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

2010] A RIGHT TO MEDIA? 431
expression and the right to receive information. As formulated, the
right to media supports other core rights impacting indigenous
peoples, such as the rights to non-discrimination, self-determination,
and respect for cultural integrity. Thus, the aims of this Article are
twofold: to articulate a right to media based upon preexisting
international human rights norms and then to demonstrate how
recognition of this right can promote voices in the media that have
been historically missing or silenced, such as those of indigenous
peoples.
Part IV looks beyond the question of rights and explores more
fully how these rights are being shaped and advanced by the
movement for media pluralism at the regional and domestic levels. In
doing so, this part identifies a number of factors that need to be
present at the domestic level in order to ensure a right to media for
indigenous peoples. Finally, the Conclusion discusses the larger role
that media rights can play in promoting other important societal
norms, such as the promotion of peace and tolerance among societies.
II. INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND MEDIA
This section discusses the research on the historical
relationship between media and indigenous peoples and how
concerns over indigenous peoples’ rights led to the UNDRIP. This
discussion will reveal two key factors that have limited indigenous
peoples’ rights to access mass media. The first can be analyzed as a
structural barrier. This includes such things as the cost of the
training and technology needed to access and produce mass media,
which studies show has been historically prohibitive. 6 It also includes
the infrastructure required for the use of media, which has proven to
be problematic for financial as well as logistical reasons, as many
indigenous peoples have lived in rural and remote areas. Thus the
technology needed to access media has “only [been] accessible to
indigenous peoples through the apparatus and materials of others,
with the consequent restrictions and dangers of manipulation and
pressure.” 7 The second factor contributing to the inability of
6. See generally U.N. Econ. & Soc. Council [ECOSOC], Sub-Comm’n on
Prevention of Discrimination and Prot. of Minorities, Study of the Problem of
Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations, para. 140, U.N. Doc.
E/CN.4/Sub.2/1983/21/Add.8 (Sept. 30, 1983) (prepared by Jose Martinez Cobo)
[hereinafter Martinez Cobo Sept. Report] (studying and reporting on the methods
taken to protect indigenous peoples).
7. Id.