16 Mar 2020 Public service broadcasting: It’s political
Attacks on the independence of the BBC are multiplying. The principle of public service broadcasting – or, in these days of digital convergence, public service media – ought to be sacrosanct. The question then becomes one of the need for unbiased oversight and financial autonomy.
09 Mar 2020 Pushing the limits of media freedom in the interest of democratic protest
A report from Lebanon’s Maharat Foundation examines the role of freedom of expression and media during the 2019 uprising. Maharat’s aim is to create societal and political conditions that enhance freedom of expression and access to information both online and offline. It equips a progressive community in Lebanon and the region with the skills and knowledge necessary to bring about change.
02 Mar 2020 International digital taxation: It’s long overdue
“Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today.” Pulitzer Prize winning American author Herman Wouk may have written that, but it certainly seems to be true of some of the major tech companies whose profits include those from dubious digital surveillance techniques.
24 Feb 2020 Civil society has a chance to regain the high ground
Surveillance and loss of privacy are watchwords in the digital transformation of societies worldwide. Who is watching us and for what purposes? Who is infringing private spaces and closing down public spaces? When it comes to communication infrastructures and technologies, accessibility and affordability are no longer enough, simply because neither governments nor corporate entities can be trusted to play fair.
17 Feb 2020 Giving migrants a voice – and others a history lesson
National Public Radio (NPR) in the United States is demonstrating the importance both of giving a voice to migrants in media, and of ensuring the independence of the public broadcasting platform. As reported by another public broadcaster, BBC (“The immigrants telling stories history missed” 10 February 2020, two young radio producers, one with Iranian and the other with Palestinian backgrounds, are leading a new podcast series that highlight stories that most people have missed in their history lessons.
28 Oct 2019 Measures to tackle disinformation and propaganda in Europe
Recently, the European parliament voted in favour of stronger EU measures aimed at countering “highly dangerous” Russian disinformation and at upgrading the EU’s anti-propaganda unit.
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21 Oct 2019 ‘It takes a village to keep children safe both online and offline’
Children now represent one third of all Internet users.
This number is expected to increase once developing countries – where most of the world’s children live –become digitized.
This is both exciting and worrisome. Exciting because it has been established that connectivity opens doors to new...
21 Oct 2019 Media reform is alive and kicking!
In September 2019, in a victory for the principles underlying media democracy, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit rebuked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by overturning the agency’s latest attempts to eliminate long-standing limits on local-media ownership.
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14 Oct 2019 Protest in the digital realm
Digital technology is a growing force in today’s world. Since advocacy groups during the Vietnam War became incensed by televised images of suffering and torture, information and communication technology has changed the way we interact with the world around us.
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