UNESCO and Information Policy:

The US withdrawal, the IGOs IFAP

and IPDC, and Other Information
Programs
By Louiza Patsis, MS
Information Policy
Spring 2005
Dr. Charles Hildreth

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 UNESCO was founded on November 16, 1945 as an agency of the UN.
 Its biggest purpose is to promote world peace.
 Constitution Article I under “Purposes and Functions”
 “…contribute to world peace and security by promoting collaboration

among nations through education, science and culture in order to further

universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights
and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the
world…”
 Some of the aspects of its actions are (Maheu 1974, 114-115):
 Respect for human rights and the establishment of the rule of peace

 The advance of knowledge, exchange of information and communication

 The development of people ad society

 The balance and harmony between people and nature

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Constitution and IP
 Constitution Article I
 “collaborate in the work of advancing the mutual knowledge
and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass
communication…to promote the free flow of ideas by word
and image, and to “maintain, increase and diffuse
knowledge by assuring the conservation and protection of
the world’s inheritance of books, works of art and
monuments of history and science…by encouraging
cooperation among the nations in all branches of
intellectual activity including the international exchange of
persons active in the fields of education, science and
culture and the exchange of publications, objects of artistic
and scientific interest and other materials of information, by
initiating methods of international cooperation calculated to
give the people of all countries access to the printed and
published materials produced by any of them.”

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UN Declaration of Human Rights
and IP
 Article 19 of the UN Declaration of Human
Rights
 “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.”

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UNESCO IP
 Its two main areas of IP are the division of the free flow of
information, mostly encompassed by Information for All (IFAP),
and the division of the development of communication systems,
mostly encompassed by the International Program for the
Development of Communication (IPDC)
 Move toward a global information society
 Information superhighway
 Increase human, legal, policy and technical capacity, especially
of LDCs
 Free Flow of Information: the access to information among
member states and individual organizations, thereby facilitating
communication on a local, national and global scale.
 Equitable access of information

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Stakeholders
 People of the world; we are interconnected
 Less Developed Countries (LDCs)
 UNESCO
 Government
 Corporations
 Media
 Institutions such as universities and libraries
 Fundraisers
 Taxpayers

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Information Control and Bias
 As Harold Innis wrote in 1951, there is a bias in communication.
 People, groups and countries that have the most money get to control
the creation, access, distribution and selection of information.
 A bias of a communication technology can be that the poor cannot
afford electronic communication technologies.
 Those with money and power can define and structure social agendas
and priorities of nations and the world.
 The issue of information equality and freedom is complicated further
because it is often more costly to develop information systems than to
import mass technologies. This is felt especially in poor places such as
certain African LDCs, where much of the information infrastructure
remains from colonial times and most information is imported.
 Information illiteracy
 Inequitable access

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Media Continued

 News services can be neutral and mechanical.

 Four main news agencies control media flow
in the world: AP, UPI, Reuters, and Agence
France Press (Smith 1980)
 Usually coverage of LDCs is of natural
disasters and wars.

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What is national IP?
 Set of decisions, laws and regulations taken by a
government to meet specific information needs
(INs), and develop information transfer activities
of a country. (Sengupta 1987, 82)
 Financial, human and institutional means and
instruments are needed
 First you need to know the information needs of
the people, literacy and information literacy of the
people, and resources of the government.

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Culture and Media
 Culture is highly regarded by UNESCO as the “fundamental
component of the vitality of any society...the sum total of a people’s
creative activities, its methods of production and of appropriation of
material assets, its form of origin, beliefs and sufferings, its work
and leisure, dreams and successes.” (Thinking Ahead 1977, 19)
 LDCs would often like information about their cultures transmitted to
the world, and would like to be more in control of what they receive.
In return, important information on human rights can be
disseminated to LDCs, if they have the means to receive it. This
includes trained personnel, equipment, information technology and
networks and user information literacy.
 Anthony Smith, in the Geopolitics of Information: How Western
Culture Dominates the World, published the same year as the
MacBride Report, wrote that Western audiences have become
conditioned to a view of the Third World which is founded upon
wrong that is often exaggerated, distorted and condescending
 Information superhighway

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1970’s UNESCO Meetings on
Information
 General Conference in 1970, a Byelorussian resolution was
passed that affirmed the “inadmissibility of using information
media for propaganda on behalf of war, racialism and hatred
among nations”. (Singh 1988, 78)
 At the 1972 conference, a “Declaration of Guiding Principles for
the use of satellite broadcasting for the free use of information,
the extension of education and the spread of greater cultural
exchanges” was passed with United States and United Kingdom
objections
 In the 1972 general conference, two forms of resolution were
submitted by the Soviet Union alarmed the US. (Giffard 1989,
20) The first one called for prior consent to be applied to satellite-
transmitted television programs. Only the US opposed this,
which seemed to them to indicate support for the statutory
control of information flow.

