Monthly Monitoring Highlights May: sexism and genocide denial

Throughout the month of May, the RDN monitoring team has detected a range of hateful narratives and discourse. This month, we have seen hatred based on gender, sexual orientation, genocide denial, and hatred against political opponents. Sexism in Montenegro, North Macedonia and Kosovo. In Montenegro, during the TV show “Some like it hot” on Adria …

SENSATIONALIST MEDIA COVERAGE DEHUMANIZES EDONA JAMES

CLICKBAIT ARTICLES ARE UNETHICAL AND HARMFUL FOR THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY.  While sitting at a restaurant in Prishtina this past winter, I overheard a conversation between two waiters. Their discussion was difficult to ignore. “I understand that people are free to live however they want,” said one of the waiters, “but how should we explain it …

WHO’S AFRAID OF UNMARRIED MOTHERS?

GENDERED DISINFORMATION HAS PLAGUED THE DEBATE ABOUT KOSOVO’S IVF DRAFT LAW. In a TV debate in February 2024, Ferid Agani, Kosovo’s former health minister, declared that “A woman without a partner is mentally unstable.” Agani said this in reference to unmarried women who have a child through in vitro fertilization (IVF) with an unknown donor, as the Draft Law …

WE ONLY HAVE EACH OTHER

THE POLICE PRESENCE ON MARCH 8 WAS AN ATTEMPT TO SUPPRESS FEMINIST PROTEST. In early March 2024, the MARShojmë S’Festojmë collective announced that it would hold a protest on March 8, International Women’s Day. The organizers of the march, which has been organized annually since 2016, decided that this year they would march for each …

Monthly Monitoring Highlights April: femicides, genocide denials and hatred aimed towards journalists

Throughout the month of April, the RDN monitoring team has detected a range of hateful narratives and discourse. This month, we have seen hatred based on gender, ethnicity, and hatred against journalists. Femicide in Kosovo In Kosovo, two femicides took place in the month of April over a period of less than a week. At …

REGIONAL MEDIA MONITORING: Ethnicity and gender identity remain the main targets of hate speech as political targeting is on the rise

Reporting Diversity Network has been continuously conducting media monitoring of hate speech on a regional level for almost four years. Our latest set of reports show findings from May 2022 until December 2023. Gender identity and ethnicity remain the most targeted identities, as more than half of all recorded cases across the region referred to …

Monthly Monitoring Highlights March: ethnic hatred, sexism, hate towards journalists and political opponents

Throughout the month of March, the RDN monitoring team has detected a range of hateful narratives and discourse. This month, we have seen hatred based on ethnicity, gender and hatred towards journalists and political opponents. Ethnic hatred in Bosnia and Herzegovina Klix.ba, the most read web portal in Bosnia and Herzegovina reported on an incident …

Monthly Monitoring Highlights February: sexism, gender-based violence, anti-migrant rhetoric, ethnic discrimination, and hatred towards journalists

Throughout February, the RDN monitoring team has detected a range of hateful narratives and discourse. This month, we have seen hatred based on gender, ethnicity as well as the spread of anti-migrant rhetoric and hatred towards journalists. Sexism in Serbia In Serbia, on Insajder TV, actress Ljubinka Klarić was a guest on the show Treća …

TROLL OF THE MONTH: Dr. Ferid Agani

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. In Kosovo, there has been a large debate and divide …