The roles of “old” and “new” media tools and technologies in the facilitation of violent extremism and terrorism

This chapter describes and discusses the roles of media tools and technologies in the facilitation of violent extremism and terrorism. Rather than focusing on how media report on terrorism, we investigate how extremist and terrorist groups and movements themselves have exploited various “traditional” and “new” media tools, from print to digital, outlining the significance that they have had on extremists’ ability to mark territory, intimidate some audiences, connect with other (sympathetic) audiences, radicalize, and even recruit. Underlined is that violent extremists and terrorists of all stripes have, over time, used every means at their disposal to forward their communicative goals. Also worth noting is that ‘old’ media tools are not extinct and while ‘new’ media play a prominent role in contemporary violent extremism and terrorism, ‘old’ tools—everything from murals to magazines—continue to be utilized in tandem with the former

Celebridades politizadas contra la extrema derecha en Twitter. Las preferencias políticas y la actividad de los usuarios al retuitear el tuit de Rosalía contra Vox después de las elecciones generales de 2019 en España

Celebrities use social networks to interact with and to mobilize their audiences (Zilinsky, Vaccari, Nagler & Tucker, 2019). Politicized celebrities may assume the role of leaders to counter politicians’ monopoly of political representation and to bring social awareness to specific causes (Street, 2004; Wheeler, 2013). This paper analyzes the impact of politicized celebrities in Twitter among politicized and non-politicized audiences. We focus on the case of the Catalan singer Rosalia, who published a short explicit tweet against the Spanish far-right populist party Vox with the text ‘Fuck vox’ the day after the Spanish general elections in November 2019. We measure the political preferences and activity of Rosalia’s followers, Fuck vox post’s retweeters, and users who retweeted the singer before and after the tweet. The results show that Rosalia had a great impact among left-wing and Catalan separatist parties, and among those users with no political preferences or political activity. In addition, we found that Rosalia’s followers were less likely to be politically active (Loader, Vromen & Xenos, 2016). This study sheds light on the potential of politicized celebrities to mobilize their non-politicized audiences to counter far-right movements in social networks.Las celebridades utilizan las redes sociales para interaccionar y movilizar a sus audiencias (Zilinsky, Vaccari, Nagler & Tucker, 2019). Las celebridades politizadas pueden asumir rol de líderes con el objetivo de confrontar el monopolio de los políticos e incrementar la notoriedad de causas específicas (Street, 2004; Wheeler, 2013). El objetivo de este artículo es analizar el impacto de las celebridades políticas en Twitter entre audiencias politizadas y no politizadas. Nos enfocamos en el caso de la cantante Rosalía, quien publicó un breve tuit contra Vox con el texto “Fuck Vox” tras las elecciones generales de noviembre de 2019. Medimos preferencias políticas y actividad de los seguidores de Rosalía, los retuiteadores del post tuit y los usuarios que habían retuiteado a la cantante antes del tuit y después. Los resultados muestran que Rosalía tuvo un gran impacto entre partidos de izquierda y separatistas, y entre usuarios sin preferencias políticas o actividad política. También encontramos que los seguidores de Rosalía tenían menos probabilidad de ser activos políticamente (Loader, Vromen & Xenos, 2016). Esta investigación arroja luz sobre el potencial impacto de las celebridades políticas para movilizar a sus audiencias no politizadas y contraponer a la extrema derecha en las redes sociales.This work was supported by the MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE under Grant PGC2018-097352-A-I00

Annual Review 2011-2012

Highlights of the 2011-2012 Annual Review include our work: launching a UT-hosted website containing millions of digitized documents from the Historic Archive of the National Police of Guatemala, contributing to a MacArthur Foundation study on the use of electronic evidence in human rights cases, creating an online exhibit on Frances T. "Sissy" Farenthold, and exploring the promises and pitfalls of property rights at our eighth annual conference.UT Librarie

Extremism, fake news and hate: effects of social media in the post-truth era

This thesis examines the utilization of social media platforms (particularly Facebook & Twitter) by political actors, contemporary media, and ordinary people to disseminate false or misleading information. Furthermore, it examines how social media have aided in the mobilization of previously unpopular extremist social/political movements in the US. This research provides a rich historical account of news media and its dissemination technology. Additionally, the thesis looks to several theories to show that these events are best understood as examples of larger processes endemic to modern capitalist societies. Utilizing news media and archival records to create event catalogs, this research illustrates how fake news spreads though social media using three distinct events, the birther conspiracy, the pizzagate conspiracy, and a Russian attempt to sow discord in US politics. Finally, this research shows how several virtual “imagined communities” utilized social media to mobilize physically in one of the largest white nationalist rallies in recent memory. In contrast to similar works, this thesis demonstrates how social media in conjunction with alternative media have created competing knowledges defined by political discourses that now routinely conflict in profound ways