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17 May 2021

Posted at 00:00h in Comment

Reporters Without Borders has underlined growing concerns about a steady decline of press freedom in several European Union member states, including Greece, Malta, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia. In “‘Worrying picture’: Journalists in Europe face increasing risk, press freedom group warns” (The Guardian, 14 April 2021),...

19 Apr 2021

Posted at 00:00h in Comment

Do current shifts in economic thinking represent an opportunity for communication rights?   On April 5th, United States Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen issued a call for a global corporate tax rate, a major shift from the neoliberal consensus that has governed the global economy since...

05 Apr 2021

Posted at 00:00h in Comment, Digital Rights

The theme of WACC’s annual report for 2020 is “Truthful Voices Matter”. What appears to be self-evident reflects a growing perception that public interest media need to rebuild trust in their news content and opinions: by demonstrating impartiality, balance, and transparency. Why is trust eroding, how...

22 Mar 2021

Posted at 00:00h in Comment, Digital Rights
Everyone agrees that social media are failing to distinguish between truth and lies. That’s partly because the line is easily blurred, but also because social media are corporate entities running on profit. Few people agree on how to tackle the problem of fake news or misinformation fairly and effectively, although many have come to realise that civil society must play a role.

22 Feb 2021

Posted at 00:00h in Comment, Digital Rights
The Washington Post (2 February 2021) reported, “Former president Donald Trump lost the 2020 election largely due to his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a post-election autopsy completed by Trump campaign pollster Tony Fabrizio. The 27-page document shows that voters in 10 key states rated the pandemic as their top voting issue, and President Biden won higher marks on the topic.”

08 Feb 2021

Posted at 00:00h in Comment
American citizens are not alone in realising that press freedom is under attack. Russians, Poles, Hungarians, Brazilians and Filipinos – to name just a few – are also deeply concerned. They can all learn from PEN America which has put forward An Agenda for the Biden-Harris Administration called “Free Expression and the First 100 Days” (19 January 2021). In a plea to defend and promote press freedom in the U.S., PEN calls for affirmative steps to undo the damage to Americans’ attitudes toward the press and to shore up press freedom and respect for the role of professional media in the U.S.

24 Jan 2021

Posted at 14:20h in Comment, Digital Rights
Affordability a major hurdle in ensuring equitable access Today, access to the internet and mobile phones is critical for people everywhere. Still, 40% of the world’s population has no access to the internet[i], with countries such as India (50%), Ethiopia (81%), and Brazil (29%) having significant portions of their population classified as “unconnected”[ii]. In terms of mobile telephony, while access has increased significantly—there were an estimated 5 billion cellphone users as of 2019, only 45% of mobile phone users in developing countries have access to a smartphone.