NWICO from a Vision of International Regulation to a Reality of Multilevel Governance
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The Rise and Fall of NWICO From a Vision of International Regulation to a Reality of Multilevel Governance ULLA CARLSSON Global flows of news and information were the sub- industrialized countries. “Development”, the process ject of intense debate in international fora in the of evolution toward a modern society, occupied 1970s. News gathering and reporting has been con- center stage. Scholars and development experts as- troversial, both within nations and between nations, signed mass communications a central role in the de- as long as mass media have existed, but never – nei- velopment process. ther before nor since – have information flows been In the Cold War era the newly independent debated with such passion as in the 1970s. The countries of the third world were of strategic im- United Nations, and UNESCO in particular, were the portance to both East and West. Development aid prime arenas where these issues were thrashed out. was an important factor for “winning the hearts and In the decades immediately following the second minds” of developing countries. New patron-client world war, the media debate was mainly a protracted relationships emerged; old, established ones evolv- trench battle in the Cold War, where the West rallied ed. The successes achieved by the oil-producing around the principle of “free flow of information” countries in OPEC in the 1970s strengthened the and the Eastern bloc iterated the need for state con- position of the third world as a bargaining partner trol. Although this East-West dispute was by no (albeit rising fuel prices had serious impacts on means resolved in the 1960s, the situation changed some developing countries). In succeeding years, the with the addition of a North-South dimension in the third world made its voice heard in international 1970s. Besides the opening of a new front, the focus fora as never before, formulating programs for far- of the dispute was broadened to include flows of reaching reform. A set of demands that would result other media products besides news, flows which in a New International Economic Order was put on were assuming increasing importance in international the agenda; demands for reform of existing patterns relations. A new perspective on the principle of of news and information flows – in short: a new in- “free flow of information” came to light. ternational infomation order – were soon to follow. These developments had their roots in the dra- But a new international information order, in the matic changes in world politics that took place in the sense its authors intended, was not to be. After 1960s. Numerous colonies gained independence from some brief years of debate, the issue disappeared the colonial metropoles. With independence came de- from international agendas. mands for recognition of the countries’ national sov- ereignty, not only in political terms, but economi- The Purpose and Frame of Reference cally and culturally, as well. The undertones in these demands often harmonized with those of the Eastern of the Study bloc. At the same time, the newly liberated countries This article summarizes the findings of an analysis were in dire need of development assistance from the of the rise and fall of the political move to bring about a new world information and communication order. Now and again, the retrospective analysis NORDICOM, Göteborg University, Box 713, SE casts light on features of the present ‘world infor- 405 30 Göteborg, [email protected] mation order’. 31 The study applies a holistic approach and tests The Study alternative explanatory models in its exploration of In the following, the analysis of the rise and fall of the factors that precipitated the demand for a NWICO as an issue will be presented in six parts. NWICO in the 1970s and the events and circum- First, we shall consider the context surrounding the stances that led to the issue’s subsidence and sub- NWICO issue. The seeds from which the demand sequent removal from international agendas. More for a NWICO arose are to be found in the thinking general theories of development that recognize the about development that prevailed at the time of na- role of media and mass communication in processes tional independence and the forum for debate that of socio-economic development and cultural and UNESCO itself represented. Here we shall consider economic globalization guided the examination of the factors that contributed to the rise of the issue, how emerging media relate to communication sys- drawing on the findings of a separate study of the tems and policy objectives.1 feasibility of regulating the media and communica- The framework of the study is inspired by the tions sectors on an international level. work of Anthony Giddens, particularly his work on The next three segments consider the concept of a social theory, and modernity. Giddens sees the so- a new international information order, its meaning, cial structure as a dynamic entity that structures so- reactions to it, and the outcome and legacy of the cial action while at the same time being constituted debate. Here, too, a number of extensive studies through social action. As a consequence of this have been undertaken. The contents and implica- view, no relationship between the media and soci- tions of NWICO are characterized on the basis of a ety can be presumed a priori; rather, the relation- systematic analysis of the documents from meet- ship has to be explored in its historical context. ings of the the non-aligned countries. Then we fol- Contextual factors are all-important (Giddens 1984; low the progress of the issue on the international Hjarvard 2001). In Giddens’ view, the process of agenda with particular attention to the final report globalization follows from modernity; modernity is of the MacBride Commission, as an expression of inherently globalizing. Four dimensions of moder- an attempt to solve an international problem. One nity which tend toward globalization are identified: study analyzed the ideas expressed in the proposals 1. the development of world markets; 2. the rise of of the Commission from a variety of standpoints. the nation-state system; 3. the emergence of mili- Thereafter, we consider the findings of an analysis tary blocs; and 4. industrialization. Giddens empha- of the debate about the Commission report in sizes the influence of communications technology as UNESCO and the resolution that resulted from it. a factor in globalization and points out the key role In the sixth segment, we look for the reasons why media culture plays (Giddens 1990). the demands failed; this part of the paper is based The issue of a NWICO is intimately bound up on an analysis of the minutes of UNESCO General with global cold war politics. Three worlds were Conferences after 1980. distinguished, the ‘first’ and ‘second’ of which ad- By way of conclusion, features of the present vanced competing blueprints for how social life world information order are described against the should be organized in order to achieve ‘the good background of the NWICO issue with respect to its society’. The ‘third’ world emerged with the libera- bearing on the globalization process, on media de- tion of former colonies. These countries were ‘un- velopments in third world countries and, ultimately, derdeveloped’ and would now, with the help of ei- on current thinking about development and the gov- ther the capitalist or the socialist world, be ‘devel- ernance of the media system. oped’ into modern societies. This is not to say that the first and second worlds were equals, however. The interaction of the four dimensions of modernity The Role of Mass Media in the mentioned above gave the West economic, political Development Process and military power which, at the time of the de- mands for a NWICO, could be described as Two Paradigms of Development hegemonic (cf. Giddens 1996:49-55). A belief that The issue of a new international information order is the world could be governed prevailed, and faith in bound up with ideas about the role of communica- international organizations like the United Nations tion in the development of societies, on the one and UNESCO were yet unshaken. It was in this hand, and the relations between developed and de- point in time and space that the demands for a new veloping countries, on the other. The purpose of de- international information order were raised. velopment is to improve the living conditions of the 32 members of a society. Development is at once a referred to as the ‘third world’. Their shared history process and a goal. What is needed to bring about and social and economic situation were more domi- development, and what constitutes “better living nant than any differences that may have arisen after conditions” have been bones of contention ever independence. The countries of the third world were since the days surrounding national independence all characterized by low degrees of industrialization, from the colonial powers, starting in the late 1950s, low per capita income, high rates of infant mortality, and continuing into the 1970s. poor standard of public health, illiteracy, and extreme National development arose as an issue in the inequality. (Reeves 1993) wake of the second world war, and the issue made The development process became a prime focus its entry onto the international agenda in the 1950s. in the contest to win the third world countries over. It was introduced by the USA, now a world power The role of mass media also assumed prominence in and interested in exporting its model of society. The this process, not least due to technological ad- Marshall Plan (economic and technical assistance vances. Scholars who have studied development in for the reconstruction of Europe), and the Truman the postwar period up to the 1970s have identified Doctrine (mutual defense against aggression by phenomena and precepts that form two separate third parties) played key roles in this regard.