- International Programme for the Development of Communication
The International Programme for the Development of Communication is a
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) programme aimed at strengthening the development ofmass media in developing countries.Background
On
December 10 ,1948 , Article 19 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted and proclaimed by theUnited Nations General Assembly as Resolution 217 A (III). It stated that "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." [ [http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html Universal Declaration of Human Rights] ]In
1977 , UNESCO initiated the International Commission for the Study of Communications Problems, known as theMacBride Commission and named after the Commission's ChairmanSean MacBride . The Commission was given a three-year time frame to conduct investigations and report back to UNESCO. In October 1980, the report "Many Voices, One World" was presented at the Belgrade Assembly.As a result of the report, UNESCO launched the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC). The programme web site states that it "exists to strengthen the means of
mass communication in developing countries, by increasing technical andhuman resources for the media, by developingcommunity media and by modernising news agencies and broadcasting organizations."At the November 1987 General Conference at Paris, UNESCO called for the continuation of its major plan called "Communication in the Service of Man" in which it re-affirmed that "it is essential gradually to eliminate existing imbalances in the field of communication, in particular by fostering the development of infrastructures, the training of people and the strengthening of production and dissemination capacities in the developing countries, and to encourage a free flow and a wider and better balanced dissemination of information, with a view to the establishment of a
new world information and communication order seen as an evolving and continuous process." [Citation
last=UNESCO
title=Records of the General Conference - Twenty-fourth Session
chapter=Communication in the Service of Man
volume=1: Resolutions
pages=35–39
date=20 October to20 November 1987
place=Paris
url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0007/000769/076995E.pdf ]At the June 2004 session of the UN General Assembly, it was "decided to maintain the Committee to Review United Nations Public Information Policies and Activities" with a mandate including "To promote the establishment of a new, more just and more effective world information and communication order intended to strengthen peace and international understanding and based on the free circulation and wider and better-balanced dissemination of information and to make recommendations thereon to the General Assembly."
It has been said that the "results of UNESCO's McBride Report regarding media diversity alerted UNESCO, and other international bodies to the necessity for a
New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO)."DOClink|http://www.reportage.uts.edu.au/analysis/MonashUniversitySubmission.doc|73KiB ]However, "Despite UNESCO's attempt to protect independent and national news agencies from being dominated by western news agencies and networks, the NWICO policy was boycotted by America and Britain, who withdrew their membership from UNESCO and funding of the organisation's initiatives. Although Britain rejoined UNESCO in 1997, the global media owners' opposition towards the NWICO policy (which collapsed thereafter) highlights their commercial stronghold in the international news market."
See also
*
Freedom of expression
*Journalism
*Media censorship References
External links
* [http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13270&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html Official website]
* [http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13176&URL_DO=DO_PRINTPAGE&URL_SECTION=201.html 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, 28 November, 1978.
* Sean Macbride et al, " [http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0004/000400/040066eb.pdf/ Many Voices, One World – Macbride Report] ",Paris ,UNESCO Publishing,1988 Further reading
* O.Boyd-Barrett & T.Rantanen, "The Globalisation of News", London, Sage Publications, 1998.
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