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25 Apr 2016
25 April 2016<br />
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More than 150 delegates gather in Amman on Tuesday 26 April 2016 for the Hate Speech on Digital and Social Media Conference which is organized by the Jordan Media Institute (JMI) in cooperation with Norwegian Institute of Journalism (IJ).<br />
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The two-day meeting is held under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Rym Ali, founder of the institute. The opening session will include remarks by Dean Basim Tweissi, Aidan White, director of the Ethical Journalism Network and IJ’s Frode Rekve.<br />
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At least 24 papers will be presented by Jordanian, Arab and international academics and media leaders with contributions and case studies from Rwanda, Syria, Kosovo and Turkey. They will tackle several themes including social justice and hate speech, how the media reflects hate through images, the role of arts in challenging hate and the Amman Message as a narrative against hate speech.<br />
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The conference comes amid widespread regional instability and subversive use of media, spearheaded by extremist groups in Arab communities, to spread venomous political and cultural ideas and provoke hatred and violence.<br />
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Extremist groups also use digital and social media to recruit youth, taking advantage of divisions within communities, ignorance and intolerance. These media are similarly invested in spreading hatred against religious and ethnic minorities, while the threat of employing them against migrants and refugees is on the rise.<br />