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...
Reuters recently reported that US diplomats worldwide have been ordered to track and counter data localization efforts, naming the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as an example of “unnecessarily burdensome” regulation. According to Reuters, “Experts say the move signals the Trump administration is reverting...
WACC’s regional association in North America looked back at work in 2025 and recommitted to communicating truth and being voices of justice in difficult times, when its members gathered online recently for its annual general meeting, drawing hope and inspiration from the many years of...
The Internet is the world’s digital lifeline. For the approximately 5.6 billion people connected to the Internet (some 70% of the global population), access is essential. The entire Internet cannot be switched off, but governments and other actors can temporarily disrupt or restrict access by shutting...
Visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is harrowing. It records, in photos, artifacts, quotes, and stories, the days and months following the dropping of the first atomic bomb on 6 August 1945. Intellectually, we all know the death and destruction was horrific. Coming face-to-face with eyewitness...
George Conklin, who has died aged 93, was a long-serving member of the North American Broadcast Section of WACC (NABS-WACC) and of WACC North America. George’s LinkedIn page described him as “a social change agent in broadcasting” and a “rabble-rouser in civil rights in broadcasting.” Over the...
The US government just announced it will withdraw from UNESCO (again) effective December 31, 2026, stating that “[c]ontinued involvement in UNESCO is not in the national interest of the United States.” UNESCO'S statement in response was a diplomatic shrug, underlining that they were prepared anyway for...
WACC Europe president Ralf Peter Reimann reflects from the Internet Governance Forum 2025 concluding today on the choice facing the international community about the internet of the future: cooperation and communication rights or unilateralism and profit first. The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) – founded in 2006...
Conservative attacks on “DEI” and “woke”* policies and practices in the United States intensified in the run up to the presidential election. So, it should not come as a complete surprise that from the moment of Donald Trump’s inauguration, an assault on “diversity, equity, and...
Politics-informed developments in the United States of America this year so far confirm that rights and entitlements can be rolled back with the stroke of a pen. And there is a significant segment of society that is happy to cheer on a blanket erasure of constitutional...