MEDIA MONITORING REPORT: A REGIONAL OVERVIEW
August 16, 2022
Author: Norbert Šinković
Publisher: Media Diversity Institute
Overall, 465 single-incident reports were made throughout the observation period in the region, which attracted wider public attention in the media. Three categories were identified as the main target of these incidents: ethnicity, gender and sexual minorities. These three categories together make up more than fifty percent of cases (53,13%).
Sentiment analysis of all the national cases yields an average position on the framework’s scale of violence between 3 and 4, which means that most of the incidents fall under the category of nonviolent
insults, albeit with a tendency to demonise and dehumanise some groups or individual members of a social group.
Although these findings are not new, this research showed a high level of normalisation of these narratives in the monitored countries. Dehumanisation and distinction between “us” and “them”, are dominant processes which are crucial for maintaining, in some cases, the societal status quo, or to secure a political advantage for certain groups in society.
Hate speech is often used for political campaigns and regularly employed as a powerful tool in public debates.
Research methodology expert: Snježana Milivojevic
Research methodology expert and editor: Stefan Janjic
