News
Monthly monitoring highlights: a range of hateful discourse throughout March
Throughout the month of March, the RDN monitoring team has detected a range of hateful narratives and discourse. Transphobia and Homophobia in Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina In Albania, Syri TV’s morning show called ‘Kafe Shqeto’ invited a member of the queer community in Albania – Luana Myrto – a transgender woman as well as …
THE INVISIBLE BURDEN ON WOMEN JOURNALISTS
NEW REPORT CONFIRMS WIDE SCALE SEXISM IN KOSOVO’S NEWSROOMS. The majority of journalists reporting from the field on most Kosovar television networks are women. They even report in dangerous situations, such as during the recent tensions in the north of Kosovo. They do it all: protests, parties, vox-pop and more. More noteworthy is that over …
WHY DOES SERBIA GROW MANY A SAPIC AND JUST THE ODD GARY LINEKER
Manipulating the myth of Kosovo, the politics of Aleksandar Vučić has enabled public/media discourse to become consumed with hatred towards vulnerable groups (women, the LGBTQ+ population, people of different religious and political affiliations) and almost completely devoid of empathy and solidarity. When former British footballer and current sports presenter Gary Lineker tweeted about the UK …
TROLL OF THE MONTH: Stefan Lazarov, YouTube influencer
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. A popular North Macedonian YouTuber and influencer by the name …
THE ALBANIANS SAILING TO THE U.K.
XENOPHOBIA AND SIMPLISTIC NARRATIVES HARM ALBANIAN ASYLUM-SEEKERS IN THE U.K. Last November, the British Home Office Secretary Suella Braverman raised the alarm in Parliament about “an invasion of the southern coast by illegal boats.” She emphasized in particular the increase in Albanian arrivals, whom she accused of scamming the U.K. government and taking advantage of laws …
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, …
THE WAR IN UKRAINE, SCAMS AND COVID CONSPIRACIES
FACT-CHECKING IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA. At Raskrinkavanje — a fact-checking website devoted to debunking disinformation and misinformation circulating in the news and on social media — 2022 was a busy year. The disinformation trends in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) mostly revolved around the invasion of Ukraine, the General elections held in October, conspiratorial echoes of the covid-19 …
FIGHTING DISINFORMATION IN NORTH MACEDONIA
MALIGN AND UNDEMOCRATIC INFLUENCES ARE TRYING TO HOLD US BACK. Disinformation comes in waves. Sometimes you are flooded in it, other times it makes itself scarce. When the media landscape is flooded with news, the disinformation also becomes plentiful. And the other way around. The strength of a disinformation wave depends on the type of …