Violence & Media

The role played by the media throughout the Rwandan Genocide has justifiably attracted substantial attention from scholars. Since 1994, the increasing availability of transcripts of radio broadcasts online has helped produce a rich and fruitful body of research into the extremist propaganda of pre-, early-and late-genocide Rwanda. Through constructive engagement with the existing literature, we identify four common limitations that characterize studies to date: the tendency to solely analyze the broadcasts of Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), inconsistent/ convenient sampling from mismatched databases, a reliance on translations, and a lack of effort to design valid and reliable methods. By examining these methodological shortcomings and identifying solutions for each, this reflection argues that efforts to document the role of the radio in the Rwandan genocide are far from over and seeks to enhance future research into extremist communications both in the Rwandan case and further afield. This reflection seeks to identify the methodological shortcomings usually characterizing research on radio broadcasts during (and prior to) the Rwandan genocide, in order to pave the way for a more rigorous and systematic research programme on the topic. While the existing literature has proved fruitful in many ways and has displayed an increasing awareness of taking research design seriously, we outline a series of recurring meth-odological problems that continue to limit our understanding of radio's influence on the genocide and advance several potential solutions. Addressing these issues matters far beyond the Rwandan case: with emerging talks of an international tribunal for ISIS officials including media operatives, 1 and in the midst of booming extremist online communications , it is important to identify common methodological pitfalls associated with research on violent political actors' propaganda. To be sure, a richer understanding of the Rwandan case is critical to fully understanding the role of communication in inciting violence. The role of the radio-Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) in particular-in accompanying, encouraging, triggering, or legitimizing violence in the build-up and

As parents we raise our children with the belief and hope that they will always be safe no matter where they go. But it appears that the predators are often closer than expected. Games and films filled with violence are in our homes, on the Internet and on our smartphones. But does media reflect a violent society, or does it play a role in perpetuating violence and sexual abuse in society?

This article supplements the cathartic hypothesis on media violence articulated in Part One by tracing a genealogy of affective contagion that goes from Plato's critique of dramatic impersonation to Nietzche's diagnostic of mirroring reflexes, which anticipate contemporary accounts of affective contagion and mirror neurons. The effects of media violence on spectators are then reevaluated in light of the tradition of the mimetic unconscious.

It is suggested that long-term exposure to violent media may decrease sensitivity to depictions of violence. However, it is unknown whether persistent exposure to music with violent themes affects implicit violent imagery processing. Using a binocular rivalry paradigm, we investigated whether the presence of violent music influences conscious awareness of violent imagery among fans and non-fans of such music. Thirty-two fans and 48 non-fans participated in the study. Violent and neutral pictures were simultaneously presented one to each eye, and participants indicated which picture they perceived (i.e. violent percept, neutral percept or blend of two) via key presses, while they heard Western popular music with lyrics that expressed happiness or Western extreme metal music with lyrics that expressed violence. We found both fans and non-fans of violent music exhibited a general negativity bias for violent imagery over neutral imagery regardless of the music genres. For non-fans, this bias was stronger while listening to music that expressed violence than while listening to music that expressed happiness. For fans of violent music, however, the bias was the same while listening to music that expressed either violence or happiness. We discussed these results in view of current debates on the impact of violent media.

This article examines the media coverage of the case of the “Maníaco do Parque,” the most notorious serial killer in Brazil. It aims to show how this phenomenon cannot be placed in the realms of fantasy or grotesque; on the contrary, it is as much a part of our society as evil, despite our major efforts to suppress it. This work draws parallels between Francisco de Assis Pereira’s story with the pure and raw evil which can be represented by Serial Killers, and our search for extreme violence — which is only shown when we let go of the “spring” that holds our evil inside. It is our goal to discuss a new concept of violence and subjective issues that permeate this particular case — seriation — and to compare it to the fascination that ritualized violence provokes. News stories published by “Folha de S. Paulo” and excerpts of a segment aired on “Fantástico”, Globo TV’s Sunday show, are the qualitative sources used to study the “Maniac”, in which we analyze the language they use, their content, and the spectacularized treatment — somewhat naïve and irresponsible — they give to Serial Killers crimes.

Contemporary approaches to integrating "self" and the "other"—such as multiculturalism, cultural diversity, race relations, inclusiveness strategies, or identity politics—are flawed from the perspective of traditional thought. At their core, modernist ideologies are inimical to and destructive of all human diversity. The new face of antipathy to pluralism is becoming more deceptive as it grows less focused on respecting diversity and more on promoting ideological uniformity and the erection of a global monoculture. This essay argues that it is from a metaphysical perspective that human diversity can be fully understood and can seek to reconcile the dichotomy of "self" and the "other".

