Press Freedom and Globalisation - International Press Institute

Press Freedom and Globalisation
from the so-called ‘information age’ emerged. They were worried about how mass media
were lopsided in coverage favouring the rich countries, and in accessibility to technical
equipment. UNESCO became the major forum for this debate. UNESCO appointed, in
1976, a commission chaired by Seán MacBride to study ‘the totality of communication
problems in modern societies’. The 1980 UNESCO summit agreed upon proposals from
the commission where some of the poor countries’ concerns were adapted. The result was
a great debate where leading media, especially those in the United States and the British,
blamed UNESCO for trying to implement a media policy, where governments should
correct these biases in media. That would be an intervention into the press freedom and
impossible regarding democratic considerations. In 1983/84 the United States withdrew
from UNESCO, partly due to this conflict. 139
The major proposals of the NWICO debates are not implemented. The process also
illustrate how global media is a stronger political player than poor countries. 140 The ruling
elites both in North and South have common interests in media maintaining their
hegemony which makes the dividing line not geography but economic classes in a global
informal network. 141 These are supposed to act as capitalists whether they are from North,
South, are domestic or foreigners. 142
The United States contributed to reduce UNESCO’s role through increasing the
mandate of another UN agency, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), for
shaping the ‘global mass media policy’. 143 With technological development, in particular
how internet put traditional media and communication technology together, ITU emerged
as an important actor in media policy. The way the internet is used by terrorists, extremists,
139 Gerbner, George, Mowlana, Hamid and Nordenstreng, Kaarle, The Global Media Debate : Its Rise, Fall,
and Renewal (New Jersey: Ablex Publishing, 1993), pp. 1-33.
140 Ibid., pp. 25-26.
141
An-na’im, “The Freedom of Expression as a Universal Human Right”, p. 25.
142
Ochieng, Philip, I Accuse the Press : An Insider’s View of the Media and Politics in Africa (Nairobi:
Initiatives Publishers, 1992), p. 115.
143
Savio, Roberto, “New Information Order Leading Towards ‘Unthink’ ” in The East African (Nairobi:
Nation Media Group), 19 th April, 2004.
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