The 33rd edition of the annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign begins today. It is natural to feel despondent that things will never change. One may ask why funding investments directed to efforts to end violence against women and girls (VAWG) seem not...
The disastrous outcome of the US presidential election – for global peace, and within the USA for women’s rights, immigration, the environment, gun laws and LGBTQ+ rights – is also disastrous for press freedom. Misinformation and disinformation will become even more overt and officially sanctioned. Writing...
When it comes to generative artificial intelligence, I am a sceptic. Is it just another Big Tech tool for collecting our personal data? Will it just magnify misinformation in a volatile political climate? Will it perpetuate racist, sexist and cultural stereotypes? Will it seem “smarter” only...
In 2001, Jack G. Shaheen published Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People. In an analysis of over 900 films with Arab and Muslim characters from 1896 to 2000, he showed how moviemakers represented Arabs as heartless, uncivilized, religious fanatics akin to the worst...
In one part of the world, in Nairobi, Kenya, street vendors are doing booming business with “art” generated by artificial intelligence whose pricing matches or is even higher than real art. What constitutes “art” may be in the eyes of the beholder, but it seems no...
“Summit of the Future” sounds a bit like an Avengers movie. It is in fact a much-anticipated (and much-hyped) United Nations event on 22–23 September that aims to address the critical issues that are increasingly transforming lives – issues such as climate change, digital governance,...
The climate emergency is a challenge of such magnitude that we tend to forget that solutions are often found at the local level and in unexpected places. Such is the case of Radio Stereo Ideal 98.9 FM, a community radio station based in Tena, in Ecuador’s...
How to regulate social media platforms effectively has become the quest of liberal and illiberal governments alike. The one to eradicate hate speech, and the other to control rebellious populations. The UN defines hate speech as “any kind of communication in speech, writing or behaviour, that...
The 2024 Summer Olympics – or the XXXIII Olympiad – are finally here! Whether you, or I, get to watch any of the games, livestreamed and in full, is a separate issue. Those of us old enough to remember will recall a time when the Olympics were...
Football (soccer), the world’s most popular—and we would argue most beautiful—sport, has become a multi-million-dollar industry marked by astronomical salaries, stadiums that look like spaceships, and billion-dollar sponsorship and television deals. The sport is regulated by FIFA at the global level and groups like CONMEBOL and...