UN launch of World Trends in Freedom of Expression
PCMLP are delighted to announce the publication of UNESCO’s flagship study, World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development. The lead authors of this report include Nicole Stremlau (University of Oxford and University of Johannesburg), Iginio Gagliardone (University of Witwatersrand) and Monroe Price (University of Pennsylvania), in consultation with a research team that spanned 5 continents. The study was a major undertaking, charting recent trends in global media and communications, including the rise in algorithmic pluralism, the increasing polarization of the public sphere, growing inequalities, and the role played by private spaces for expression (such as social media platforms) in shaping public debates. The publication is available for download here. Regional reports, including studies on the Arab world, Africa, Western Europe and North America, Asia Pacific, and Central and Eastern Europe will be published on the same website shortly.
The publication comes at a timely moment and will be launched at various events on May 3rd, World Press Freedom Day, including at UN Headquarters in New York. The session will be opened with an address from the UN Secretary General, and panellists will include Miroslav Lajcak, President of the 72ndsession of the UN General Assembly; Alison Smale, Under Secretary General for Global Communications; Steve Coll, Dean of Columbia School of Journalism; Francois Delattre, Permanent Representative of France to the UN; and Nicole Stremlau, as lead researcher of the publication. If you are in New York and would like to join us for this event, please RSVP here.