At a WACC Partners’ Consultation held in Nairobi, Kenya, 3 August 2023, participants agreed on the following Agenda in preparation for WSIS+20 due to take place in 2025. Digital communication rights include the right to access the Internet; the right to not have internet shutdowns; the...
Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic) 2023 At the 57th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (June 30 – July 8, 2023), the Ecumenical Jury, appointed by INTERFILM and SIGNIS, awarded its Prize to Blaga’s Lessons directed by Stephan Komandarev (Bulgaria, Germany, 2023). Motivation: As if that weren’t enough, a...
The latest report to warn about the societal risks of artificial Intelligence (AI) documents extensive research of human rights online. Freedom on the Net 2023: The Repressive Power of Artificial Intelligence assesses internet freedom in 70 countries, accounting for almost 90 percent of global internet users. Their...
In 1999, a public hearing on “Languages and Human Rights” took place at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Netherlands. A panel of five experts in communication, language rights, and international law heard test cases of threats to linguistic rights. They included the Amazigh...
A number of recent research reports investigate the impact social media has on mental health, social well-being – and political polarization. One study, supported by Meta, involved collaboration with a number of US universities to examine the impact of social media – specifically Facebook and Instagram...
[caption id="attachment_57989" align="alignleft" width="190"] MD 2023/3[/caption] Media Development 2023-3 Who is talking with the audience? Understanding the importance of media literacy as an instrument of public policy-making is essential to promoting democracy and dialogue. Investigating “Who is talking with the audience?” leads to wider audience engagement and concerted...
Versión en español a continuación This issue of WACC’s journal Media Development presents texts in English and Spanish on the theme “Who is talking with the audience? Understanding audience engagement and media literacy efforts today”. To focus on these questions, we invited contributors with technical knowledge and...
Kanchan K. Malik and Vamsi Krishna Pothuru Several initiatives in India are endeavouring to integrate media literacy into formal education curricula and promote it through community initiatives. These initiatives aim to develop skills and expertise among citizens/netizens of India to enable them to critically navigate the...
Renee Hobbs The United States is now experiencing significant levels of political extremism, rage, and anti-government activism that is associated with targeted violence and domestic terrorism (Bergengruen, 2022). Domestic terrorism is intended to inflict injuries beyond the direct victims by threatening and intimidating entire communities. All around...
Dominik Speck One Tuesday afternoon in November 2022, fears of a further dramatic, even nuclear escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian war rose. That day, a missile had struck a village in Poland, close to the Ukrainian border, killing two people. A report by The Associated Press (AP),...