CORDI collaborated with the Helsinki Media Policy Research Group, the University of Helsinki, the ECREA Communication Law and Policy Section and the Euromedia Research Group, as well as the IAMCR Communication Policy & Technology Section, in the organization of the international conference Communication Rights in the Digital Era, 24-25 October 2019 (#CommRightsHelsinki).

A five-episode podcast series was produced during the conference, to share key topics and diverse insights with other colleagues and students:

Episode 1 – Interview with Victor Pickard, University of Pennsylvania

• What’s the state of communication rights in the digital age?
• What’s the role of scholars within this landscape?
• Is it possible to have democracy without journalism?
• Potential long-term consequences of the decline of journalism
• What role do citizen-journalists play?
• What are some of the underpinning aspects of the net neutrality debate?

Episode 2 – Essential questions, insights: Part 1

With:

• Karen Donders, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
• Marko Milosavljević, University of Ljubljana
• Hannu Nieminen, University of Helsinki
• Phil Napoli, Duke University
• Victor Pickard, University of Pennsylvania
• Amit Schejter, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel and the Pennsylvania State University
• Josef Trappel, University of Salzburg

Question 1: Whose rights are communication rights?

Question 2: Who can claim a right to communication in the digital age?

Episode 3 – Essential questions, insights: Part 2   

With:

• Karen Donders, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
• Marko Milosavljević, University of Ljubljana
• Hannu Nieminen, University of Helsinki
• Phil Napoli, Duke University
• Victor Pickard, University of Pennsylvania
• Amit Schejter, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel and the Pennsylvania State University
• Josef Trappel, University of Salzburg

Question 3: If and when the rights collide, who and how decides who is right?

Question 4: What is the role and competence of regulation in the digital age?

Episode 4 – Panel Discussion on Rights and Differing National Contexts 

With:

• Elena Vartanova, Lomonosov Moscow State University.
• Tendai Chari, University of Venda
• Josef Trappel, University of Salzburg 

• Trappel on the power struggles
• Vartanova on the relationship between society, communication and cyberspace within the Russian context
• Chari on the #DataMustFall campaign and some of the communication rights challenges
• Trappel on the role of telecommunication corporations, access to data and regulation
• Chari on the challenge of the price of data and Information Apartheid
• Vartanova on the current state of communication rights in the digital age
• Trappel, Chari, and Vartanova on the role of scholars in the communications right and digital age content

Episode 5 – Interview with Philip Napoli, Duke University

• What are the traits of the so-called Disinformation Age?
• The implications of Algorithmic News
• The consequences, for users and user data, of Algorithmic gatekeeping
• The role of citizen-journalists in this landscape
• The role of scholars in this landscape
• User data as a public resource
• Some of the steps that can be carried out to try to revive public interest – as discussed in professor Napoli’s latest book Social Media and Public Interest: Media Regulation in the Disinformation Age
• The current state of communication and the digital age and thoughts on potential future aspects related to this space

About the host: Yann Ilunga is a podcasting and business systems consultant, podcaster and international speaker. A University of Helsinki alumni, he’s been featured on the likes of Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur and Foundr Magazine.

All the podcasts are licensed under Creative Commons: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 and can be shared freely.