An influential book on communications in the 1980s was Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of Mass Communication, by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky. It proposed a “propaganda model” as a way of understanding how the mass media system intersected with the U.S. economy, political system, and mobilising support for the special interests dominating state and corporate activity.
UN meetings are often bureaucratic. This one has a sense of urgency.
With its rather dull title, the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development is taking place in New York 9-18 July 2019. Its theme is “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”.
Following the election of Embert Charles as WACC President and Stephen Brown as WACC Treasurer, a new Board of Directors has been appointed commencing June 1, 2019 for a four-year term.
This article sets out the conclusions of a year-long research project led by CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance. Our consultations heard the voices of people from around 80 countries. Civil society leaders, activists and stakeholders shared 54 written contributions and provided 97 interviews, while 26 democracy dialogues – informal citizen-led discussions on challenges with and hopes for democracy – were convened in countries around the world.
Drawing on learnings from WACC consultations with 92 organizations and academic institutions working on communication-related issues, this article examines the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda from a communication rights perspective. It argues for the missing SDG 18: Communication rights for all.