The No-Nonsense Guides

The No-Nonsense Guides are brief documents on communication, intended for practitioners and activists. The guides were produced by the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC), an international organisation that promotes communication as a basic human right. Each guide contains information including descriptions and examples on different aspects of communication. Contents include:

• "The No-Nonsense guide to Citizen journalism and freedom of expression - Digital platforms have the potential to redress what many perceive as an imbalance between professional journalism and alternative sources of information. Citizen journalism can try to go it alone, or it can complement traditional journalism.
• The No-Nonsense guide to The Great Internet Grab: Who wins, who loses? - Controlling or restricting access to or the publication of information on the Internet amounts to censorship. What restrictions, if any, should be placed on the Internet?
• The No-Nonsense guide to Communicating Women and Peace and Security? - How can women’s participation at decision-making levels in peace processes be strengthened? - How can the number of women at decision-making levels in national, regional and global institutions involved in preventing, managing, and resolving conflicts be increased?
• The No-Nonsense guide to Media, the Right to Information, and Poverty Reduction - Strengthening the voices of people living in poverty improves understandings and actions aimed at addressing poverty, injustice, and inequality. What are the problems and what is being done?
• The No-Nonsense guide to The Right to Information? - The citizens of at least 90 countries and territories now have laws enabling them to obtain government records and other information. So, what does it mean to have a 'right to information'? Why is it important? What has been its impact?  [Also available in French and Spanish].
• The No-Nonsense guide to Media Observatories, Good Governance, and Good Citizens - What are media observatories? What do they do? How do they contribute to better democracy, greater accountability and social justice?
• The No-Nonsense guide to Communication, Climate Justice and Climate Change - Climate justice urges action to avoid catastrophic climate change and to address the social, ecological, political, and economic causes of the climate crisis. It aims to promote and strengthen the rights and voices of ordinary people affected by climate change.
• The No-Nonsense guide to Indigenous Peoples' Communication Rights - Indigenous peoples are distinctive through their particular way of life, beliefs, and relationship to the environment. In what ways do indigenous peoples' communication rights differ from ordinary communication rights? What particular questions need to be addressed?
• The No-Nonsense guide to Communication Rights - What are ‘communication rights’? How do they relate to ‘human rights’? How do they differ from ‘freedom of expression’? Communication rights help build an environment in which people are better equipped to communicate creatively, critically and competently. The No-Nonsense guide to New Technologies and Social Justice - The new technologies produced by the convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, cognitive science and information are no longer the stuff of science fiction. The development and use of such technologies raise important ethical questions especially in regard to social justice.
• The No-Nonsense guide to HIV/AIDS, Gender Equality and Communication - Gender inequality is a key factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS. Power relations lie at the heart of a pandemic that disproportionately affects women and young girls. For this reason, tackling gender inequality is central to tackling the pandemic itself.
• The No-Nonsense guide to the Digitisation of the World - Digitisation and digital technologies are invading many aspects of contemporary life. This resource identifies current developments in digital books, digital newspapers and - believe it or not! - digitising people.
• The No-Nonsense guide to Peace Journalism - This guide summarises the relatively short history of peace journalism, the concept, its gender dimension, the controversy it has provoked among journalists, and notes the research agenda that has sprung up as a result. It includes 'Ten Commandments' for peace journalism that could inform both theory and practice."