scholarly journals The case for communication rights: A rights-based approach to media development

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-343
Author(s):  
Charu Uppal ◽  
Paola Sartoretto ◽  
David Cheruiyot
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Media Development ◽  
Public Spheres ◽  
The Public ◽  
Strong Focus ◽  
National Media ◽  
Media Systems ◽  
The Right ◽  
Private Actors

From the 1980s, international organizations have devised strategies to develop national media systems to make them more diverse and inclusive so as to both exhibit and preserve local cultures. However, these strategies have not always been successful since information has become a commodity, because the interests of private actors prevent equal access to communication rights. This article outlines a perspective on media development from a rights-based approach, derived from a critique of dominant perspectives from international organizations with a strong focus on technology provisions. The article argues for media development based on the right to communication as an alternative to commodification of information. Through examples from Brazil and Kenya, the article illustrates that viewing communication as a basic right can lead to the inclusion of more voices in the public discourse. In addition, a model for media development is proposed, suggesting that the state and national civil society play a significant role in promoting diverse national public spheres.

scholarly journals The Right to Survival in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiyoung Song
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Confucian Tradition ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
North Korean Defectors ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Over Time

AbstractFor the past decade, the author has examined North Korean primary public documents and concludes that there have been changes of identities and ideas in the public discourse of human rights in the DPRK: from strong post-colonialism to Marxism-Leninism, from there to the creation of Juche as the state ideology and finally 'our style' socialism. This paper explains the background to Kim Jong Il's 'our style' human rights in North Korea: his broader framework, 'our style' socialism, with its two supporting ideational mechanisms, named 'virtuous politics' and 'military-first politics'. It analyses how some of these characteristics have disappeared while others have been reinforced over time. Marxism has significantly withered away since the end of the Cold War, and communism was finally deleted from the latest 2009 amended Socialist Constitution, whereas the concept of sovereignty has been strengthened and the language of duties has been actively employed by the authority almost as a relapse to the feudal Confucian tradition. The paper also includes some first-hand accounts from North Korean defectors interviewed in South Korea in October–December 2008. They show the perception of ordinary North Koreans on the ideas of human rights.

The Transnationalization of Public Spheres and Global Policy

2019 ◽  
pp. 239-256
Author(s):  
Ingrid Volkmer
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Digital Communication ◽  
Public Spheres ◽  
Global Policy ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Core ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Container Model

The globalized spheres of digital communication require a substantial revision of conventional conceptions of ‘the public sphere’. This article lays out the core strands of such a new debate by identifying the limitations of traditional public sphere approaches which are caused by the boundedness of the foci on the national ‘container’ model associated with the European nation state. Instead of limiting publicness to national boundaries, new approaches are required to understand the new discursive spheres of connectivity of citizens across all society types, today enabled by digital communication. Such an approach is necessary to map out the new dimension of public discourse. The article concludes with the suggestion of a model of publicness understood as ‘reflective interdependence’ connecting citizens across societies.

Public Hearings and Public Spheres in India: The Case of the Right to Information (RTI) Movement

2014 ◽  
Vol 152 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pradip Ninan Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Spheres ◽  
The Public ◽  
Local Means ◽  
Public Hearings ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Right To Information ◽  
The Right

This article explores issues related to the Right to Information movement in India specifically in relation to the public sphere, a concept that is habitually invoked to describe spaces for deliberation and communication. It explores the role played by the jan sunwai (public hearings) in the creation of a counter public sphere based on the local idiom, local means of communication and performative traditions that enabled a balance between speaking, listening and actioning. The article focuses on the Right to Information movement and the jan sunwai as an important indigenous means and pedagogical device used by this movement to mobilise, radicalise and give voice to marginalised people who have traditionally been expected to remain silent, even in the face of the most atrocious atrocities committed by the forward castes and wealthy.

