News

Monthly Monitoring Highlights: sexism, ethnic and religious tensions during February
Throughout the month of February, the RDN monitoring team has detected a range of hateful narratives and discourse. This month we have witnessed sexism, religious and ethnic discrimination, and homophobia in the Western Balkans media. Sexism in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Albania In Bosnia and Herzegovina, portal Klix.ba published an article regarding the composition …

TROLL OF THE MONTH: Milorad Dodik, president of Republika Srpska
The Balkan Troll of the Month is an individual, a group of individuals or a media outlet that spreads hate based on gender, ethnicity, religion, or other diversity categories. The Balkan Troll is selected based on hate speech incidents identified across the Western Balkans region. February Troll is Milorad Dodik, president of Republika Srpska, for, …

TROLL OF THE MONTH – SELECTION CRITERIA
The goal of the Reporting Diversity Network 2.0 monitoring is to identify and document the most significant cases (‘incidents’) of hate speech and divisive discourses in the Western Balkans media. Incidents are defined by the speaker regardless of where they occurred, but monitoring refers to their media coverage. They can originate in the Parliament, party …

MEDIA MONITORING REPORTS: Hate speech in the Balkans mainly targets ethnicity, gender identity and sexual orientation
According to the media monitoring reports produced within the Reporting Diversity Network 2.0 project, three categories were identified as the main target of hate speech: ethnicity, gender identity and sexuality. These three categories which were the result of monitoring 465 single incidents across the region, make up more than fifty percent of cases (53,13%). Within …

Monthly monitoring highlights: Sexism and ethnic discrimination
Throughout the month of January, the RDN monitoring team has detected a range of hateful narratives and discourse. This month, in the Western Balkans media, there has been sexism, ethnic discrimination and hate speech against political opponents. Ethnic discrimination in Kosovo and Montenegro In Kosovo, Shqipdon Salijaj, a freelance videographer from Kacanik, published a video …

TROLL OF THE MONTH: Portal Kosovo Online
The Balkan Troll of the Month is an individual, a group of individuals or a media outlet that spreads hate based on gender, ethnicity, religion, or other diversity categories. The Balkan Troll is selected based on hate speech incidents identified across the Western Balkans region. January Troll of the month is portal Kosovo Online for …

WHEN FAILURE TO ACT IS A MURDER
Impunity for all forms of gender-based violence gives rise to distrust in institutions, and encourages the repeat of violence and its culmination in femicide. “A state that does not act is a state that kills” is one of the slogans that can be heard during the March 8 protest marches in the capital, Skopje, for …

SENSATIONAL HEADLINES BREED HATE SPEECH
Regardless of whether they post from their personal or fake profiles on social media, Macedonians, can be described as being very “eloquent” when it comes to spreading hate speech. Hate speech is not unknown to users of social media in Macedonia. On the contrary – when it comes to a stereotypical or political topic, the …

Monthly monitoring highlights: Homophobia and ethnic intolerance during December
Throughout the month of December, the RDN monitoring team has detected a range of hateful discourse. There has been a rise in homophobia and ethnic discrimination in the region. Homophobia in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Kosovo The release of the animated children’s movie, Strange World by Disney has sparked much controversy within the …

TROLL OF THE MONTH: Albin Kurti and Vjosa Osmani
The Balkan Troll of the Month is an individual, a group of individuals or a media outlet that spreads hate based on gender, ethnicity, religion, or other diversity categories. The Balkan Troll is selected based on hate speech incidents identified across the Western Balkans region. This month another femicide happened in Kosovo, the second one …

THE INVISIBLE WOMEN
Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian women are among the most vulnerable groups in our society and, historically, they have been treated as citizens of the lowest order. They face contempt, hostility and social and institutional discrimination on a daily basis. This research carried out by QIKA scrutinizes the inter-sectoral nature of challenges which women of these …