Civil Society in the South needs to be empowered to prevent a new “Scramble for Africa” as tech giants seek to access and monetize data in countries with weak data protection regimes The expression “data is the new oil” has become commonplace over the past ten...
In a recent training session for current and would be journalists, a repeated question came up – can a journalist be an activist? Or – asked with even more urgency in the context of injustice – how can a journalist not be an activist?There is...
Russia’s supreme court has ordered the closure of Memorial International, the country’s oldest human rights group. Memorial has joined a growing list of investigative news outlets, journalists, and rights organisations classed as being an agent of foreign powers. Many believe the move is politically motivated. A term...
Optimism brought about by drafting of new constitution dampened by polarizing presidential election Chile, a country known for being among the most prosperous and politically stable countries in Latin America over the past 30 years, is at a crossroads. And like most crossroads, there are challenges,...
In its 2021 report on the Global State of Democracy, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) stated that “the number of countries moving in an authoritarian direction exceeds the number of countries moving in a democratic direction” – for the fifth year...
Thanks to the just-concluded UN climate summit COP26 (Glasgow, 31 Oct-12 November), conditions were just right to see climate change communication at its best, or worst. Over the two-week period, news media worldwide were presented with opportunities to grow or muddy their audiences’ understanding of climate change...
There is widespread dismay at the spectre of former US President Donald Trump setting up his own social media app provocatively named TRUTH. A press release dated 20 October 2021 announced a merger between Trump Media & Technology Group and Digital World Acquisition Corp., stating that...
The last time a working journalist won the Nobel Peace Prize, Europe – and eventually nations around the globe - were on the brink of World War II. German editor Carl von Ossietzky won the prize in 1936, “for his burning love for freedom of...
Global internet freedom has declined for the 11th consecutive year, according to the latest report from Freedom House. “Freedom on the Internet 2021” focuses on surveillance, censorship, privacy legislation, and encryption. The report notes that “unequal access to the internet entrenches societal inequity” and calls for...
On 8 August 2021, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a major reportthat unequivocally links climate change to human activity and predicts more frequent and more severe heat waves, droughts, and floods over the coming years. The report, released ahead of...