Psychedelic Chile

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Barr-Melej
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Rock Music ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
Military Coup ◽  
National Media ◽  
The Sixties ◽  
American Counterculture ◽  
The Right

This book illuminates modern Chilean history with an unprecedented chronicle and reassessment of the sixties and seventies. During a period of tremendous political and social strife that saw the election of a Marxist president followed by the terror of a military coup in 1973, a youth-driven, transnationally connected counterculture smashed onto the scene. Contributing to a surging historiography of the era’s Latin American counterculture, Psychedelic Chile draws on media and firsthand interviews in documenting the intertwining of youth and counterculture with discourses rooted in class and party politics. Focusing on “hippismo” and an esoteric movement called Poder Joven, the study challenges a number of prevailing assumptions about culture, politics, and the Left under Salvador Allende's “Chilean Road to Socialism.” While countercultural attitudes toward recreational drug use, gender roles and sexuality, rock music, and consumerism influenced many youths on the Left, the preponderance of leftist leaders shared a more conservative cultural sensibility. This exposed, a degree of intergenerational dissonance within leftist ranks. And while the allure of new and heterodox cultural values and practices among young people grew, an array of constituencies from the Left to the Right berated counterculture in national media, speeches, schools, and other settings. This public discourse of contempt ultimately contributed to the fierce repression of nonconformist youth culture following the coup.

Using God-Talk in a Secular Society: Time for a New Conversation on Public Issues?

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-158
Author(s):  
Andrew Bradstock
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Religious Language ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Public Issues ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Square ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Right ◽  
Michael Sandel

Abstract The role that religious language should play in the ‘public square’ has long been a matter of debate. As Rawls, Rorty, Audi and others have long argued, albeit with subtle variations, discussion on public issues must be truly ‘public’ and therefore employ vocabulary, principles and reasoning which are intelligible to any reasonable person and based on public canons of validity. But does this argument do justice to religious voices? Can the growing number of such voices clamouring for the right to be heard continue to be ignored? Does excluding conviction-based language from public debate lessen the quality of that debate and the potential to find effective solutions to policy challenges? Drawing upon recent work by Jonathan Chaplin, Rowan Williams, Roger Trigg and Michael Sandel, this article examines the current state of scholarship on the question of language in public discourse, and concludes that the case for ‘confessional candour’ to be accepted in such discourse is overwhelming and could have a positive effect on policy outcomes. A prerequisite to this, however—at least within the context of New Zealand—will be a fresh debate about the meaning and scope of the term ‘secularism’.

scholarly journals Increasing Salience of Crime Control in Finnish Parliamentary Data from the 1970s to the 2000s

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-177
Author(s):  
Esko Häkkinen
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Criminal Policy ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
General Level ◽  
The Public ◽  
Post War ◽  
Relative Prevalence ◽  
The Right

In Finland, a post-war expansion of the welfare state was associated with a decline in the use of imprisonment. The 1990s marked the beginning of a more ambivalent era in Finnish criminal justice. How does this turning point appear in the public discourse on crime by political decision-makers? All parliamentary questions and members’ initiatives from 1975 to 2010 were examined with a keyword-based quantitative search, and further content analysis was conducted on data made up of 1589 written parliamentary questions about crime control from 1970 to 2010. The relative prevalence of criminal policy issues rose significantly in the early 1990s. During the same period, the political initiative moved towards the right and the views of the left seemed to move closer to the right concurrently. Although stances became tougher, expressions of leniency were in the minority before the 1990s too, which stresses the significance of the general level of political attention itself. Developments regarding specific types of crime are discussed. Keywords: Criminal justice, penal policy, legal history, parliamentary democracy, political parties, Finland.

Global Governance und Menschenrechte

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janne Mende
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Public Spheres ◽  
The Public ◽  
Normative Power ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Private Actors

Globalisation and global governance mean that private actors are involved in public regulation and decision-making processes. Companies in particular are experiencing an increase in power that goes far beyond mere economic indicators; that is, they are also gaining political and normative power. This book examines the opportunities and challenges that result from this, which are particularly evident in the field of international human rights. Public human rights are being challenged by the political and normative power of private actors. This does not only change human rights and global governance actors, but also requires a new perspective on both the private and public spheres. This book therefore develops a perspective on the hybrid, societal roles of companies, which form a third domain situated between and simultaneously beyond the public and private spheres.

