WACC

A resource from the World Association for Christian Communication The No-Nonsense guide to Communication Rights

What are ‘communication rights’? How do apart after the US and the UK pulled out of UNESCO, they relate to ‘human rights’? How do they clouding discussion in UN bodies ever since. At the same time, NGOs and activists from the differ from ‘freedom of expression’? 1980s onwards became increasingly active in a variety Communication is recognised as an of communication issues, from community media, to essential human need and, therefore, as a language rights, to copyright, to Internet provision and basic human right. Without it, no individ- free and open source software. In the 1990s, these began to coalesce into umbrella groups tackling ual or community can exist, or prosper. several issues. The idea of communication rights began Communication enables meanings to be to take shape, this time from the ground up. exchanged, propels people to act and A ‘right to communicate’ and ‘communication makes them who and what they are. rights’ are closely related, but not identical, in their Communication strengthens human history and usage. The former is more associated with the New World Information and Communication dignity and validates human equality. By recognising, implementing and protecting ‘ he right to communicate is to be communication rights, we are recognising, Tunderstood as “the right of every implementing and protecting all other individual or community to have its stories human rights. and views heard”. This means that full implementation of the right to freedom of ommunication rights strengthen the capacity of people and communities to use communication opinion and expression, including the right Cand media to pursue their goals in the econom- of equitable access to the media and the ic, political, social and cultural spheres. They support means of communication, is central to its key human rights that collectively enhance people’s realisation.’ capacity to communicate in their own general interest Article 19, London, February 2003 and for the common good. Communication rights go beyond mere freedom of Order (NWICO) debate, and points to the need for a opinion and expression, to include areas such as dem- formal legal acknowledgment of such a right, as an ocratic media governance, participation in one’s own overall framework for more effective implementation. culture, linguistic rights, rights to enjoy the fruits of It also makes intuitive sense as a basic human right. human creativity, to education, privacy, peaceful The latter emphasises the fact that an array of interna- assembly, and self-determination. These are questions tional rights underpinning communication already of inclusion and exclusion, of quality and accessibility. exists, but many are too often ignored and require In short, they are questions of human dignity. active mobilisation and assertion. The use of the term ‘communication rights’, in the Background plural form, implicitly points towards existing human The first broad-based debate on media and communi- rights that relate to communication, and away from cation globally, limited mainly to governments, ran for promoting a new formal right to communicate (in the a decade from the mid-1970s. Governments of the singular) in international law. The emphasis subtly South, by then a majority in the UN, began voicing shifts towards realising existing communication rights demands in UNESCO concerning media concentra- on the ground. tion, the flow of news, and ‘cultural imperialism’. The MacBride Report in 1981 articulated most compre- Why not just ‘freedom of expression’? hensively a right to communicate. The debate was Freedom of expression is a basic human right. But the compromised, however, by the Cold War, and fell idea behind communication rights contends that such sage and ensure it is widely heard. ommunication rights must respond to An initial approximation of the goal of communi- the needs of people at different levels cation rights is: To secure conditions for the genera- C tion of a creative and respectful cycle of interaction of society who have experienced specific among individuals and groups in society which in communication deficits in their lives. practice endorses the right of all to have their ideas Without this vital mediation there is a dan- expressed, heard, listened to, considered and respond- ger of ignoring people who have experi- ed to equally. enced communication deficits at a local By breaking down barriers, putting in place enabling mechanisms and enhancing self-determina- level, but whose concerns have not been tion, communication rights build an environment in acknowledged as a legitimate aspect of which people are better equipped to receive messages, communication rights. Concentration of to understand and respond to them, and to communi- media ownership is a critical issue, but to cate critically, competently and creatively. They nur- landless labourers in Brazil or India, the ture an environment of tolerance and mutual respect in the context of communication. right to information is far more important Communication rights do not seek to impose an precisely because without it their very sur- absolute obligation to listen and respond. Rather, they vival is threatened. Access to information build an environment in which interaction and com- can make a qualitative difference to their munication are more likely to occur freely and to lives. How do we evolve an understanding mutual benefit. of communication rights that recognises people’s varied experiences of communica- Why are communication rights relevant tion deficiencies? today? For communication rights, the whole is greater than freedom can be achieved only through securing a the sum of its parts in several ways. broader set of flanking rights. For freedom of expres- ● Without communication rights, freedom of expres- sion to rise above the dominance of powerful voices, sion can privilege the powerful. With them, it can the hugely varying levels of access to power and to the achieve its full potential. means of communication in society, especially mass ● Communication rights have implications for social media, must be addressed. and collective rights, beyond those of the individual, Communication rights demand that the