21 Sep 2021 Georgia project taps youth in fight against disinformation WACC announces its support for a project in Georgia that aims to empower disadvantaged youth from 25 secondary schools and universities by helping them acquire and develop digital skills that will increase their capacity to address social challenges faced by their communities. The Digital Solutions for Social Challenges project… Read more »

20 Sep 2021 Manifesto for digital justice makes urgent call for ‘transformative movement’ FRENCH      SPANISH      GERMAN “Digital technologies are transforming our world and the multiple spaces in which we live and move,” the manifesto begins. “These technologies offer us new ways to communicate, to advocate for our human rights and dignity, and for our voices to be… Read more »

The symposium’s collective input is being compiled into a “Manifesto on Communication for Social Justice in a Digital Age.” There is a great deal at stake, World Council of Churches (WCC) moderator Dr Agnes Abuom noted in her message. “This topic is recent, urgent, and multidimensional, so your input from a variety of disciplines, social contexts, and points of view… Read more »

20 Sep 2021 Communication rights are central to climate justice Posted at 00:00h in Comment by Saskia Rowley On 8 August 2021, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a major reportthat unequivocally links climate change to human activity and predicts more frequent and more severe heat waves, droughts, and floods over the coming years. The report,… Read more »

15 Sep 2021 Digital regulation must be fair, equitable, ethical On the last day of the international symposium, Communication for Social Justice in a Digital Age, WACC General Secretary Philip Lee pointed to “signs of hope,” including agreement about the need for a framework that “enables, empowers and transforms, sidesteps power structures and socio-cultural traditions to guarantee the public voices… Read more »

14 Sep 2021 ‘Reclaim democratic public communication spaces,’ WACC members, partners urge WACC members and partners are calling for a movement to “reclaim democratic public communication spaces” in both the analogue and digital spheres, which would strengthen marginalized voices, guarantee the right of citizens to own and control their data, information, and knowledge, and uphold social justice, communication rights and… Read more »

Participants were asked about the current online systems being heavily governed by algorithms for large social media platforms and what they thought of accountability in that context. The question of algorithms was raised several times. It was noted that that keynote speaker Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria had raised it the day before. Goran… Read more »