AGAINST HATE
Journalists in Cyprus have launched a ground-breaking programme to help break an information impasse that has been in place since Turkish military action in the north led to the division of the country in 1974.
Leaders of journalists’ unions and the two media councils, responsible for self-regulation of media on both sides of the divide, met in the demilitarised buffer zone that separates the country’s Greek and Turkish-speaking communities on October 9 for a series of meetings with Harlem Désir, the recently-appointed Representative on Freedom of the Media of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
The country’s two press councils and unions of journalists gave their unanimous backing to an EJN proposal for the creation of a joint glossary of insensitive words and potentially inflammatory speech to counter stereotypes and hate speech in media reporting.
Last week the EJN's Director of Campaigns and Communications, Tom Law, appeared on Al Jazeera's flagship current affairs programme, Inside Story, to discuss whether the duopoly of Facebook and Google are doing enough to fight dangerous content on their platforms.