conditions since they assert the right of cultural and ethnic needed for a positive cycle of communication are, in groups, of language communities and others. Support practice, created. This cycle involves a process not for diversity is also integral to communication rights, only of seeking, receiving and imparting, but of listen- through the high value attached to mutual respect and ing and being heard, understanding, learning, creating tolerance. and responding. Although we cannot oblige others to ● Communication rights cannot be construed as sim- listen or to respond, communication rights would ply about communication between equal individuals. optimise the environment for this. They already imply social structures that differentially Communication rights thus include a right to par- constrain and enable the capacity of different groups ticipate in one’s own culture and language, to enjoy to communicate. They thus point to changes to, and the benefits of science, to education, to participation the governance of, inequitable social structures and in governance, to privacy, to peaceful assembly, to the dynamics. protection of one’s reputation, and more. The legal constitution of rights is not in itself In this context, freedom of expression, in the form enough. Far from it, even when legally binding, mech- of laws to prevent direct government interference and anisms are needed to make it possible to establish to defend free speech, can do little to prevent the dom- non-compliance. Redress must be available, and sanc- ination of the loudest voices, i.e. those who can most tions must be enforceable. Communication rights strongly influence the means of communication within established in international law have none of these. society, whether they are the government, newspaper Most governments have tried to incorporate interna- proprietors and media corporations, or powerful inter- tional laws in national law. Yet they are often under- est groups. mined by exceptions, and weakened by qualifications. A poor person seeking to highlight injustice in their Some governments fail to enforce even their own laws. lives and a powerful media mogul each have, before A set of global dynamics gives communication the law, precisely the same protection for their right to rights special relevance today: freely express their views. In practice, however, the ● Mass media are now dominated by a few global cor- former lacks a means to have her/his voice heard, porations. This significantly biases content towards while the latter can powerfully amplify her/his mes- profit generation and reduces diversity of sources and Sign language is being gen- erally recognised by society and people no longer look curiously at people signing in public. But sign lan- guages are still discriminat- ed against in that they are not given equal recognition with spoken languages. Using sign language is not guaranteed in public educa- tion, nor is sign language interpretation guaranteed in employment examinations for government or civil-serv- ice employees or even in court trials. This clearly infringes deaf people’s com- munication rights. (Photo: Arvind Jain) content. under threat; and where it does not, is perceived by ● Mass media play a growing role in identity forma- governments as an expensive and possibly less tion and cultural processes, but these are shifting compliant option than commercial media. Community towards an unsustainable individualist and con- media in their many forms (citizen’s media, sumerist ethos. autonomous media, civil society media etc.) are ● The ongoing extension of copyright duration and struggling hard, but still receive minimal recognition stiffer enforcement in the digital area, is impeding or active support, and progress is slow. The net effect communication and use of knowledge, and the public is a corporate, consumerist and northern bias in global domain is shrinking. mass media, inadequate local media in most poor ● Access to ICTs, and their use to tackle poverty and countries, and little or no media directly focusing on exclusion, has almost ground to a halt under neo-lib- and arising from people’s needs and interests. eral policies. A case can also be made that these apparently ● Under the pretext of a ‘war on terrorism’, civil rights diverse issues must be tackled together, as an ensem- in the digital environment are being severally eroded. ble. First, the root causes, the driving forces, of many These trends emerge alongside ongoing discrimina- of these are interlinked. Behind most is the global tion against minority language groups, ‘traditional’ agenda of unregulated capitalism with its tendency to denial of freedom of expression by governments, and monopoly, private ownership and consumerism. numerous other curtailments of communication rights. Wielding enormous political and economic clout, its Direct government control and manipulation of logic is forcefully impressed upon every barrier it media, long regarded as the major threat to freedom encounters, whether resistance to the destruction of of expression, is in significant decline in all regions of the public sphere, efforts to protect cultural diversity, the world. Governments worldwide are relinquishing or a desire to deploy the fruits of human creativity for the crude instruments of direct censorship and state- the greater social good. The need to maximise profits, controlled media. The mushrooming of alternatives to and to create the ideal conditions for this, endeavours government media and of the Internet has rendered it to sweep aside such obstacles and transform the world almost (but only almost) impossible to exert direct in its own market-driven image. control. Though much remains to be done, freedom of Second, there are many linkages and interdepen- expression has thus received a major and welcome dencies between the industrial sectors driving the boost. process, and their dynamics are intertwined. Global The trouble is that increased freedom of expression media corporations are central actors almost every- is not generating a corresponding flowering in media where, often incestuously entwined, and the line diversity, including diversity of content and plurality between them and telecoms companies and ISPs has of sources. While the sheer volume of media outlets long