Research project Just Information: Information Inequality in a Global Perspective
The project explores the communicative dimension of inequality with global news discourse and interviews with journalists as points of entry and the ongoing violation of our communication rights as the backdrop.
The project’s starting point is that the right to inform, to be informed, and to faithful representation in and by the media and the right to privacy have never been in more urgent need of attention and protection than at present, in a polluted information environment characterized by disinformation, information warfare and the ‘uncivility’ in public discourse associated with racism and populism. Communication and information rights matter to the study of equal conditions, because discourse and communication are crucial to the reproduction of power and inequality. It is a global issue that requires empirical engagement, at the level of individual experience and action, and not just that of theory and policy formation.
Project description
One component study explores representations of social inequality in global news television. Building on previous research by the JI team, it is unusually broad in scope, charting the 2009-22 period and including Al Jazeera English, BBC World, CNNI and RT. A second investigates how journalists themselves perceive the challenges of reporting inequality and how they use technology to develop relationships with the audiences they represent. The third component study explores how civil society actors concerned with AI – both enthusiastic and critical – see technological developments as dampening or amplifying voice.
Project members
Project managers
Alexa Robertson
Professor
Publications
Publications