The language of hatred present in the media of Kosovo, its prevention is required

The language of hate is present in the media of Kosovo and concrete actions are needed for prevention, in order to avoid possible hate crimes, it was said at the table organized by the ATRC, on Friday, in Prizren. In this meeting, the findings of the "Hate O Meter" report were revealed, in which the information related to the work that must be carried out by the media and institutions for the prevention of hate crimes and the prevention of the incitement of hatred in society was revealed.

Mediana Bislimi from the ATRC has emphasized that the purpose of this research is to highlight the use of hate speech on ethnic, gender, racial, religious and other grounds in public, as well as to combat this phenomenon, which incites acts or crimes hatred.

While the manager, Hera Luma, presenting the findings of the report, emphasized that they are based on the research of written and audiovisual media for the period January-June 2019, and January-June 2020.

"This research is focused on the analysis of the content of articles and broadcasts from the Kosovar media of national and local frequency. In total, 10 electronic media were selected for the textual analysis of the media articles, and 6 television channels for the analysis of the language used in the television shows", she said, adding that the electronic articles of 7 electronic media that have a national audience were analyzed. and 3 local frequency media.

"The total number of textual materials (articles) treated is 2.512, while audiovisual materials, or broadcasts, is 201. Of the 2.512 treated articles, 453 or 18.03% contain problematic language, namely hate speech and prejudicial language, of which 314 or 12.05% only with hate speech. Whereas, out of the 201 broadcasts covered, 86 of them deal with topics for the selected communities, where 12 or 13.95% are with prejudicial language, i.e. hate speech and prejudicial language, and 8 or 9.30% are with hate language. Luma stated.

According to her, taken in total, the RAE communities are the most exposed to hate speech in media articles, followed by the Serbian community with very little difference.

"Of the articles dealing with immigrants/refugees and the LGTBIQ community, 45 articles used hateful language for immigrants/refugees and 11 articles for members of the LGBTIQ community," she said.

As for the distribution of the type of hateful and prejudiced language according to the communities, Luma has announced that the data show that the Serbian minority is prone to violent representation, while the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities lead in terms of prejudicial language towards them. .

"The language directed towards immigrants/refugees is dominated by their violent representation. The most interesting finding may be that the LGBTIQ community is the only community against which language is used that calls for their murder. Of the 6 articles that call for the killing of the 'other', all of them are addressed to members of the LGBTIQ community, which shows the radical and intimidating discourse that exists for this community", she announced, while also mentioning a series of recommendations that have emerged from this report.

The councilor from the ranks of the LVV in the KK of Prizren, Karanfil Haxhillari, has accepted the existence of hate speech not only in the media, but also in public institutions, which come as a result of clashes in the political arena.

"As a society, we have problems with hate speech. Therefore, an intersectoral coordination is needed for improvement in this direction. If we do not make improvements, then we are not on the right path", said Haxhillari.

The civil society activist, Jubilea Kabashi, has affirmed the existence of hate speech in the public sphere, and requested increased attention from the media for reporting cases of domestic violence.

"There is a lot of room for correction", she said.

While Erolina Morina, a psychologist, has estimated that the language of hate is present not only in Kosovo, but all over the world, and that it is as old as the history of mankind.

"This phenomenon has a negative impact on society, therefore an all-round contribution is needed for prevention", concluded Morina.