been blurred. These in turn are closely associated and channels has increased, evidence suggests that – with a small number of powerful governments. Such following an initial opening in hitherto repressed interconnectedness means that, on the one hand, it is countries – the diversity of views represented, and of almost impossible to deal with each domain in isola- the sources and formats of these views, is very narrow tion; but, on the other, a campaign can gain leverage Genuine public service media, where it exists, is in one domain by working on another. Third, many of these issues fall under the sphere of influence of the WTO, especially under TRIPS and n Rwanda during the years leading up to GATS. This is no coincidence, since corporate and the genocide of 1994, the Hutu-led gov- government interests long ago identified the WTO I (then the GATT) as the most amenable, controllable ernment of Rwanda initiated ‘hate media’ and powerful of the global governance organisations. against Tutsis. Kangura newspaper pub- Suitably armed, it could ride roughshod over the UN lished its notorious ‘Ten Hutu agencies, human rights and development instruments. Commandments’, urging mistreatment of All suggest that tackling any of these issues in isola- and discrimination against Tutsis. It also tion would be ineffectual. The main actors, interests identified and denounced individuals as and strategies are too interdependent for them to per- mit any one area to submit to change. Indeed, their ‘enemies’, ‘accomplices’ and ‘traitors’ success in pushing their agenda globally has relied secretly working for the dissident Rwanda heavily on acting collectively, and on shared, often Patriotic Front. The worst and most noto- arms-length, agendas – a good lesson for the opposi- rious of the ‘hate media’ proved to be the tion to learn. The advantage of communication rights independent radio station Radio-Télévision is that it can embrace such diversity within a single conceptual framework, which in turn strengthens the Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) with its potential for broad-based concerted opposition and extremist agenda. RTLM’s language was the development of comprehensive alternatives. aimed at destroying Tutsi identity in order to rewrite the country’s social and cultural Need for public communication history. After the genocide WACC support- The first pillar supporting communication rights relates to the need for spaces and resources for the ed projects that used community and tradi- public, that is everyone, to engage in transparent, tional media to rebuild Rwandan society informed and sustained democratic debate. It is vital and to work towards reconciliation. that the world’s political structures prioritise the cre- ation of such spaces and provision of such resources. At the same time, there are political and economic The goal is to create a regime where creative ideas and forces opposed to this, whose power base and privi- knowledge are encouraged, that can be communicated leged positions would be threatened. Access to knowl- as widely and freely as possible for education, enlight- edge of public interest, its aggregation, processing and enment, practical application, entertainment and other manipulation in relation to matters of public concern, uses. Furthermore, a distributed and decentralised and its dissemination and circulation within society structure of production and communication of knowl- are central. edge is desirable, geographically and among different Concern has long been expressed about the grow- groups and communities. ing concentration of ownership of media, a global Inherent dynamics pull in different directions here, trend brought about by corporate pressure to prevent too. An example is in the area of copyright. The origi- or eliminate limits on media ownership, a trend that nal role of copyright was to strike a balance between, seriously threatens media diversity. There is strong evi- on the one hand, granting monopoly control over the dence of formal and informal links between the politi- communication of knowledge for a limited period, cal sphere and private media. thereby creating an incentive for further creativity, and Even so, community and locally owned media, on the other, releasing it into the public domain for mainly radio but including participative video and use by, and benefit of, all. independent film, manage to exist everywhere, engag- However, ‘knowledge products’ have become a ing with the interests of the local communities. They massive industry, and copyright is now in practice do so, however, largely in the absence of specific sup- largely controlled by private corporations, and so the port, and often in the face of strong tacit or explicit underlying dynamic has changed. Today, controlling opposition. Community media are one of the bright demand for, and production and communication of spots in otherwise difficult landscapes for media that these ‘knowledge products’ is critical to maximising genuinely pursue the public interest. profits and extracting them into private hands. The current tension is between those who want to return Communicating knowledge to restore to the original rationale behind copyright and build a equality and improve creativity new regime that both encourages innovation and cre- The second pillar supporting communication rights ativity, and maximises the use of knowledge; and looks at the communication and exchange of knowl- those corporate and government interests that seek to edge more broadly, and not just of that knowledge maximise profits to industry. essential to public debate and democratic interaction. Meanwhile, huge sections of the population lack Indian women monitoring the media as part of efforts to promote gender equality in and through the mass media. Monitoring is important because it bridges the gap between activists and media professionals. It creates a link between the media and their audience which has the potential to lead to more equitable and diverse media systems. (Photo: WACC GMMP). means to gain access to information and to use it workshop held in Tecún Umán, on the effectively, even were it in principle in the public border of Guatemala and Mexico, domain. Affordable universal access to conventional A and ICT-based networks is an