COMMENT BLOG
A remark, a critique, an opinion…
Communication rights uphold human rights
“Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now” is the theme of Human Rights Day, 10 December 2024. The focus is on people’s inalienable rights – regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, or other status – which must be guaranteed if the world is to have a better and...
What will it take to decisively end violence against women?
The 33rd edition of the annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign begins today. It is natural to feel despondent that things will never change. One may ask why funding investments directed to efforts to end violence against women and girls...
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...
Confessions of an AI Sceptic
When it comes to generative artificial intelligence, I am a sceptic. Is it just another Big Tech tool for collecting our personal data? Will it just magnify misinformation in a volatile political climate? Will it perpetuate racist, sexist and cultural stereotypes?...
Holding video streaming services to account
In 2001, Jack G. Shaheen published Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People. In an analysis of over 900 films with Arab and Muslim characters from 1896 to 2000, he showed how moviemakers represented Arabs as heartless, uncivilized, religious fanatics akin to...
The Global Digital Compact: A step in the right direction
In one part of the world, in Nairobi, Kenya, street vendors are doing booming business with “art” generated by artificial intelligence whose pricing matches or is even higher than real art. What constitutes “art” may be in the eyes of the beholder, but it seems no...
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,...
Why we must convene local actors to tackle the climate emergency: The case of Radio Ideal
The climate emergency is a challenge of such magnitude that we tend to forget that solutions are often found at the local level and in unexpected places. Such is the case of Radio Stereo Ideal 98.9 FM, a community radio station based in Tena, in Ecuador’s Amazon...
Far-right conspiracies and extremist ideologies depend on social media
How to regulate social media platforms effectively has become the quest of liberal and illiberal governments alike. The one to eradicate hate speech, and the other to control rebellious populations. The UN defines hate speech as “any kind of communication in speech,...
Reclaiming the rings: Why Olympic broadcasting rights need a rethink
The 2024 Summer Olympics – or the XXXIII Olympiad – are finally here! Whether you, or I, get to watch any of the games, livestreamed and in full, is a separate issue. Those of us old enough to remember will recall a time when the Olympics were readily accessible...
Football, free expression, and the defeat of fascism
Football (soccer), the world’s most popular—and we would argue most beautiful—sport, has become a multi-million-dollar industry marked by astronomical salaries, stadiums that look like spaceships, and billion-dollar sponsorship and television deals. The sport is...
Digitalization should carry a planetary health warning
A large part of the world can no longer function without data centres. These are the networked computing and storage facilities that enable the delivery of software applications and data. They are vital to the daily functioning of governments, societies, and users...
PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance