Media Development

The document explores how digital technologies impact family structures and children's rights globally, emphasizing the need for digital literacy to combat poverty and the importance of parental mediation for online safety. It provides a critical analysis of children's digital experiences in the global North versus the global South, discusses the use of radio for peace-building and reconciliation in the Great Lakes Region, and traces the evolution of media education policies in Chile from the 1970s to 2013.

• Digital literacy and internet access are now essential for participating in the global workforce and are argued to be as necessary as basic social services for families to escape chronic poverty.
• There is a significant global disparity in internet-enabled computer ownership; while 66% to 85% of households in Europe, North America, the U.K., and Australia have such devices, less than half of households in Asia, Africa, and Latin America do.
• In the global North, children often use media before adults, creating a gap in understanding that narrows over time; however, in the global South, this gap is often wider, with many children lacking adult support or regulatory environments for safe use.
• Technological filtering of internet content is criticized as ineffective because it relies on subjective ethical values; experts recommend 'installing a filter in children’s heads' through ethical conversations instead.
• In the Great Lakes Region, media—particularly radio—has been used both as a tool for genocide (e.g., RTLM in Rwanda) and as a vital instrument for peace-building, family reunification, and reconciliation.
• Media education in Chile evolved from 1960s 'concientización' (consciousness-raising) and critical analysis of mass media to a period of resistance during the military dictatorship, and finally toward the development of a formal Public Policy on Media-Digital Education by 2013.
• The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) establishes that children have the right to express their views freely in all matters affecting them, a right that is often not fully realized globally.

APA

World Association for Christian Communication (2014). Media Development. https://new.waccglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/wacc-global/Images/Galleries/RESOURCES/MD/2014-1/1-2014.pdf

Chicago

World Association for Christian Communication. Media Development. 2014. https://new.waccglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/wacc-global/Images/Galleries/RESOURCES/MD/2014-1/1-2014.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Association for Christian Communication |title=Media Development |date=January 2014 |url=https://new.waccglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/wacc-global/Images/Galleries/RESOURCES/MD/2014-1/1-2014.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldassociationforchristiancommunication2014media, author = {{World Association for Christian Communication}}, title = {{Media Development}}, institution = {World Association for Christian Communication}, year = {2014}, month = jan, url = {https://new.waccglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/wacc-global/Images/Galleries/RESOURCES/MD/2014-1/1-2014.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }