War happens when Information stops working for peace
The only fundamental question is who has the power to make this choice?
A few individuals with an interest in war, or all citizens?
The way Information works generates either War or Peace
Information today can only lead to one thing.... War
Never has the world known such an era of profusion of means of communication and availability of Information, which instinctively should be the sign of an era of Knowledge, Brotherhood and Peace.
Nonetheless, feelings of loneliness, anxiety, overwhelm, incomprehension, indifference, mistrust and conflict still rule our minds. Why is this so?
If our present-day societies are so atomized, divided and chaotic, the cause must lie in the circulation and irrigation of Information, which is itself atomized, divided and chaotic, by a struggle of all against all, where the objective is to be the one who can speak loudest to be heard most, above all in a perspective of social position and influence.
Media information as it is developed, manufactured, disseminated and assimilated today can only lead to one outcome: a war of all against all.
The modern structuring of Information is based on commodification, competition, marketing differentiation, compartmentalization, stigmatization and the quest for domination at the hands of a few individuals who protect their interests above any common good, while perfidiously proclaiming the mantra “pluralism and independence of the media”.
But who is really independent? And who are the millions who are merely their dependents?
The independence of information is an illusion that doesn't exist and never will, for one simple reason.
We are all interdependent, influenced in one way or another by ideas, interests and individuals. The only question is: which ones, and whether or not they contribute to the general interest?
This obviousness of mind leads to the need to imagine a bold and revolutionary institutional innovation in this fundamental field of Information, which impacts our lives, our relationships, our social cohesion and our political practices. We need to rethink the way in which Information functions in its relationship with citizens, all the more so at a time of great upheaval in our century, in order to recreate links, shared observations and common perspectives.
To refuse to do so is to allow social disintegration, fear, demagoguery, dissension and hatred to continue to flourish, until the final break-up of society as a whole. If nothing is done, Peace and “Democracy” will soon disappear because of the way Information excludes citizens.
Our media and social networks cultivate ignorance through advertising hype, diversion through entertainment, dispersion through the obesity of random, low-quality content, compartmentalization through information bubbles, concealment (whether voluntary or not) through selective information and lies through the falsification of content, with or without the help of generative artificial intelligence, but feign astonishment at the civic abstention, the distrust of elites and the irremediable delegitimization of all our institutions.
How much audiovisual airtime is needed for a truly pluralist, exhaustive, honest and wise treatment of the major issues of the century (climate, energy, education, health, social life, justice, international risks, economic power relations, migratory causes and realities, influence of lobbies, transparency in public life, etc.)?
1%, 3%, 5% of this time?
How many citizens, and even elected politicians, can be so fully aware, involved and willing to dare to go beyond their certainties, their routines and a status quo that hopes nothing will change?
To take full ownership of Information is to have power over events. Not to do so is to become the victim of events created by the will of a few others.
Information, like Freedom, is never given, but taken. Only individuals who take it upon themselves to appropriate information individually and collectively, and who are enlightened and enlightening by and for their fellow human beings, become true citizens capable of recognizing, defending and pursuing the general interest in the face of the immense challenges of our time and the problems of our society.
At a time when misinformation and non-information are leading to fear, dissension, demagoguery and violence, citizens must have a say in the information they receive, so that they are no longer victims of Ignorance, which benefits the corrupt and war-mongers.
As long as citizens are kept in the dark about the complexity of the issues at stake, the balance of power and the political, economic and military interests that finance, produce and sustain conflicts, peace will remain no more than an illusion in the service of mortifying special interests against the general interest.
The Citizen Information Council is the essential institutional innovation capable of fulfilling this ambition.
This innovation is a Citizen Audiovisual Information Service of the citizens themselves, BY and FOR all citizens.
The oligarchic structuring of Information creates and fuels competition and ignorance
The oligarchization of information only results in the atomization of society, war and chaos.
The privatization of information only serves particular interests, never the general interest.
