Study: Gender disinformation in the Albanian media, hate speech and homophobia deepen

2023-09-26 20:13:46, Aktualitet CNA

Study: Gender disinformation in the Albanian media, hate speech and homophobia

Gender disinformation remains one of society's most troubling problems. The Faktoje organization observed the first 6 months of the year traditional and online media regarding gender disinformation.

The study of this news verification organization revealed that hate speech and disinformation in the media is directed mainly at women politicians, activists as well as women and girls in general.

The study of the organization Faktoje for the verification of news, based on an observation in the first half of this year on the Albanian media, concluded that gender disinformation is carried out through campaigns, manipulating facts and situations, where women activists of civil society are mostly attacked with untruths as well as those involved in politics and decision-making.

The head of the Faktoje Center, Klodiana Kapo, says that women in careers and in politics experience a language of hatred, violence, contempt for the way they speak or work, while on the other hand, the media justifies men's violence against women through the headlines they publish. .

"We see that there is a lot of gender disinformation, there is hateful and sexist language. Other studies have also shown that a large part of women in careers and in politics have claimed that during their careers they have suffered a lot of hatred and verbal violence, and even a significant part of them have withdrawn from these commitments, because they have it was very difficult to continue," says Mrs. Kapo.

Study: Gender disinformation in the Albanian media, hate speech and homophobia

In the office of the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, complaints and denunciations on gender-based issues are increasing.

Some contain concerns in the workplace due to gender, labor relations solutions due to pregnancy, as well as health problems caused by pregnancy and postpartum.

Commissioner Robert Gajda says that a permanent and most disturbing problem remains contemptuous, prejudicial, stereotyping language with a gender background in traditional and online media.

"Women for the most part are subjects of prejudice in any kind of field of their lives. Even from a recent study that we have done on violence in politics against women, we have found that one of the biggest concerns raised by women politicians and who have covered state functions is exactly the language that is used against them as within political parties where they belong, as do political opponents of other parties. The same thing happens in the media," says Mr. Gajda.

Activists claim that many women activists and politicians are reluctant to get involved, have withdrawn or are considering withdrawing from public life, due to these disinformation attacks.

These disinformation campaigns, the authors of the study claim, are responsible for the ongoing violence against women.

The authors express concern that the unstable financial model of Albanian portals may lead them to receive money from donors with vested interests, so gender disinformation is used by the media to secure profits from online income.

While the expert on gender issues, Edlira Çepani, head of the Network for equality in decision-making, says that firstly, women and girls are portrayed negatively and secondly, they do not have the necessary spaces in the media to convey the messages of their commitments.

"In all the studies we have done, one of the main barriers for girls and women to enter and become part of politics is precisely their wrong portrayal in the media and it is the language of hate. They are afraid of how they will be portrayed on social networks and in the media. On the other hand, one of the biggest problems is also the lack of opportunities for them to give their messages through the media", says Ms. Çepani.

The study notes that through distorted headlines, the media justify men's violence in events, which are recycled even after a few years.

Hate speech has permeated social networks, while the media has expanded sexism and misrepresentations of women and girls, who are beginning to enter politics and decision-making.

These disinformation campaigns, the study says, incite violence and homophobia against LGBTI people, and are carried out at the same time as similar campaigns in Europe and beyond, aiming to increase mistrust towards the EU and towards Western values./ REL