11 May 2021 The MacBride Report today: In search of communicative justice
Cees J. Hamelink Forty years ago, I edited one of the first critical commentaries on the MacBride report. In the preface I stated that it is a challenge “to see the Report only as a step in a broader process and as an invitation to...
06 May 2024 He who pays the piper calls the tune
The WSIS+20 Forum High-Level Event to be held in Geneva 27-31 May 2024 will mark twenty years of progress made in the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society, which took place in two phases – Geneva in 2003 and...05 May 2024 MD 2024/2 Editorial
Ever since a right to communicate was imagined by Jean D’Arcy in 1969, the concept has been controversial. Like the right to memory, without which individuals and communities would be deprived of their identity and dignity, neither figures in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...05 May 2024 Compassionate communication as human solidarity
Cees J. Hamelink In a recent book on “Communication and Human Rights”, I propose that all discussions on communication rights, the right to communicate or the right to communication should be based upon the notion of “communicative justice”.1 This means doing justice to the human...26 Feb 2024 MD 2024/1 Editorial
Over one hundred years of sci-fi books, magazines, TV programmes, and films have made it easier (as Dr Who fans will testify) to believe that aliens from outer space are intent on taking over Earth. In 1938, courtesy of a notorious radio broadcast of “The...
02 Jan 2024 What price compassionate communication?
There is no escaping the bitter irony of celebrating a child born in Bethlehem – north-east of the Gaza Strip – and the sickening deaths of more than 6,600 children in Gaza alone since 7 October 2023. Thousands more are missing under the rubble. The...
29 Dec 2023 WACC president urges renewed efforts to tackle communication rights challenges in 2024
WACC President Embert Charles is inviting communication rights advocates to renew efforts to advance communication for all in the coming year. Communication rights challenges “became so stark” in 2023, he says in a New Year’s message to WACC members and partners. The past year saw...
27 Nov 2023 Celebrating the Universal Declaration, condemning attacks on media freedom
On December 10, 2023 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) will be 75 years old. As a benchmark of democracy, we rightly celebrate observance of its Article 19 on freedom of opinion and expression and the right to seek, receive, and impart information. Often...
18 Nov 2022 New Media Development issue offers signposts for communication rights
The latest issue of Media Development, WACC’s quarterly journal, brings together touchstone documents on communication for a better future from over nearly two decades. The documents reveal a clear vision for the democratization of communication that has not yet been attained—and thus are a call...- 1
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