Journalists should be accountable only to citizens for a bitter truth that sets free
Media democratization is essential to generate Democracy and True Peace
Open information, shared by all, is the only barrier to mistrust, corruption and demagogy.
Our ambition:
Citizen Information Councils
as a central instrument of True Peace
A democratic innovation in information, a remedy for the majority of the ills of our time
The reason for such a proposal can be summed up in two words: Ignorance and Distrust.
Distrust of the political and media worlds, as shown by each new election and successive polls which show that citizens' trust in elected representatives and journalists is waning.
Faced with a breathless political system that is tending more and more each year towards the disinterest and political disgust of citizens, we collectively need an institutional renewal that works towards a profound re-enchantment with democracy, a desire for social harmony and reconciling citizens with the media and political worlds.
There is an alternative to an Information system controlled by public or private organizations that will naturally always serve their particular interests before any consideration of the general interest. This path is that of an Information Democracy, without which any true Democracy can neither be founded nor endure.
Without this democratization of media information, citizens will remain perpetually distanced from demanding reflection and in-depth debate on the essential issues of our time, left to be eternally served, by superficial, biased, partial, divisive, Manichean, sensationalist and decontextualized information, a commedia dell'arte made up of political peopolization, simplistic slogans and demagogic posturing.
Our conviction is that citizens who take the initiative in producing information take greater ownership of it, and become more involved and committed to social issues. In this way, they escape the frustration of not feeling listened to, by seeing their thoughts faithfully expressed.
Citizens must have a say in the way information is produced and brought to them. It's up to them to ask the inconvenient questions, to put their finger where it hurts, to take ownership of Information, to be the only real counter-power to all the political, economic and media powers. The general interest dies in this absence.
Citizens need to take control of information, and stop being passive in the face of it, by giving them the possibility of requesting investigative reporting by volunteer journalists to answer their questions, and their desire for knowledge and transparency in public life.
The Citizens' Information Council, which meets these expectations, is a tool at the service of Knowledge, of renewed trust through total transparency, of genuine consideration for the plurality of opinions, of open-mindedness through dialogue and consultation between citizens to transcend certainties and fantasies, a holistic approach to all of society's issues, with the ambition of shared findings, cooperation with the world of journalism, demanding reflection and the active involvement of citizens in concrete solutions to the challenges of the century.
The Conseil de l'Information Citoyenne is a bulwark against the fracturing of society, the mistrust of journalists and politicians, the appetite for fake news, conflicts of interest, economic and political pressures, populism, extremism, indifference, navel-gazing and citizen passivity.
This institutional innovation also implies a radical evolution in the relationship between journalism professionals and Information, as they become exclusively servants of citizens.
An institution accessible to all citizens, coordinated by ordinary citizens at the service of their fellow citizens, with the support of journalists and facilitators of consultation and deliberation to create the conditions for an Information Democracy for the benefit of all
How the Citizen Information Council works
A Council of 500 citizens
volunteers drawn at random
to collect, coordinate, consult, deliberate, organize and supervise all Citizen Information processes
An Advisory Committee of volunteer journalists drawn at random
to support citizen advisors and journalists in their Citizen Information missions
A Committee of Facilitators
to facilitate consultations and deliberations between all stakeholders in Citizen Information
An online platform
accessible to all citizens
to make requests for information
and to organize content calls for tender
The Council's 6 missions
of Citizen Information
Citizens become sponsors of Citizen Information materials broadcast on accredited media
?
Collect requests for information
Any citizen can ask questions seeking answers on any societal issue directly to the Citizens' Council, which coordinates these requests.
Debate, consult and deliberate
Group and prioritize the relevant questions that audiovisual and written information media must answer
Organize public support markets
Any accredited journalism professional can apply to produce these information materials.
Supervise the production of supports
The Citizens' Council issues an opinion on the materials so that all previously raised citizen questions are guaranteed to be satisfied.