important goal in this brought together journalists, radio produc- respect, in forms that are built from the bottom-up, ers, activists, religious and lay people, and based on real needs. experts on migration policy. They dis- cussed the ‘ambiguity of frontiers’, the pol- Protecting dignity and security itics of hierarchies in the Americas, the use The third pillar is about ensuring that civil rights asso- ciated with communication of all kinds are secured, of post-9/11 ‘security’ language to penalise and the need to protect the dignity and security of migrants and the crucial role played by people in relation to the communication process. In journalists in telling migrants’ stories. includes the right to defend one’s reputation against Participants learned of media that support attacks by the media, one of a few areas in which the migrants’ rights – Radio Progreso exercise of civil rights necessarily limits media free- dom. It also includes a right to know what happens to (Honduras), Radio Santa Clara (Costa information you provide, or is gathered about you. Rica), and the mainstream newspaper La Led by the US and UK, the growth in the global Prensa (El Salvador) which carries daily ‘security’ agenda, and all that entails, has begun seri- items on migrant questions. Key resources ously to undermine established and previously produced by this WACC-supported event enforced rights in this area, and has given govern- were a compilation of addresses of refuges ments all over the world a welcome pretext by which they can control information flows and communica- on the migrant trail from Central America tion to their own ends. This is especially so in ‘cyber- to the USA and a style-guide for journalists space’, where the ground rules are still being estab- who cover migrant issues. lished. Thus, important here are the right to privacy in communication and freedom from surveillance. Cultural diversity in communication The fourth pillar covers another key function, that of n 1997 the government of the Pacific enabling the communication of diverse cultures, cul- I island nation of Niue was persuaded to tural forms and identities at the individual and social sell its .nu Internet domain name to a US- levels. Communication is central to the production, practice and reproduction of culture and identity. based company interested in the profit Goals include encouraging diversity of cultural forms potential of .nu, since in many parts of the and cultural authenticity based on real human experi- world it carries the connotation of ‘brand ences, and on respecting, preserving and renewing new’. Niue thus lost control of its national existing cultures. domain name. It was soon discovered that It is also impossible to divorce culture from human goals of peace, global equity, and sustainability, and .nu was being used to sell and promote from human rights, especially where local culture can materials that reflected badly on the nation be at the expense of human rights. The modalities and and its culture and that a private entity forms by which culture is communicated and dissemi- controlled the major information portal to nated are central to the outcome. Niue. In response WACC’s Pacific Region A major concern here is the process of cultural homogenisation caused by the commodification of initiated a campaign to mobilise public communicated (or mass media-driven) culture, and an opinion and to support petitions from emerging dominance of ‘for-profit culture’ produced in heads of village councils, churches and a few global and regional centres. This has serious other groups. The domain name was later knock-on effects for both individual and collective successfully returned to Niue. identity formation, fragmenting some cultural forms and encouraging an unsustainable consumerist ethic, omy is a further cause for concern, since it is often both individually and collectively. accompanied by the elimination of other languages Linguistic segmentation of the world based on the and the effective exclusion of many people from pub- dominance of English in politics, culture and the econ- lic discourse. In many countries minority cultures are also seriously discriminated against in terms of recog- nition and communication. n Nepal, the Asmita Women’s Publishing I House and Media and Resource Centre Compiled by Philip Lee, with contributions by Anna Turley and – a long-term partner of WACC – ensures Pradip Thomas. that women’s voices are puclicly heard Acknowledgement through its weekly radio programme Much of this resource is summarised from material to be found in Assessing Communication Rights: A Handbook issued by the ‘Shakti’, meaning ‘power’. Broadcast on CRIS Campaign (September 2005). The Handbook was produced Radio Sagarmatha FM, South Asia’s first as part of the CRAFT project (Communication Rights Assessment Framework and Toolkit) of the CRIS Campaign, written by Seán independent community radio station, pro- Ó Siochrú, with contributions from the Research Teams and grammes address a wide range of gender Coordinating Group, and funded by the Ford Foundation. issues from marital rape to the role of See http://www.crisinfo.org/content/view/full/1000 women in peace and reconciliation. High ACC promotes communication for social change. It believes illiteracy rates in Nepal mean that, for the Wthat communication is a basic human right that defines peo- ple’s common humanity, strengthens cultures, enables participa- majority of people, radio is the only means tion, creates community, and challenges tyranny and oppression. of obtaining information. Promoting WACC’s key concerns are media diversity, equal and affordable women’s communication rights contributes access to communication and knowledge, media and gender jus- tice, and the relationship between communication and power. It to their ability to exercise and claim other tackles these through advocacy, education, training, and the cre- rights. Without the empowerment of voic- ation and sharing of knowledge. WACC’s worldwide membership works with faith-based and secular partners at grassroots, regional es that are listened to, women remain sec- and global levels, giving preference to the needs of the poor, mar- ond-class citizens. ginalised and dispossessed. Being WACC means ‘taking sides’. Visit: www.wacc.org.uk