IAMCR 2016 Conference

The notion of “communication rights” has been a central theme of media scholarship and public policy activism for the past forty years. But what does it mean in today’s digital age? This is not a simple question, if only because the ‘analog’ age was characterized by communication scarcity, and hence, access to the means of communication, while the digital is characterized, among other things, by media abundance, which poses a whole new set of issues. The panelists in this session will briefly recall the role media scholars have played in framing a global agenda for communication rights, historically, and look at some of the questions that need to be addressed through the particular lenses of gender, the rights of children, and marginalized groups. Through round-table discussion and engagement with the audience, the panel will seek to explore to what extent we can speak of such a thing as universal communication rights, that apply equally to all, and whether it would be relevant to revive the international call for a “right to communicate” that could be enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or a similar global standard.