13 Aug 2025 Power, responsibility, and trust: A framework for communication governance in the digital age

Cordel Green

In a world where the flick of a thumb can transmit ideas across continents, ignite social movements, or unleash torrents of disinformation, the question before us is urgent: how do we safeguard the public interest in this vast and often uncharted communication space? How do we ensure that the environment in which ideas, news, and opinions flow remains a force for truth, inclusion, and democracy – rather than division, manipulation, and harm?

This is not a challenge for regulators alone. It requires action by politicians, policy makers, power brokers, technology leaders, educators, journalists, students, and every citizen who participates in public discourse. It is a challenge that will define the integrity of democracy and the strength of our social fabric for generations to come.

The Balance of Power Has Shifted

The reality is stark. The balance of power in the information ecosystem has shifted dramatically. Today, global digital platforms wield influence that surpasses the resources and reach of most nation states. Their algorithms and infrastructures, designed to maximise engagement and profit, shape what billions see, hear, and believe – often with little transparency or accountability.

The cracks in our digital realities are evident through the convergence of nanotechnology, bio-technology, information technology, neuro-technology, artificial intelligence, and the socio-cultural undercurrents they set in motion: legal systems that strain to keep up; trust under stress; creativity being liberated – and constrained; the blurred lines between creation and control; the hidden biases in algorithms; and the silent exclusions in access.

Meanwhile, users, no matter how digitally literate or well-intentioned, navigate an environment where even the most sophisticated critical thinkers are outmatched by the speed, scale, and opacity of these systems. What was once a manageable national space of broadcasters and newspapers has become a borderless, high-velocity sphere in which truth competes with falsehood, trust is fragile, and harm can spread at unprecedented rates.

This is the definition of the modern mission: to ensure that human values – not just data and algorithms – shape the systems and societies we build.

Responsibility Must Follow Power

Faced with these realities, we must abandon outdated notions of equal responsibility. In this era, it must be proportionate to power and capacity. The greatest responsibility falls to those who have the greatest capacity to shape our information environment: the digital platforms whose systems determine what content is amplified, what is suppressed, and what is monetised. They bear a systemic duty of care, an obligation to design systems that do not simply profit from attention but protect against foreseeable harms.

Governments must act as stewards of the public interest, setting standards that reflect our values, convening diverse voices to co-create solutions, and safeguarding the rights of citizens. An independent regulator remains crucial, not as an enforcer of outdated rules, but to build frameworks that enable a healthy, trusted communication space. Content creators, too, must play their part by embracing ethical norms of accuracy, fairness, and transparency. And citizens, supported by strong national digital, media and information literacy initiatives, must be equipped to engage critically and responsibly in this dynamic information environment.

Big Idea: The Public Interest Compact

But the pressing question remains: how can a small nation like Jamaica, with limited jurisdictional leverage, inspire these global actors to act in our shared interest? A proposed solution is the Public Interest Compact.

The Public Interest Compact is an invitation to digital platforms to enter into voluntary, public agreements that affirm their commitment to transparency, safety, inclusion, and support for national digital trust initiatives. These compacts are not about coercion or levies that we cannot realistically enforce. They are about partnership. They are about positioning the state as a principled, collaborative actor that offers Big Tech the opportunity to demonstrate leadership, rather than resist regulation.

Through these compacts, platforms would commit to sharing data on disinformation and harmful content trends specific to a country, supporting digital and media literacy efforts through tools, content, and micro-grants, and working to co-design standards that reflect values of fairness, truth, and inclusion.

Turning Power into Partnership

What makes the Public Interest Compact powerful is that it leverages what Big Tech will grow to value more: public trust, reputational legitimacy, and the opportunity to showcase good corporate citizenship. It allows a small state to punch above its weight, not by matching the might of these companies, but by offering a credible, constructive path that aligns with their interests and ours. The Compact offers a realistic, positive way forward at a time when adversarial regulation would achieve little more than performative resistance.

A Call to Shape the Future Together

The time to act is now. The health of our democracy, the resilience of our society, and the strength of our civic discourse depend on the choices we make today. The Public Interest Compact is not just a policy tool. It is a statement about commitment to shaping a communication environment where truth flourishes, inclusion is real, and trust can be restored. It is an opportunity for the government to lead, not by force, but by example – to show that small states can be innovators in digital governance, principled in purpose, and bold in vision.

Jamaica has long been admired for the strength of its voice and the clarity of its principles on the world stage. It could now be the nation that helps chart a new course for communication governance: a model of power shared responsibly, of trust rebuilt collaboratively, and of hope renewed through action.

Cordel Green is Executive Director of the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica. His other affiliations include being Vice-Chairman of the UNESCO Information For All Programme (IFAP), Chairman of the UNESCO IFAP Working Group on Information Accessibility and Member of Jamaica’s National AI Task Force.