Disinformation, sexism, hate speech, conspiracy theories, and discrediting campaigns and campaigns to deny war crimes are used by political elites, mainstream media, anonymous portals, and certain groups, in order to discredit their political opponents and influence voters, according to a months-long research by “Mediacentar Sarajevo”, the results of which were published in the publication “Harmful narratives during elections: Discrediting campaigns, gender stereotypes, and hate narratives”.
From August 2nd to October 31st last year, journalists and researchers of “Mediacentar Sarajevo” examined more than 25.000 content based on keywords from 100 different sources, from online and mainstream media and profiles on social networks, which was the reason for the organization of a professional discussion where certain recommendations were presented.
“The goal was to see which elements are used to influence the emotions of the voters. We looked at the use of war rhetoric, the use of hate speech, the use of discrediting campaigns, how the past is connected to today’s elections and how it is used to manipulate voters,” said Anida Sokol, researcher of “Mediacentar Sarajevo” and editor of the publication.
The publication, she stated, talks about how electoral will is determined in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) by manipulating emotions, and adds that everything can be connected to the recent events in Banja Luka when, after political speeches, hate speech and intolerance, activists, journalists and members of the Organizing Committee of the BiH Pride Parade were attacked.
United Kingdom (UK) Ambassador to BiH Julian Reilly points out that the “Mediacentar Sarajevo” research showed that the public is continuously exposed to toxic narratives that contain sexism, hate speech, conspiracy theories, smear campaigns, and denial of war crimes and that political leaders are cited as the main culprits.
“These actions are undermining and eroding the democracy of this country. All this may not be a surprise, but this report should be a call to action. The media, civil society, and the general public have a role to play. Voters want politicians to focus on the issues that are most important to citizens and for the campaigns to be decent,” said the UK Ambassador Reilly, Detektor reports.
E.Dz.