13 Communicative Power and the Public Sphere

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Regina Kreide
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Rapid Decline ◽  
Public Places ◽  
Public Spheres ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Communicative Power ◽  
The Ideal

AbstractA deliberative model of politics has recently been criticized for not being very well equipped to conceptualize public spheres in world society.A first critique is that this model assumes a conception of public spheres that is too idealistic, because it presupposes counterfactual conditions of communication in public discourse that do not meet empirical real word conditions. Secondly, it assumes an antiquated notion of a shared “we” of political actors. Because of this it does not take into consideration the “digital turn” and the ego-centering and depersonalizing effects of social media like Facebook, twitter, and blogs, which have led to a rapid decline of the public sphere. And a third critique states that the deliberative model ignores the fact that politics, and especially protests and revolutions, are not seminar-like debates but spontaneous, chaotic and sometimes violent expressions. So it is not just unreceptive for the “digital space” but also for gathering and protesting in real public places surrounded by military troops.I will argue that all of these critiques fall short. A deliberative model of politics allows us to address the tension between the ideal and the real, the “old media” and the so-called digitalization of public spheres as well as peaceful discourse and violent uprisings. Especially the concept of communicative power, a notion also used by Hannah Arendt, reveals the potential for future participation in digital spaces and public places.

scholarly journals Forum Panelist 4: COVID-19 Response: Speaking for the Unspoken for

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Susheela R Balasundaram
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Global Level ◽  
The Public ◽  
Knowledge To Action ◽  
Health Practitioners ◽  
The Face ◽  
Health Programming ◽  
The Right ◽  
Collaborative Efforts ◽  
Supplementary Issue

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about unparalleled changes in all our lives, on an individual, societal and global level that it draws us into a necessary reflection of how we have lived our lives as an individual, a community and ashumankind. As health practitioners, we need to appraise our ways of working and have the courage to speak and call for the change we want to see. A time for an honest examination of policies of exclusion and marginalization of any sections of populations, and consequences of such policies in the face of a pandemic. A time for health professionals and those who speak for the unspoken to rise to the forefront with the right intention at heart, to set the right knowledge to action in moving towards a more inclusive and resilient health system. If we continue in our old ways, the lesson will be lost on us and this may be the pandemic that deepens the divide, which will be to our own detriment. Balancing the priorities in public health, and the politico-socio-economic priorities of a nation, what path would best address these priorities? As there are challenges, there are opportunities to have inclusive policies, coordinated health programming, with collaborative efforts in strengthening preparedness and response mechanisms, engaging the public, civil society, academia, international organizations and private sectors.International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Supplementary Issue: 2021 Page: S9

Privacy, Speech, and the Digital Imagination

2019 ◽  
pp. 104-121
Author(s):  
Robert C. Post
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Data Privacy ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Digital Data ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Public ◽  
Right To Be Forgotten ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Right

Norms of privacy are grounded in social practices. When social practices are unsettled and rapidly evolving, as they are in digital space, these norms are subject to confusion and uncertainty. A good example is the recent decision of Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Google Spain SL v. Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD) (“Google Spain”), which created the “right to be forgotten.” The CJEU derived the right to be forgotten from Directive 95/46/EC (“Directive”), which is arguably the most influential privacy document in the world. The Directive imagines digital data as stored in a space of instrumental reason, as it is when data is compiled and processed by large bureaucratic organizations. The Directive protects data privacy in order to maximize the control of data by data subjects. But the CJEU applied the right to be forgotten to public discourse in the public sphere. The instrumental logic of data privacy is inappropriate to the communicative action of the public sphere, as is the value of “control.” Instead the CJEU should have conceptualized the right to be forgotten to safeguard the dignitary privacy that courts have applied to public discourse for more than a century. Dignitary privacy ensures civility within public debate. It focuses on communicative acts, rather than data. And it requires an assessment of harm to public discourse. All of these concepts are foreign to the analytic framework of data privacy. The CJEU’s confusion between data privacy and dignitary privacy leads to inconsistencies and logical deficiencies in its opinion, which are unlikely to have occurred were the court to have focused on the ordinary print media of the public sphere.

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