The Role of media in spreading dangerous speech in the war in Tigray, Ethiopia during 2020-2022
Master thesis
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https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3125900Utgivelsesdato
2023Metadata
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- Master’s theses (LandSam) [1065]
Sammendrag
Hate speech plays a significant role in ethnic conflict and war but we lack a good understandingof how and under what circumstances such discourse correlates with violence. To address thisgap, Maynard and Benesch (2012) proposed the concept of ‘dangerous speech’, anddifferentiated between intent and capacity. Understanding the risks associated with disseminatingdangerous speech through mass media may facilitate monitoring, early warning and preventionof mass violence and is a necessary step in exploring effective forms ofcountering dangerous speech. This research examined how dangerous speech shared onmainstream media has intensified identity-based violence in the Tigray war in Ethiopia that tookplace from 2020 to 2022 as well as the role of journalists in relation to dangerous speech. Thestudy utilized the dangerous speech framework to analyse leaders’ speeches as well as data frominterviews with Ethiopian journalists based on thematic analysis of reports and interview data.The research identified examples of dangerous speech by government authorities including:dehumanization, assertion of attack against women and girls, guilt attribution, and threat to groupintegrity.
Secondly, it found that state used media in disseminating dangerous speech throughmanipulating longstanding historical grievances for political gains and to justify their positionand action while journalists showed loyalty to their ethnic identity and lacked professionalism,which was evident in their divergent views on national issues such as origin of the Tigray war,the role of Eritrea in the war, Ethiopian ethnic federalism and future of the country, and thismade it difficult for the journalists to challenge dangerous speech.Keywords: dangerous speech framework, Tigray war, Ethiopia, media, mass violence