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The aim of this essay is to discuss the state of democracy in Western Europe in the light of an essential change in public spheres towards more dissonance, disconnection, and noise. It is argued that this condition is the unintended consequence of the co-occurrence of two long-term changes in contemporary societies: political culture changes in liberal democracy and changes in communication infrastructures. The interaction of the disruption of democracy and digital communication has implications for public spheres as opportunity structures for democratic speech and institutions. The dynamics of dissonant public spheres have created a new disinformation order, pushing new political actors and communication modes to the fore. These conditions threaten established patterns of authoritative information flows and public debate, which puts contemporary democracy under serious stress.

Informed by Communication Infrastructure Theory (CIT), this article explores the ways community organizations and ethnic media serve as communicative resources and form into storytelling networks with different health-enhancing purposes for Filipina household service workers (FHSWs) in Hong Kong (HK). Using key informant interviews with print and broadcast media, non-governmental organizations, and faith-based organizations in HK, it found that cancer, stroke, and depression were shared concerns among FHSWs. Community organizations and ethnic media explained these concerns based on work and labor conditions. As communicative resources, they provided health information, offered tangible support, and campaigned to employers and governments. In discussing social media for health, community organizations highlighted accessibility, whereas ethnic media focused on journalistic practices. Overall, this article highlights ethnic media and community organizations as key but often overlooked publics in health communication and the importance of further incorporating temporality in CIT-informed research for migrant health. Implications to public health campaigns and health reporting are discussed.

Fibre-deployment of next-generation communications networks is currently a major challenge for investing firms as well as for national regulators and is also subject to hot debates at EU level. This work examines the role of regulatory policies and competition controlling for relevant supply and demand side factors. Our econometric model employs dynamic panel data methods that take into account potential endogeneity due to omitted heterogeneity, reverse causality and the dynamic investment specification. Our results indicate that relevant forms of previous broadband access regulations have had a negative impact on investment in new infrastructure. Furthermore, infrastructure-based competition from mobile operators and the replacement effect stemming from the incumbents' existing infrastructure exert a negative impact on ex ante investment incentives. As regards the dynamics of the adjustment process, we find that there are both short-term and long-term effects towards the desired infrastructure level.

One of the central concepts of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the "data subject". This notion in relation to the establishment of rights and obligations for controllers and processors becomes a common denominator in the implementation of this Regulation at the level of all Member States of the European Union. The Regulation (EU) 2016/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (GDPR) was adopted, in order to protect the privacy of data subject, whether a parent, an young person or a child. However, starting with the title we can identify two different actions: to assure the protection of personal data and the free movement of this data within and outside the Union borders. In this context we must take the following into account: the reality of conceptual gaps in interpretation of this document; old or non-existent infrastructure; legislative bottlenecks and the risks involved in the protection of children's data. Are parents, young people or children properly informed about their rights and the risks to which they are exposed in an era of digitalization? Can online school ensure the protection of children? Does the current infrastructure allow the optimal implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation? My research, in this context, has the aim of identifying gaps between information, infrastructure and the application of the GDPR, using the content analysis method and the questionnaire as a qualitative method of research. The expected results of this research are awareness by state institutions about the risks to which children are exposed in an era of digitalization and the awareness of the controllers about the obligation to ensure the protection of children's data in the processing process.