World Association for Christian Communication Global News

The practical and ethical uses of AI and ways to raise awareness of WACC’s expertise and resources on communication rights were key topics when the regional executive committee (REC) of WACC Europe met last week in Wroclaw, Poland The REC announced that the region will...

“A Global Vision of Digital Justice,” the most recent issue of WACC’s journal Media Development, delves deeper into the question of how democratic and inclusive governance frameworks can be designed for today’s digital information society.   The United Nations Summit of the Future in September...

Media Development 2024-4 A Global Vision of Digital Justice International, regional, and national organisations worked hard to secure a place for civil society’s expectations in both the UN’s Pact for the Future and its Global Digital Compact. Such is the complexity that WACC commissioned a...

At the beginning of 2024, Media Development took the theme Towards Democratic Governance of Digital Society. Its editorial claimed that a digital era that is genuinely democratic depends on “Societies in which everyone can freely create, access, utilise, share and disseminate information and knowledge, so...

Clemencia Rodriguez (Colombia/USA), Seán Ó Siochrú (Ireland), Parminder Jeet Singh (India) The fictional portrait below of Nelly and her family living in a media and digital world is based on research conducted by the authors as well as secondary sources. The reality of the struggle...

Anita Gurumurthy and Nandini Chami The Global Digital Compact upholds “gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls and their full, equal and meaningful participation” as a core principle for digital cooperation [para 8(d)]. The extraordinary complexity of our times, which the digital...

Daya Thussu As the world marks the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel and its bloody aftermath, it is worth reflecting on the way this ongoing conflict has been covered by the US-dominated international media and compare it with media attitudes towards another...

Robert Hackett, with Farrukh Chishtie “Pretend you are God.” – Editor’s advice on how to write like The Economist.1 In a confusing and turbulent world, many readers, presumably seeking comprehensive and reasonably objective international news, turn to The Economist (TE). It’s a venerable self-described newspaper,...

Kiran Hassan The Council of Europe defines the role of media in conflict situations and wars as critical to providing the public with accurate and timely information. It suggests that the supply of trustworthy news and images contributes to the protection of civilians and conflict...

Venice (Italy) 2024 The 13th INTERFILM Award for Promoting Interreligious Dialogue has gone to Quiet Life directed by Alexandros Avranas (France, Germany, Sweden, Greece, Estonia, Finland). Motivation: “Quiet Life” is not always quiet at all. A family is seeking asylum, which is unfortunately denied. The...

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....

WACC has urged ACT Alliance members to give greater attention to communicative justice as a key dimension of sustainable development and humanitarian response, highlighting in particular the need for more inclusive and democratic media ecosystems. A member of the global coalition of 152 faith-based organizations...

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? Will it seem “smarter”...

WACC partners from Latin America are set to demonstrate the essential place of local voices exercising communication rights for climate justice as the United Nations Biodiversity Conference  – COP 16 opens today in Cali, Colombia. Every two years the UN event gathers governments and other...

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 worst...

Some 25 of WACC’s grassroots partners in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East will explore the communication rights implications of the newly adopted United Nations Global Digital Compact and develop a joint plan of action for advocacy when they meet on 22–25 October in Kathmandu,...

“Meet the Coordinators,” a new blog series launching today on WACC’s Who Makes The News website gives a look at the people, organizations, and contexts behind the data as the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) moves towards its 7th edition. The GMMP, the largest and...

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...

“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,...

WACC and the World Council of Churches (WCC) have launched a key resource to address tech-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) and are inviting individuals and groups to become part of a global movement taking action for gender justice online. “Taking Action Against Tech-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence,” a...