Thank you Adam, Alexander, Alexandra, Anton, Elmeri, Ester, Evelina, Katja, Laura, Milena, Ulrika, Vera and Vivi. Please find below some thoughts that your responses to the lecture elicited:

PS: Screening the video I realized I made a snafu. I mentioned the Finnish constitution as recognizing diverse media. While the Finnish constitution recognizes diverse forms of communication rights beyond the freedom of speech it is the EU Charter of fundamental rights that is more explicit about the media. Sorry about that. I had just been writing a related commentary on that and “wires got crossed” in my informal response to you.

Welcome to the lecture

Here are your additional materials

1. McIver, William J., Birdsall, William F., & Rasmussen, Merrilee (2003). “The internet and right to communicate”. First Monday, 8(12). (open access).
2. Chapter 1 by Shoshana Zuboff from Jørgensen, Rikke Frank (2019, ed.). Human Rights in the Age of Platforms. Visual Communication. Understanding Images in Media Culture. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 342 s. (open access).
3. Podcast: “Rights in Differing Contexts”.
4. Extra material, if interested: RightsCon2020 conference “the world’s leading summit on human rights in the digital age”, a selection of panel discussions and talks can be viewed on YouTube.  

Assignment: Mission Impossible?

Please respond to these questions with the comment function below.

1.Is the concept of communication rights feasible at all? Why or why not?

Let’s, for a moment, assume that it is. 

2.What should be included as comm rights?

3.Would these rights be universal or relative?

4.Who should monitor and implement them?

Noteworthy

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