Ensure the impartiality of the media
The greatest possible plurality of opinions, the greatest possible objectivity and the absence of any conflict of interest among contributors to the media is essential to the legitimacy of Citizen Information.
Coordinate the dissemination of information materials to accredited media
Accredited public and private media, receiving public funding, are made available to Citizen Information to broadcast audiovisual and written materials validated by the Citizen Council to allow the widest possible exposure . The materials produced cannot lead to any commercialization.
20 reasons for the necessity
of the Citizen Information Council
A radical transformation of information is the main solution
against the disintegration of our societies in the face of the challenges of the 21st century
Giving everyone a taste for learning and knowledge
People are more inclined to learn when they know that it is directly usable, useful to themselves and others, and has an impact on their own lives.
Promoting greater Knowledge of all, by all and for all
When all individuals in a society are invited to contribute to shared information, you get more comprehensive data.
Combat the generalized dumbing-down of audiovisual and social networks
Giving citizens the means to reflect and provide qualitative information, in the face of the impoverishment of Information (profusion of futile entertainment, advertising and provocation in the race for views).
Encouraging a fraternity of Knowledge in the general interest
When you gain the power to inform your contemporaries (voters and elected representatives alike) without having to fight to be heard more than your neighbor, you are naturally driven to cooperate in the elaboration of common Knowledge, so that your particular interests are combined with the general interest.
Awareness
Democracy
Democratizing minds
A taste for democracy can only be acquired by experimenting with consultation and deliberation for all.
Creating a culture of consultation rather than confrontation
True Democracy is not so much the art of confrontation - which can, as today, boil down to sterile, dogmatic debate - as it is the art of concerted deliberation.
Involving all citizens in building a general will
When all individuals in a society are invited to contribute to common Information, you get a greater plurality of subjectivities, and therefore a greater propensity to build a general will.
Countering superficial Information that feeds populism and demagoguery
Simplistic stigmatization slogans as remedies for social ills fade away when citizens are fully encouraged and empowered to engage in challenging, in-depth reflection.
Living together
Fostering a taste for social interaction
Acquiring a taste for considering others begins with the institutional opportunity to listen and understand them, and to learn how to do so.
Simplifying the complexity of social cohesion
Complicated and contradictory individuals who confront their respective inconsistencies and convergences end up finding together the path to a better understanding of themselves and others, and thus of the possibilities of living together.
Combat the informational atomization of society
Create a space for open-mindedness, with no editorial line, in the face of informational bubbles and “ready-to-think” that consolidate certainties, preconceptions and fears of the Other.
Imagining a common destiny based on shared observations
To have the capacity to elaborate, through a collaborative construction of Knowledge, shared observations and common perspectives, so that solutions of general interest emerge.
Virtue
Promoting active citizenship for more courageous politics
Passive citizens create politicians who are passive in the face of real social issues, whereas active and vigilant citizens are a permanent pressure for greater involvement, audacity and political virtue.
Making everyone accountable: citizens, politicians and journalists
Move away from a world of irresponsibility, where the blame is always laid at someone else's door, with the excuse “I didn't know”.
Gaining trust between citizens, politicians and journalists through transparency
Assume total transparency, because distrust and conspiracy are fueled by suspicions of concealment and the frustration of an unfulfilled desire for Knowledge.
Promote virtue through transparency
Bringing all vested interests and power struggles to light encourages all members of society to review their vices and injustices, so as not to end up vilified.
Legitimizing information in the face of fake news and deepfake
The verification of information by a multitude of citizens will always be more effective and, above all, more legitimate than that carried out by a few individuals whose interests, reading biases and subjectivity are unknown.
Making quintessential knowledge accessible in the age of infobesity
Faced with a chaotic profusion of content, with no hierarchical structure, the challenge of qualitative selectivity and pertinent synthesis is today the prerogative of only a small number of individuals who have the financial and technical means for this privilege. This privilege must be given to all if it is to cease to be so.