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1970’s UNESCO Meetings on
Information Continued
 The second proposal called for the preparation for a
declaration on the fundamental principles governing
the use of mass media.
 Between 1972 and 1978, the West succeeded in
changing the language of the draft, eliminating
references to state control of media, an international
code of media ethics, and responsibility or duty of
media.
 The declaration did include that “journalist must
have freedom to report and the fullest possible
facilities of access to information.” (Giffard 1989, 24)

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The 1978 Media Declaration
 Began with the Declaration on the 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.
 The declaration had fourteen clauses and eleven articles alluding
to the UNESCO constitution and to the UN charter, and to world
information and communication problems.
 Articles were about the rights of opinion, expression and
information.
 The declaration called for information freedom and information
reciprocity.
 The document called for conditions to guarantee journalists the
best conditions for their profession, although it was not specific.
 It called for the equitable distribution of world wealth, but was not
socialistic in nature, although some interpreted it thus.

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New World Information Order
(NWICO) and the MacBride
Report

1980
In 1976, UNESCO commissioned the MacBride Commission, or the
International Commission for the Study of Communication
Problems, a panel chaired by Nobel Prize winner Sean MacBride to
find out the prevailing world communication problems.
 The term NWICO was widely used by the MacBride Commission.
 Created a set of recommendations to make global media
representation more equitable.
 In the late 1970s and early 1980s, UNESCO led the initiative for
NWICO, and tangentially, for a New International Economic Order
(NIEO).
 The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was involved.
 This movement was an organized movement of mostly
third world nations that attempted to form a force through a
policy of nonalignment with the United States and Soviet
Union in different information flow areas such as culture,
science, and finance, but mostly media.

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The MacBride Report:
Many Voices, One World -
Findings
 De facto hegemony and will to dominate –
indifference to developing countries,
information as a commodity, and capitalistic
use of information
 Mostly unfavorable information on developing
countries
 Propaganda, control of channels, advertising,
opposition to social evolution, and cultural
domination
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MacBride Report Continued
 Communication is a basic human right
 Freedom of information and the right to seek, receive and impart
information
 Social, cultural, economic and technological imbalances cannot
be rectified without rectifying imbalances in national information
and communication systems
 Promote understanding of diversity and plurality, “movement
from disadvantage and dependence to self-reliance and the
creation of more equal opportunities”
 “Every country should develop its communication patterns in
accordance with its own conditions, needs and traditions, thus
strengthening its integrity, independence and self-reliance.”

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MacBride Report
Recommendations
on

Information and
Communication no longer be an incidental service and its development left to
chance
All languages should be developed to serve the requirements for modern
Communication I

communication.
Wipe out illiteracy
 Each country sets up its own priorities
 Set up strong national news agencies
 Establishment of distribution networks for books, newspapers and periodicals
 Development of radio networks
 Increase national capacity for producing broadcast materials
 Adequate educational and training facilities to supply personnel for the media
and production organizations
 Financing
 Rural areas
 Communication education
 Community listening and viewing groups for education and entertainment

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MacBride Report
Recommendations
on

 Information
Decrease and
International effort to increase the supply of paper
tariffs for the dissemination of information

Communication II
More equitably share the electro-magnetic and geostationary orbit as common

property of human beings
 Development policies should be a central component of communication and
development policy
 Legislation and patent laws for decreasing communication monopolies
 Decrease the digital divide
 Foster cultural identity and creativity; make sure advertising is consistent with
national attempts to preserve cultural identity
 Transnational corporations should supply the public and governments of
countries in which they do business information to understand their global
structure, activities and policies.
 Building of infrastructures and adoption of technologies
 Attention to poor, women, children, handicapped, and minorities
 Set up a new world information and communication order
 Relationship between the establishment of NWICO and NIEO

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MacBride Report
Recommendations
on
For Information
journalists: and
Educational preparation ad specific professional training


Communication

III
Apply values of truthfulness, accuracy and respect for human rights
Higher professional standards and responsibility


 Adoption of international code of ethics

 Set up press ombudsmen and peer group review
 Countries should take steps to assure admittance of foreign
correspondents and facilitate the collection and transmission of
news
 Journalists should not commit espionage
 No special protection for journalists, other than that afforded by
their citizenship; MacBride thought this was inadequate.
 Journalists should promote human rights and the just cause of
people struggling for freedom

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MacBride Report
Recommendations
on


Information and
Set up information data banks and processing centers
Collaboration of news agencies of different countries
Communication

IV
Member States collaborate on information and communication issues
and projects
 UNESCO set up forums to talk about world communication and
information
 Pay attention to peace and disarmament
 (a) marshaling of resources deriving from surplus profits on raw
materials; (b) establishment of an international duty (1) on the use of
electromagnetic spectrum and geostationary orbit space for the benefit
of developing countries; (c) levying of an international duty (2) on the
profits of transnational corporations producing transmission facilities
and equipment for the benefit of developing countries and for the partial
financing of the cost of using international communication facilities
(cable, telecommunication networks, satellites, etc.)*
 Future studies
*Adapted from http://www2.hawaii.edu/~rvincent/mcbcon2.htm

