A historical account of critical views on communication technologies in the context of NWICO and the MacBride Report
A work by Micky Lee 

Paper presented at Information Society Visions and Governance:
The World Summit on the Information Society and beyond
The European Institute for Communication and Culture (EURICOM) &
University of Padua (Padova)
Padova, Italy
5th - 7th May 2003

Affiliation:
School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon
Mailing address:
School of Journalism and Communication,
1275 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1275
USA
E-mail mickycheers@yahoo.com

Abstract

This paper argues that in the debate of the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) and the discussion of the MacBride Report, critical communication and media scholars had called for a more careful examination of the nature of telecommunications, and information and communication technologies (ICTs) in relation to international communication. However, the U.S. government's and the western press' rejection of the NWICO and the MacBride Report robbed nearly the entire public discussion on NWICO. The sequential withdrawal of the U.S., the U.K., and Singapore from UNESCO further reduced the NWICO into the question of sanctioning journalists' freedom. This paper aims to provide a historical account of the views of critical communication scholars on telecommunications and ICTs in relation to NWICO and the MacBride Report. By looking at articles and essays published in journals and books from the mid-1970's to the late 1990's, this paper aims to document the critical perspective on communication technologies in the discussion of NWICO and the MacBride Report.
For instance, three members of the MacBride Commission had warned against the views that communication technology is neutral; also they asked for more caution of the transfer of communication technology from developed countries to developing countries. However, their concerns were very much ignored by other Commission members coming from developed countries and the mainstream, western press. The setting up of The International Program for Development of Communication (IPDC) further showed that one assumed solution to solve international communication problems is to transfer more communication technology to developing countries.
Critical scholars such as Schiller, Nordenstreng and Hamelink wrote in different academic journals as early as the late 1970's that the reliance on communication technologies will lead to a new form of dependency on developed countries. Further, Third World countries may only be seen as potential consumers for communication technologies that are developed by and in developed countries.
The critiques of critical scholars on communication technologies in the context of the NWICO and the MacBride Report are very much applicable to the discussion of the World Summit on the Information Society. The international communication problems identified in NWICO and the MacBride Report have not yet been solved. On the contrary, these problems have aggravated since the 1970's. The developed countries continue to own more communications technologies whilst the rest are suffering from deprived communication technologies. Hence, the problems that are to be addressed in the World Summit on the Information Society are not new; only that the problems become more challenging because of the fast growth of communication technologies in selected part of the world. The critiques made by critical scholars in the 1970's and 1980's may still ring true in the early 21st century.

Info: mickycheers@yahoo.com