A Right to Media? Lorie M. Graham - Columbia Law School

2010] A RIGHT TO MEDIA? 449
communities in particular are given a forum for discussion and
expression. 74
UNESCO has also addressed the scope of rights surrounding
media. 75 For instance, at its 1978 General Conference, UNESCO
created a resolution that endorsed freedom of the press and stressed
the need “for the establishment of a new equilibrium and greater
reciprocity in the flow of information . . . for a free flow and wider and
more balanced dissemination of information.” 76 This resolution,
entitled the Declaration on Fundamental Principles concerning the
Contribution of the Mass Media to Strengthening Peace and
International Understanding, to the Promotion of Human Rights and
to Countering Racialism, Apartheid and Incitement to War, led to the
formation of the McBride Commission. 77 Among other things, this
commission attempted to create specific solutions to combat media
imbalance perceived by third world nations. 78 In its 1980 Report, the
Commission dealt with these international communication issues
and insisted that “all those working in mass media should contribute
to the fulfillment of human rights, both individual and collective.” 79
74. UNICEF, Working with Indigenous Children on their Rights,
http://www.unicef.org/voy/takeaction/takeaction_3813.html (last visited Feb. 5,
2010).
75. See generally UNESCO, www.unesco.org (last visited Feb. 5, 2010) (The
website’s Communication and Information section, for example, contains
information about “empowering people through the free flow of ideas by word and
image, and by access to information and knowledge.”).
76. Declaration on Fundamental Principles Concerning the Contribution of
the Mass Media to Strengthening Peace and International Understanding, to the
Promotion of Human Rights and to Countering Racialism, Apartheid, and
Incitement to War, UNESCO Res. 4/9.3/2, arts. 6–10, (1978).
77. The McBride Commission was named for its chairman, Sean McBride,
who later founded Amnesty International. See John Daly, UNESCO, The
McBride Commission and Its Findings, http://unescoscience.blogspot.com/
2006/03/mcbride-commission-and-its-findings.html (March 12, 2006).
78. David A. Cifrino, Press Freedom in Latin America and the Emerging
International Right to Communicate, 9 B.C. Third World L.J. 117, 122 (1989).
79. The MacBride Comm’n, Int’l Comm’n for the Study of Comm. Probs.,
Many Voices, One World 40 (1980). The United States withdrew from UNESCO
during the Regan Administration because of beliefs on the part of policymakers
that UNESCO’s policies might impede the free flow of information. See Letter
from George Schultz, Sec’y of State, to Amadou-Mahtar M’Bow, Director-General
of UNESCO (Dec. 28, 1983), reprinted in U.S. Dep’t of State, American Foreign
Policy Current Documents, Document 93, at 282–83 (1983). These concerns, as
they relate to Article 16, are addressed more fully below.