ABOUT
Centre for Communication Rights
The Centre for Communication Rights facilitates people’s informed and democratic participation in decision-making processes about issues that directly affect their lives.
Despite the rapid spread of digital technologies, millions of people on every continent lack access to communication platforms, have limited access to relevant and accurate information and knowledge, are underrepresented or misrepresented in the media, and are not media literate. Shrinking spaces for civic action around the world exacerbate these challenges.
These failures exclude people, particularly the poorest and most marginalized members of society, from participating in decision-making processes about issues that directly affect their lives.
The Centre for Communication Rights believes that vibrant citizen’s media, democratic communication ecosystems, and open access to information and knowledge are the cornerstones of civic participation.
Centre for Communication Rights
responds to these challenges by:
Engaging in Media Action Research
The Centre for Communication Rights coordinates research and advocacy initiatives, including the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP), to encourage evidence-based policy change in favour of more democratic communication and information ecosystems
Building Capacity
The Centre for Communication Rights strengthens citizen’s media that empower people and communities from marginalized backgrounds to participate in decision-making processes, particularly in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Advancing Democratic Media Policy
The Centre for Communication Rights bolsters civil society-initiated policy efforts to democratize communication and information ecosystems, especially in relation to issues such as access to communication platforms, access to information and knowledge, and digital rights
Sharing Knowledge
The Centre for Communication Rights advances and promotes knowledge about democratic communication and civil society participation
Centre for Communication Rights
was established in 2017 in honour of a landmark report published in 1980 by the UNESCO-established International Commission for the Study of Communication Problems that highlighted the critical relationship between democratic media systems and civil society participation. The issues raised by the report are even more relevant today amid the prevalence of information and communication technologies (ICTs), the transnational and multi-stakeholder nature of media governance, and worldwide threats to democracy in a digital world.
The Centre for Communication Rights was founded by WACC and is managed from WACC’s offices in Toronto.
PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance