Media, communication and the struggle for social progress

Abstract

This article discusses the role of media and communications in contributing to social progress, as elaborated in a landmark international project-the International Panel on Social Progress. First, it analyses how media and digital platforms have contributed to global inequality by examining media access and infrastructure across world regions. Second, it looks at media governance and the different mechanisms of corporatized control over media platforms, algorithms, and contents. Third, the article examines how the democratization of media is a key element in the struggle for social justice. It argues that effective media access-in terms of distribution of media resources, even relations between spaces of connection and the design and operation of spaces that foster dialogue, free speech and respectful cultural exchange-is a core component of social progress.

Fighting for survival: persons with disabilities’ activism for the mediatisation of COVID-19 information

“…Since disability manifests in multiple forms and contexts, person(s) living with a specific type of disability require different information and communication technologies and formats for them to access content ( Couldry et al, 2018 ; Ellis, 2017 ; Ellis and Kent, 2017 ). The Deaf and those living with hearing impairments thus largely rely on SL and technologies that mass mediate content into visual images or other assistive technologies for hearing.…”

“…This has resulted in the placing at the centre the fight for human rights of disabled persons. Such struggles largely draw their intellectual objective and vision from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the disability rights manifestos pronounced since the 1970s to date ( Couldry et al, 2018 ; Ellis et al, 2019 ; Kent et al, 2019 ).…”

I hope, one day, I will have the right to speak

“…A pressing question is whether digital technologies enable a ‘new distribution of power’ (Borkert et al, 2009) and the amplification of marginalized voices. Digital technologies enable more people to become active producers and disseminators of political content (Couldry et al, 2018; Segura and Waisbord, 2016; Uldam and Vestergaard, 2015), but ‘few studies have focused on the use of social media networks by asylum seekers within detention centres’ (Rae et al, 2018: 483). Studies by Coddington and Mountz (2014) and Rae et al (2018) focused on Australia’s offshore detention camps.…”

Digital Well-Being Theory and Research

“…Such a comprehensive research program may appear unachievable, but without the cumulation and integration it seeks, isolated effects will continue to feed moral panics or technological solutionism about digital media in society (Orben, 2020b). The big picture is characterized by the rise of digital networked communication (Cardoso, 2008;Neuman, 2016;Rainie & Wellman, 2012) with consequences for inequality, labor, education, and culture (Cooper, 2002;Couldry et al, 2018;Franklin, 1999;Jessie et al, 2017) within a 'desynchronized high-speed society' (Rosa, 2003). Anticipated or realized consequences of digitization at this level of analysis include increased efficiency, innovation, and transparency; but also political manipulation, privacy breaches, and growing socioeconomic inequality.…”