21 Sep 2026 The solution to everything?
A free press may not be the solution to everything for a just, sustainable planet, but it is an essential ingredient....
23 Mar 2026 When a free press comes under fire, we all suffer
We see daily examples of pressures on press freedom in countries around the globe. Then there is a particularly chilling moment when such pressure becomes an overt threat from one of the oldest democracies in the world, in which freedom of speech is enshrined as...
17 Feb 2026 New Media Development examines common ground between communication justice and climate justice
While the lens of climate justice has gained a foothold in climate policy spaces, “the world also needs to pay attention to how communication and information deficits undermine the struggle for climate justice,” writes Media Development editor Philip Lee. The response to climate change, “the most...
23 Oct 2025 Trust Conference 2025 – Upholding democratic freedoms in an autocratic age
Amid escalating global clampdowns on civic space and ruthless legal attacks on journalists and the media, Trust Conference 2025 asked a pressing question: Is it too late to save democracy, which stands on free and independent media that hold the powerful to account and enable...
11 Nov 2024 Standing up to tyranny, protecting press freedom
The disastrous outcome of the US presidential election – for global peace, and within the USA for women’s rights, immigration, the environment, gun laws and LGBTQ+ rights – is also disastrous for press freedom. Misinformation and disinformation will become even more overt and officially sanctioned. Writing...
16 Sep 2024 Summit of a Future for All?
“Summit of the Future” sounds a bit like an Avengers movie. It is in fact a much-anticipated (and much-hyped) United Nations event on 22–23 September that aims to address the critical issues that are increasingly transforming lives – issues such as climate change, digital governance,...
30 Aug 2024 New Media Development explores communication in conflict situations
Constructive journalism has an important role to play both within and without conflict situations, editor Philip Lee says in the 3/2024 issue of Media Development, WACC’s quarterly journal.Such communication can help those outside a conflict situation to better understand what is happening and increase trust...
16 May 2022 Independent media in retreat?
The war in Ukraine and Russian authorities’ move to close independent media and censor news and social media information in the country has been spotlighted in Western countries. In a letter to subscribers, the Guardian shared how it has joined other news agencies in Europe in...
17 May 2021 Public service journalism at its very best
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),...
08 Feb 2021 Time to regain public trust in the media
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.- 1
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