PARLIAMENT AND DEMOCRACY - Inter-Parliamentary Union

A parliament that is open and transparent I 51
Issues of ownership and control typically affect the variety or pluralism of
viewpoints available, especially on television. This is the medium which
people in most regions of the world mainly rely on for information and debate
about politics, except for Africa where radio is more significant (see table 3.1).
The table does not include the Internet, which is rapidly becoming a major
source of news in many countries, especially for young people.
Figure 3.1: First main source of information for national and international
news per region
TV Newspaper Radio Others
Middle East 78 8 7 7
East Europe 76 11 9 4
Asia 73 15 8 4
Latin America 71 12 14 3
West Europe 63 22 10 5
North America 59 21 9 11
Africa 30 7 58 5
Source: Pew Global Attitudes Project, December 2002, reported in Marta Lagos, “World Opinion:
the World’s Information Channels”, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, vol.15, no.2,
2003, 201-211.
In view of their significance and also their expense to run, the pluralism of
broadcast media can be threatened from two quite different directions. In publicly
owned broadcasting, the main threat is that of government or dominant
party control, which excludes critical, oppositional or alternative perspectives
on government policy. With regard to the privately owned sector, the chief
threat comes from monopolistic or oligopolistic ownership, where pluralism is
threatened by a combination of populism on one side and the protection of the
interests of the wealthy and privileged on the other.
The best way to contain these pressures is by an independent regulatory
body which has strong powers to limit concentrations of ownership, including
the cross-ownership of different media, as well as to prevent government
interference in publicly owned broadcasting. Parliaments can play an important
non-partisan role in setting the framework for such a regulatory body and
acting as guarantor of its independence. Creating impartial appointment procedures
for such a body is regarded as crucial by most experts on the subject.