New open access IAMCR/Palgrave book

Epistemic Rights in the Era of Digital Disruption

Edited by Edited by Minna Aslama Horowitz, Hannu Nieminen, Katja Lehtisaari and Alessandro D'Arma, Epistemic Rights in the Era of Digital Disruption is the 21st title in the Palgrave/IAMCR book series Global Transformations in Media and Communication Research.

The book is available for open access on the publisher's site

This open-access volume argues that in a functioning democracy, citizens should be equally capable of making informed choices about matters of social importance. This includes citizens accessing all relevant information and knowledge necessary for informed will formation. In today's complex era of digital disruption, it is not enough to simply speak about communication or even digital rights. The starting point for this volume is the need for 'epistemic equality'.

The contributors seek to showcase the history and diversity of current debates around communication and digital rights, as precursors for the need for epistemic rights; both as a theoretical concept and an empirically assessed benchmark. The book highlights scholarship via academic case studies from around the world to feature different issues and methodological approaches, as well as similarities in academic and policy challenges across the globe.

The goal is to provide an overview of issues that depict challenges to epistemic rights, extract both academic and applied policy implications of different approaches, and end with a set of recommendations for advancing policy-relevant scholarship on epistemic rights. This volume is intended as the first holistic response to an urgent need to address epistemic rights of communication as a central public policy issue, as an academic analytical concept, as well as a central theme for informed public debate.

This book is open-access, meaning you have free and unlimited access.

This book:

  • Offers a comprehensive introduction to epistemic rights as a central public policy issue
  • Features analyses of epistemic rights both as a theoretical concept and as empirical cases
  • Demonstrates the impact of epistemic inequality on the crisis of democracy

Discount for IAMCR members

IAMCR members are entitled to a special 35% discount on all titles in the series. If you are a member of IAMCR, email GlobalTransformations@iamcr.org with "global transformations discount" as the subject of your message for details on how to get your discount for the softcover and hardcover copies.

Go to the publisher's website to purchase a title in the series.

Minna Aslama Horowitz is Docent at the University of Helsinki, Finland, a Fellow at the Media and Journalism Research Centre, UK, and St. John’s University, New York, USA.

Hannu Nieminen is Professor Emeritus of media and communications policy, at the University of Helsinki, Finland, and Professor of Communication, at Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania. 

Katja Lehtisaari is a Senior Lecturer in Journalism at Tampere University, Finland, Docent at the University of Helsinki, Finland and Chair of IAMCR's Communication in Post- and Neo-Authoritarian Societies Working Group.

Alessandro D'Arma is Reader in Media and Communication and Director of the CAMRI PhD Programme, University of Westminster, UK.


Contents

Foundations

Introduction: The Epistemic Turn
Alessandro D’Arma, Minna Aslama Horowitz, Katja Lehtisaari, Hannu Nieminen

Why We Need Epistemic Rights
Hannu Nieminen

Concepts and Issues

On the Need to Revalue Old Radical Imaginaries to Assert Epistemic Media and Communication Rights Today
Bart Cammaerts

Epistemic Rights, Information Inequalities, and Public Policy
Philip M. Napoli

(Re-)casting Epistemic Rights as Human Rights: Conceptual Conundrums for the Council of Europe
Tarlach McGonagle

Epistemic Rights and Digital Communications Policies: Collective Rights and Digital Citizenship
Terry Flew

Public Service Media: From Epistemic Rights to Epistemic Justice
Maria Michalis, Alessandro D’Arma

National and Regional Cases

Towards Feminist Futures in the Platform Economy: Four Stories from India
Anita Gurumurthy

Epistemic Rights and Right to Information in Brazil and Mexico
Fernando Oliveira Paulino, Luma Poletti Dutra

Digital Authoritarianism and Epistemic Rights in the Global South: Unpacking Internet Shutdowns in Zimbabwe
Tendai Chari

Epistemic Violators: Disinformation in Central and Eastern Europe
Marius Dragomir, Minna Aslama Horowitz

Nordic Illusion and Challenges for Epistemic Rights in the Era of Digital Media
Reeta Pöyhtäri, Riku Neuvonen, Marko Ala-Fossi, Katja Lehtisaari, Jockum Hildén

Right to Data Access in the Digital Era: The Case of China
Yik Chan Chin

Implications

Conclusion: Ubiquitous Need for Epistemic Rights and the Way Forward
Lani Watson, Minna Aslama Horowitz, Hannu Nieminen, Katja Lehtisaari, Alessandro D’Arma


The above text is from the publisher's description of the book.

Title: Epistemic Rights in the Era of Digital Disruption
Editors: Minna Aslama Horowitz, Hannu Nieminen, Katja Lehtisaari and Alessandro D'Arma
Published: 2024
Pages: 226