The increase in hate speech complaints in the media and on social networks could indicate either increased awareness among citizens to report hate speech and discrimination to the CMEM Complaints Commission, or increased use and spread of hate speech through the media.
Written by: Meri Jordanovska
We often talk about freedom of speech and the benefits it brings, but not very often do we talk about the fact that freedom of speech comes with responsibility. Responsibility is key to what we say publicly, not only as journalists, but also as citizens. Unfortunately, it is frequently absent in and from the media, which should not use hate speech to incite violence and discrimination on any basis. Publication of information that threatens human rights and freedoms is also inadmissible.
In contrast to this in 2023, the Press Complaints Commission of the Council of Media Ethics of Macedonia (CMEM) received 132 complaints, after which it made 107 decisions or opinions. Of these, 61 cases were found to violate the Journalists’ Code, while 15 cases violated Article 10 of the Code. This represents just over 18 percent of the total number of complaints where a violation of the Code of Journalists was found under the article that sanctions the spreading of hate speech.
This article, among other things, outlines that it is the duty of journalists and the media to protect individuals and groups from injustice and discrimination committed by public authorities and institutions, by private enterprises, or by others. Furthermore, it is pointed out that the media and the journalist should not publish content (information, picture, opinion, comment) that aims to spread hostility or hatred, or if there is a high probability that the published material will cause hostility or hatred towards someone due to their race, ethnicity, gender, faith, political affiliation, sexual orientation, physical disadvantage, etc.
But the commission found in 15 cases, after receiving complaints, that the media did not respect these principles. For the most part, it is hate speech against the LGBT community in North Macedonia.
This is a huge jump compared to 2022, when in only four cases (out of a total of 45 decisions and opinions that there is a violation of the code) , that is, in 5.06 percent of the complaints, it was determined that there was a violation of Article 10 by a certain media. All of this could indicate either increased public awareness of the need to report hate speech to the CMEM Complaints Commission or an increase in the use of hate speech in the media.
The journalist should intervene when the interlocutor spreads hate speech
The CMEM Commission stated at its August 2023 session, based on a complaint from the Association of Sexual and Gender Minorities QUEER Center v. Television Sitel, that this television did not comply with the ethical standards in the direct transmission of the evening news on July 31, 2023, and thus violated Article 10 of the code.
The complaint stressed that it was about the inclusion of an interlocutor in the evening news of TV Sitel, who declared himself the organizer of the activity “Ilinden March” and made statements that are categorized as implicit hate speech. According to the prefix, it is a sentence, that emphasizes that “… in order to be part of the march with horses, you must meet certain conditions: not to have vices and not to be from the LGBT community.”
The Commission decided by majority vote that the complaint was founded and that Article 10 of the Code was violated, i.e., it concluded that the journalist who led the conversation, as well as the editor in the studio, had to intervene when the interlocutor explained who could be a participant in the march, i.e., that members of the LGBT community are excluded.
Furthermore, on May 11, 2023, the Coalition Sexual and Health Rights of Marginalized Communities, MARGINS Skopje, filed a content complaint entitled “Integra: Indiscriminate pressure from the US Embassy on the public with LGBT+ media campaigns,” published on April 11, 2023 on the Internet portal Vecer.press, as well as on several other Internet portals. The complaint stated that it was a transmission of a statement by the political party Integra that contained hate speech against LGBTI people, i.e. discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity..
“Regardless of the fact that it is a “foreign” announcement, through its transmission, the media spreads hate speech and discrimination. The statement portrays LGBTI people as twisted, evil, unnatural, and unlawful, implying that they are evil that must be eradicated. The speech in the statement is a school example of hate speech that should be limited in democratic societies,” the complaint said.
After a protracted deliberation, the Commission determined that there had been a transfer of public communication in the form of a media statement containing hate speech directed towards a specific group of citizens from the political party Integra to the US Embassy. Accordingly, Article 10 of the Code had been broken.
Here, we can add the fact that under the media posts on Facebook, i.e. in the comments, there is often hate speech and a call for a lynching against certain groups, communities, or individuals, and the newsrooms do not intervene, i.e. they do not delete such comments. Guidelines for ethical reporting in the online media stipulate that this type of publication should be removed.
In this regard, the CMEM Complaints Commission, at its session held on July 25, 2023, after a complaint from the Association of Sexual and Gender Minorities “QUEER Center”, decided that the Off.net portal violated the professional and ethical standards defined in the Guidelines for Ethical Reporting in the Online Media, because on its Facebook page under the article entitled “For Whom the Pride Actually Is,” it did not remove comments from readers containing explicit hate. The portal did not send a response to CMEM regarding the complaint, and the Complaints Committee confirmed that the portal did not violate the Code by publishing the article, but since it did not remove the numerous hate comments on the Facebook page, it violated Article 10.4 of the Guidelines for Ethical Reporting in the Online Media, as well as Article 20 of these rules.
„20.2. The online media will remove all comments containing: calls for violence or other criminal acts, hate speech, discrimination, threats and other forms of violation of the rights and safety of individuals, groups, and institutions, whether directly or indirectly related to the text or the topic it deals with“.
There is no freedom for the enemies of freedom
Preventing or limiting hate speech, i.e., controlling or self-regulating the media and the actors involved in media production in terms of spreading such messages, does not imply restricting freedom of expression. There is a famous saying: “There is no freedom for the enemies of freedom.” This means that freedom of expression is not absolute, i.e. it can be limited when someone abuses it to violate the rights of others in society or threatens some established legitimate goals in the public interest, writes in the publication of CMEM “Public Interest Reporting” – the protection of the ethical principles of reporting through the work of the Complaints Commission.
Although freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, the emergence of social media has created multiple platforms for the production and spread of hate speech, which continues to spread to the media. As a result, media ethics education should focus on journalists’ rights and freedoms, as well as their role in creating and promoting conflict-free societies. It should also raise awareness about the political, social, and cultural rights of individuals and groups, including freedom of speech, as well as the responsibilities and social implications that accompany media freedom.
Journalists must possess the knowledge and skills to identify hate speech and oppose messages containing hate speech and discrimination on any grounds. Learning reporting skills on sensitive topics, with the potential to cause conflict, should become part of the regular training of journalists throughout their careers.
The most recent statistics on the work of the CMEM Complaints Commission confirm this, and they send a clear message that more efforts are required to prevent hate speech and discrimination on any basis that is reported in the media. “The Messenger” has the responsibility and right to refuse to publish information that violates basic human rights, incites violence, or discriminates against specific groups of citizens..
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This text has been developed by CMEM within the framework of the project “Building trust in the media in Southeast Europe: supporting journalism as a common good,” funded by UNESCO. The text does not necessarily reflect the views of UNESCO.