•  
  •  
 

Document Type

Article

Abstract

In her essay on "The Ambiguity of the Right to Communicate in the Age of Convergence," Aliaa Dakroury frames the issue mediation in terms of media ownership and control. The question asked in the title -- "Who Owns the Medium Owns the Message?" -- in its rhetorical rather than literal form, indicates the skepticism with which Dakroury approaches too narrow a vision of determination. In the terms of his case study, this means questioning the apparent incommensurability of the economic convergence of multi-national media conglomerates and the right to communicate. To do so, Dakroury offers substantial analyses of both the philosophical/judicial history of the right to communicate as a basic human right and the economic/regulative developments underlying the recent trend towards convergence in the media. Dakroury follows these theoretical explorations with a case study of CanWest Global Communications Corporation, Canada’s fastest growing media conglomerate, and its clashes with the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) over alleged infringements of the right to communicate.

Share

COinS