Global Media Governance

International Bodies of Media Governance: (McQuail, pg. 269)

• International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
• World Trade Organization (WTO)
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
• Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) - a specialized agency of the UN with its mission to "to build peace in the minds of men."

New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO)

Three resolutions proposed: (McPhail, pg. 245-246)

• Direct Satellite Broadcasting (DBS) - require satellite broadcasters to obtain the prior consent of national governments before transmitting messages to a foreign territory.
• Regional meetings of experts to discuss national communication policies. Controversy over holding the meetings in peripheral/developing nations, not in the industrialized nations.
• Acknowledge the right and the responsibility of national governments to control the media messages' available to their citizenry. Introduced by the USSR, the resolution failed to pass, but highlighted the clash between Western "freedom of speech" and non-Western "national sovereignty" issues.

Free Press/Free Flow vs. Government Control

• Western nations valued a free press which would question government policies and activities.
• Peripheral nations valued national sovereignty, breaking away from colonial rule as newly independent nations.

Peripheral Nations' Criticisms of Western Media: (McPhail, pg. 252)

1. Rejection of the commercial orientation of the press, radio, television and film industries.

2. One-way flow of information from Western nations (predominantly the US) to other nations.

3. Fear of electronic colonialism - cultural imperialism by Western media content.

US withdraw from UNESCO in January of 1985, citing three problems: (McPhail, pg. 257)

1. politicization of issues (e.g. USSR attempts to steer debate)

2. the promulgation of statist concepts (e.g. limits on free speech)

3. mismanagement and fiscal irresponsibility

World Summit on the Information Society, 2003 & 2005

• In the 1990s, the UNESCO focus shifted to computer-based information systems.
• Emphasis on "equal access to information and communication technologies (ITC)" and a free and pluralistic press.
• The new struggle is between private corporations and civil society organizations - no longer fear of state-controlled media, but monopoly-controlled media by transnational corporations.
  

The WSIS was held in two phases:

• The first phase took place in Geneva hosted by the Government of Switzerland from 10 to 12 December 2003. Resulted in Geneva Declaration of Principles
• Second phase took place in Tunis hosted by the Government of Tunisia, from 16 to 18 November 2005. Resulted in Tunis Commitment and Agenda for the Information Society

Our Common Vision of the Information Society (WSIS Geneva Declaration)

"We, the representatives of the peoples of the world, assembled in Geneva from 10-12 December 2003 for the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, declare our common desire and commitment to build a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting their sustainable development and improving their quality of life, premised on the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and respecting fully and upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."