27 Sep 2019 WACC launches Many Voices One World initiative
WACC has launched Many Voices One World - the new online home for the Centre for Communication Rights – as a multi-media website dedicated to supporting vibrant citizen media, democratic communication ecosystems and open access to information and knowledge.
25 Sep 2019 WACC has ‘key role to play’ in addressing global challenges
In a world beset by problems, including a climate emergency, political conflicts, and shrinking democratic space, WACC’s challenge is to “exercise moral leadership by discovering new directions for the values (it) embraces,” says General Secretary Philip Lee.
12 Aug 2019 From manufacturing consent to manufacturing consensus
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.
09 Jul 2019 Narrow the gaps! The United Nations is listening
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”.
16 May 2019 WACC announces new board of directors
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.
13 May 2019 Democracy for All: Beyond a crisis of imagination
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.
13 May 2019 Shrinking civic space and sustainable development
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.
11 Nov 2018 Critical media literacy and digital ethics
Wikileaks and false news; an American Presidency run via Twitter; Charlie Hebdo; hackers manipulating elections, stealing corporate secrets and shutting down public utilities; mass surveillance via the internet of things; 24/7 news, information and disinformation cycles broadcast continuously on public and personal screens; wall-to-wall cultures of celebrity and political bullying and libel via social media; social media supplanting face-to-face relations at dinner tables and in bedrooms; conspiracy theories overriding peer refereed science … No wonder many young people are checking out into worlds of videogames, comic superheroes and pharmacologically altered realities. While schools and school systems stand frozen in the headlights.