Real freedom of information begins with paying for information of choice
Citizens have a legitimate right to choose and express their assent a priori to the information programs they pay for with their taxes, and not to have editorial lines and programs imposed on them that they do not validate, endorse or even listen to.
Sanctioning citizen journalism
Free investigative reporting from precariousness and the pressure of interests of all kinds, by institutionally protecting the status of citizen journalism and the incomes of journalists serving citizens.
Legitimacy
A revolution for journalism?
Transcending “Media Independence” into Information Democracy
This institutional innovation implies a radical change in the relationship between journalism professionals and information, as they become the exclusive servants of citizens.
There's no need for a long argument to explain the current problems facing journalism: media concentration, overexposure of a few editorialists and commentators, virtual disappearance of investigative reporting, competition for clicks between articles playing on emotion and sensationalism, impoverishment of content, a race for the survival of titles, self-censorship, pressure at all levels (hierarchical, editorial, ideological, political, budgetary and advertising), growing public distrust of a profession resigned to the nagging suspicion of connivance with the powerful, and finally the financial precariousness of a majority of journalism professionals. ..
This situation is detrimental to everyone - citizens, journalists and even politicians.
The Citizen Information Council provides answers to all these problems. It reinvents the conditions under which journalism professionals operate. It even constitutes a professional and democratic insurance policy for all journalists, with triple protection for institutions, activities and remuneration.
The journalistic profession needs to be completely rethought in its relationship with citizens. Fake news only thrives because citizen news is almost non-existent and unsupported.
The only remedy for all the injustices of our time is to bridge the gulf between citizens and journalists by providing information that is incorruptible because it has no grey areas and is completely transparent, open to all questions without filters (even the most sordid) and educational, by turning vigilant citizens into collaborative players in the Information process.
Passivity and the infantilization of citizens are the source of frustration, mistrust and the culture of ignorance that form the breeding ground for political drift and its most disastrous consequences: corruption, authoritarianism and war.
Journalists, we need you to re-found the meaning of your vocation and your profession, not just for yourselves but for all of us as a People, to create a Society of enlightened and virtuous individuals, the only guarantee of the emergence and continuation of reason, wisdom and peace.
The philosophical why of the Citizen Information Council?
Return to the fundamental idea of Democracy... consultation and deliberation
Democracy is the ability of diverse opinions to confront each other, to find a path towards concertation and then deliberation, in order to generate solutions accepted by all (without needing to reach consensus, and even less unanimity) in response to a shared problem, i.e. a prior common observation, the framework and conditions of which are clearly defined and supported by all.
This shared observation cannot be founded without a collectively approved Information, preferably after having been collaboratively constructed. The democratic process cannot take place without this common starting point.
Real democratic debate cannot take place in a struggle between rigidly antagonistic solutions, drawn from their own reasoning and different observations. No consultation is possible under these conditions.
This is the sad spectacle of our political system, with its dogmatic and sterile “debates” that are nothing more than confrontations between politicians who do not seek to understand each other, one seeking to impose the apples and the other the pears. This irremediable dissensus has no way out other than the oligarchic domination of one point of view over another, of one political party over another, in order to govern with facade or circumstantial majorities.
This is not democracy.
Democracy begins with its necessary beginning: legitimized Information that provides a common basis for true democratic debate. The more demanding and legitimate the Information, the more demanding and legitimate the democratic debate and the solutions that follow.
Without this democratization of media information, all other institutional innovations aimed at reinvigorating active citizenship will be in vain, because they will always be manipulated, marginalized, deviated from or discouraged, whether they involve encouraging participation in elections, citizen-initiated referendums, citizen conventions, assemblies drawn by lot, participatory budgets, neighborhood councils or anything else.
Trust can never be restored between citizens and the media and political worlds if they are kept in ignorance and passivity. Blind, unchecked trust is every People's road to tyranny.
These are the reasons behind the Citizen Information Council.
Journalists! Citizens!
Join and support the Citizen Information Council
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