COMMENT BLOG
A remark, a critique, an opinion…
Civil rights and the climate crisis
Philip Alston, UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, writes that the impacts of global heating are likely to undermine not only basic rights to life, water, food, and housing for hundreds of millions of people, but also democracy and the rule of...
Short-sighted policies for short-term gain
Accessibility and affordability are watchwords of the communication rights movement. Yet when it comes to digital access, governments have still not got their act together. The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) says that Africans face the highest cost to connect...
A voluntary way of holding social media to account
Article 19 – the international freedom of expression organization – has proposed creating Social Media Councils (SMCs) as a way of moderating content on social media based on a “multi-stakeholder accountability mechanism”. Article 19 argues: “In today’s world,...
Unfriendly-fire: Media freedom under threat
“Elected leaders in many democracies, who should be press freedom’s staunchest defenders, have made explicit attempts to silence critical media voices and strengthen outlets that serve up favorable coverage. The trend is linked to a global decline in democracy itself: The erosion of press freedom is both a symptom of and a contributor to the breakdown of other democratic institutions and principles, a fact that makes it especially alarming.”
Internet governance should work towards mechanisms to reinvigorate independent journalism
A free and independent media sector is one of the cornerstones of what it means for a country to be a liberal democracy. The emergence of the Internet was initially received with much optimism as there was an expectation that it would help democratize media systems, allowing “citizens to report news, expose wrongdoing, express opinions, mobilize protest, monitor elections, scrutinize government, deepen participation, and expand the horizons of freedom.”[i].
True public service media to the rescue
Every ten years or so the BBC comes in for criticism for being too partial or too impartial.
World Wide Web or webs of intrigue?
In its 2019 report, the Internet Society asks whether the Internet economy is consolidating and, if it is, what the implications might be.
Support for local media
Subscribers to The Guardian in the UK recently received a message of appreciation from the Editor-in-Chief, Katherine Viner. She announced that after a three-year “turnaround” strategy the newspaper had hit its goal of breaking even – making a small profit that has been ploughed back into supporting their journalism.
Seeing and hearing people who matter
It is more and more evident that communication and information issues are intrinsically connected to questions of sustainable development and human dignity.
Digital vulnerability and global justice
Readers of Comment may have seen Clifford G. Christians’ article in the 1/2019 issue of WACC’s journal Media Development on “New digital technology and global communication ethics”.
Guaranteeing Internet freedom in a world of conflict
Protestors advocating for net neutrality rally outside the headquarters of the Comcast Corporation in Philadelphia, Jan. 2018. Photo: Michael Candelori/Shutterstock Everyone knows that in times of war: seize communications. Now it is happening in times of peace. In...
Stand up for press freedom worldwide!
It’s a more clandestine and dangerous world when journalists can be threatened with violence, detention, and death for doing their job. The 2019 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) points to a serious decline in media freedoms as...
PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance