[ecrea] Call for Papers - Hate speech in news websites’ comments

Annales, Series historia et sociologia – Special Issue

CALL FOR PAPERS

Hate speech in news websites’ comments

Guest Editor of the Special Issue: Prof. Dr. Karmen Erjavec (University 
of Ljubljana, Slovenia)

Editors of Annales have decided to devote a special issue (2014, No. 2) 
to the following topic:

The Internet’s interactivity, anonymity, and perceived credibility 
cumulatively create a powerful tool for persuasion with a positive 
message, but also with bias and hate speech. Because (news) websites’ 
comments – one of the oldest forms of user opinions in online media, 
usually delivered through a special form at the end of a news item, on 
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. – have become an important space of 
spreading hate speech, this issue tries to contribute to uncovering the 
characteristics of online hate speech. Comments on news items on 
websites contain more hate speech messages than written letters because 
hate speech messages in letters can more easily be eliminated from 
publication and because editors permit the publication of online 
comments, for they perceive them as a means of keeping old and 
attracting new users of online news media. Some writers (mostly those of 
the younger and middle generations) choose writing and reading comments 
on the Internet over ‘‘letters to the editors’’ because of anonymity, 
quick publication, and greater autonomy of writing. Because the number 
of visits on a news website has quite an impact on the price of 
advertising, editors want to attract as many users as possible with as 
little regulation of publication as possible. The discussion on hate 
speech is connected with the discussions on freedom of expression, which 
is considered one of the cornerstones of a democracy, and at the same 
time also one of the most contested rights. The discussion on hate 
speech is also connected with the discussions on problems of regulation 
of cyber hate speech. The journal invites theoretical as well as 
empirical articles that focus on different aspects of hate speech 
discourse in news websites’ comments, including:
•

the historical point view on hate speech messages,
•

the characteristics of hate speech comments on news items on news websites,
•

the motives, values, and beliefs of producers/writers of hate speech 
comments,
•

the journalists’ definition and understanding of hate speech,
•

the journalists’ opinions about hate speech comments on news items on 
news websites,
•

the regulatory and self-regulatory media frameworks of hate speech 
comments on news items on news websites,
•

the perception of hate speech comments on news items on news websites 
among internet users,
•

global and local perspective on hate speech comments on news websites.

Authors included in this special issue should consider these aspects as 
a starting-point for their research. It is strongly recommended that the 
authors proceed from the particular dynamics in media and writers of 
hate speech comments relationship in their countries, do original 
theoretically-informed research study, and then elaborate it in a larger 
social context. Theoretical reflections about the issues above, 
comparative analyses and methodological reconsiderations are also very 
welcome.

Important Dates:
Abstracts of 300 to 350 words and author’s affiliation with contact 
details submission: 1 February 2014.
Notification of abstract acceptance: 15 February 2014.
Full manuscript of 48.000 characters (without spaces) submission:  1 
June 2014
Results of double blind peer review: 1 August 2014
Revised paper submission: 1 September 2014
Notification of acceptance: 15 September 2014
Final paper submission: 1 October 2014

All submissions should be sent electronically to Karmen Erjavec 
((karmen.erjavec /at/ fdv.uni-lj.si))

Editor

Darko Darovec

Guest Editor

Karmen Erjavec






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