During the past decades, the assassination attempt has been treated from different disciplines. Nevertheless, the mediatization of the assassination attempt or its treatment in images and audiovisual media has been widely neglected. Starting from a triptych applicable to 19th century tyrannicides and articulated by the assassination performance, the perpetrator’s arrest and, finally, his punishment, we aim at verifying to what extent this model fits into 20th-century assassination attempts. For this reason, three key assassinations will be considered. First, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, perpetrated by Serbian nationalists, and which would lead to WWI. Second, the failed attempt on 20 July 1944 against Adolf Hitler in the Wolfsschanze; a plot in which many high rank officers of the Wehrmacht were involved. As third example, we will focus on John F. Kennedy’s assassination in
Dallas, on 22 November 1963, reputed to Lee H. Oswald.

Una forma interesante de estudiar la relación entre violencia y medios es la teoría del Cultivo que, sin oponerse a la posibilidad de los efectos especí cos de programas concretos sobre los individuos (por ejemplo, sentir miedo al ver una película de terror), más que interesarse en “probar efectos en la conducta agresiva”, lo que pretende es encontrar ciertas se- mejanzas entre la forma en que la tv retrata la realidad social y la forma en que se entiende ésta. Es decir, le interesan los procesos de más largo plazo.

Rarely does a geopolitical handbook also make such large and important contributions to uncomfortably critical social issues. This handbook is that rare example. The author, Aditi Aryal, takes our MD readers deep into some disturbing discussions – caste systems, systematic violence against women, rape, honor killings, gender stigmatizing, and societal sexism – not to just anecdotally expose people to some of the continued living horrors afflicting important regions of the world but to systematically analyze such atrocities so that their long-term political, economic, social, and diplomatic consequences are revealed.

What many around the world do not realize is how crippling these gross abuses of human decency can be for a nation and region writ large: these are not just individual crimes to be noted and then forgotten. The failure of societies, the failure of GLOBAL society, to make more effective progress and take a more rigid stand against injustice is a black mark on all countries, on all of us. This handbook in its own small way strives to be a light within that darkness and as such it is both informative and courageous. While the readers of MD will not find the content of this particular handbook for the faint of heart, the importance of acquiring this knowledge, of becoming more aware of the world that we live in as it truly is in so many places, should be considered a duty of all those fortunate enough to not be born into states where such systemic violence still exists and largely goes unchallenged.

The title of this work is no accident and no shameless marketing attempt to attract more readers. Rather, it is exposing in a single word the reason why overcoming systemic violence based on gender is so difficult. Social taboos run deep in every region, state, city, town, village. We will likely not succeed in eliminating them from the social conscience of people. But the attempt to ameliorate the power of taboo, its power to push rationality out and pull insanity in, is a noble one that all of us at the editorial staff at MD recognize as silently essential for the cause of future peace on so many different levels. The battle against taboo is the secret front end of the war against gender violence and oppression. Ultimately, the criminal justice systems of societies must improve to remedy those actions not prevented from occurring. But the real long-term comprehensive solution will be the effort to eliminate the fear of social taboos, to eliminate the stigma that drives many to commit ignorant violence in the first place.

                                                                    ~ Dr. Matthew Crosston

The objective of the project Self-defenceIT – Migrant women defend themselves against violence in New Media was to encourage confi dent and critical interaction with Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Self-defenceIT was concerned with supporting migrant women in guiding children and young people –particularly in relation to their use of mobile phones and the Internet. The impetus to address this fi eld arose out of the counselling work conducted by maiz, the autonomous cente rfor and by migrant women in Linz. It demonstrates one of the many aspects of political work carried out by autonomous organisations for migrant women. In the fi rst phase of the project, based on a political understanding of action research, we carried out interviews with migrant women (mothers and young women) in Germany, Greece, Austria and Spain. Central topics of discussion were the social and technical challenges relating to interaction with ICTs, along with the political and social concerns that result from these. This report is the result of a two-year collaboration between academics, trainers and consultants who themselves have experienced transnational migration.

In recent years, major media organizations have wondered if their coverage of mass shooters actually increases the risk of future attacks, and have asked how their reporting could be improved. In response, 149 experts have called for media to stop publishing the names and photos of mass killers (except during ongoing searches for escaped suspects), but continue reporting the other details of these crimes as needed. Here, we review some of the most important scientific findings on (a) the nature of media coverage of mass killers, (b) its consequences, and (c) solutions that could help make this coverage safer, and summarize how new studies published in this special issue of American Behavioral Scientist add to this valuable knowledge base.

Mit fachlichen Analysen und didaktischen Hinweisen zu vier Lektionen wird erarbeitet, wie Computerspiele in Bezug auf die Perspektiven Gewalt, Belohnung und Willensfreiheit für den Unterricht in ERG (Sek I) und Religionslehre (Sek II) thematisiert werden können.