More or Less Equal: How Digital Platforms Can Help Advance Communication Rights

"The concept of citizen journalism has radically altered traditional news and information flows, encouraging greater interaction and interdependence. What challenges does this development pose for societies worldwide? What ethical questions does it raise?"

This booklet published by Globethics.net in collaboration with the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) explores questions about citizen journalism "against a background of rapid technological change and with the aim of strengthening the communication rights of all people everywhere." It comes from and serves to inform a "[w]orkgroup in ...focus[ing] on the debate around standards, responsibility, and accountability for citizen journalists; ...seek[ing] out and review[ing] existing codes of practice (if any); and ...put[ing] forward elements of ethical journalism that could be shared by both professional (traditional) journalism and citizen journalism." The document brings together thinking from three papers: a policy brief on "The Right to Blog" published by ARTICLE 19, the "Learning Resource Kit for Gender-Ethical Journalism and Media House Policy" published jointly by the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), and a third paper focusing on gender equality as a key issue of the global human rights agenda and examining how digital platforms and citizen journalism can contribute to promoting women's rights and gender justice, and to strengthening a contemporary ethics of communication. "This publication argues that equality, accessibility, and diversity are watchwords in building and maintaining societies and communities based on principles of justice, sustainability and peace."

The table of contents includes:

Introduction - Philip Lee

1. Media Ethics: Social Media for Peace - Lilian Ndangam and Philip Lee
2. Women’s Access to Social Media Networks in Rural Fiji - Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls
3. Building New Ways of Participating in Communication Networks in Latin America - Dafne Sabanes Plou
4. Media Ethics and Citizen Journalism - Philip Lee
5. Unequal in an Unequal World: Gender Dimensions Of Communication Rights - Philip Lee
6. Nepali Women Use New Information and CommunicationTechnologies to Advocate for Policy Change - Manju Thapa
7. Gender and Ethics in an Online Environment - Sonia Randhawa
8. Flying Broom’s "Local Women Reporters' Network" - Selen Doğan & Sevna Somuncuoğlu