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 Reaction Against UNESCO
by Countries and Think
Tanks


I
Media Coverage
Many in the Western press thought that this would mean an abrogation of
some of their rights or a whole new set of rules of foreign countries to work
by.
 The International Press Institute and the World Press Freedom Committee
asked UNESCO to suspend work in the area of communication.
 Members of the Western press were concerned with protection of
journalists. However, they did not want UNESCO and governments in
charge of handing out identity cards or safety cards.
 Several think tanks were antagonistic to UNESCO. One was the Heritage
Foundation. This organization, as others like it,
 backed by millionaires Joseph Coors and Richard Mellon Scaife

 According to Preston (1989, 139), its annual budget was $10 million in
1982,and it had a staff of 90 and a network of 450 research groups and
1,600 scholars and public policy experts.

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 Reaction Against UNESCO
by Countries and Think
Tanks
 II Foundation Backgrounder contained
The Heritage
anti-education issues as well as number 253: “The
IPDC: UNESCO vs. the Free Press”. In this
Backgrounder, the Heritage Foundation accuses
NWICO of preaching the redistribution of Western
mass communication wealth.
 Other countries also had grievances against
UNESCO. They submitted “The Crisis in UNESCO”
in March 1984. These countries were: Australia,
Canada, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway,
Portugal, Spain and Turkey. (Giffard 1989, 74-75)

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 Accusations
 Accusations were mostly of the following (Giffard 1989, 117-135):
politicization, mismanagement, reforms needed; too little change in the
past; M’Bow criticism; budget and US contribution to budget; and that
US credibility was at stake if officials would not keep their word and pull
out.
 M’Bow was accused of being anti-US, anti-Israeli and of nepotism,
mismanagement and favoring Third World personnel.
 issuing government licenses to journalists and to foster state-run news.
 However, the MacBride Report does not mention journalist licensing
 UNESCO paid the public relations firm Wagner & Brody in 1984 to
improve its image. UNESCO was criticized for this.
 Warner & Brody pointed out that (Giffard 1989, 264): UNESCO had passed a
resolution in response to politicization remarks, to refocus on some
programs; M’Bow had announced he would institute a series of
administrative changes to improve efficiently and streamline operations; the
Executive Board has passed a resolution calling for zero-growth budget for
two years; and UNESCO never approved government licensing of journalists
in return for granting assurances of personal safety.

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Basic Problems with NWICO
Arose From:
 NWICO formula
 Proving veracity of claims
 UNESCO forum of discussion
 Bad will from stridency in language
 Ideological differences between basic
concepts

(Brown-Syed, 1992)

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Benefits of UNESCO Membership
to US
 UNESCO bought $5.5 million of equipment from the
US per year; (Giffard 1989, 265)
 UNESCO gave the US a voice in formulating
conventions and protocols affecting transborder
electronic communications;
 UNESCO provided a forum for the US publishing
industry to encourage enforcement of the Universal
Copyright Convention; and
 UNESCO helped to protect US environment; and the
US shared in the findings and information of
international scientists.

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Pro-UNESCO Reaction
 Edmund P. Hennelly, vice-president of Mobile Corporation,
headed the US National Commission during the Reagan
administration. He was a staunch Republican, yet he concluded
that the US should have no concerns with UNESCO regarding
communication, politicization, human rights, bureaucratic
centralization and budget.
 George Gerbner, Dean of the Annenberg School of
Communication, conducted a study in 1982 to analyze news
reports of the 1982 UNESCO general conference meeting. The
meeting was not widely covered. When it was, there was usually
a negative focus on UNESCO communication policies. (Giffard
1989, 49)

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The Reagan Administration
 On December 28, 1983, Secretary of State George Schultz warned
UNESCO that the US would withdraw if UNESCO did not improve the
state of politicization in its organization, make budget reforms, and
change certain ideologies.
 He charged UNESCO of “irrelevant politicization of the programs that
should be its most important; an endemic hostility toward the basic
institutions of a free society, especially a free market and a free press;
and the most irresponsible and unrestrained budgetary expansion in the
United Nations system.” (Preston 1989, 172)
 Assistant Secretary of State Newell wanted to remove from UNESCO’s
agenda: critical and simplistic approaches to disarmament, economic
theorizing, and global standard-setting.” (Preston 1989, 181)
 One year to conform to its requests, which were not specific.
 For instance, in its charge of politicization, the US did not seem to consider
that UNESCO was made up of many different governments and ideologies,
and to escape politicization was not possible.
 The US did not work with UNESCO for these goals.
 US withdrew on December 31, 1984.

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Some UNESCO Information
Programs I
 Works with many IGOs and NGOs such as IFLA, OCLC,
UNICEF
 Example: Collaborates with UNICEF, the World Food Program
and Africare to spread AIDS information in Africa
 Collaborates with southern African NGO SANGONET to provide
information communication technology (ICT) to development
agencies in Africa
 Work with IFLA and Ugandan Library Association (ULA) to open
more public libraries
 Information library training programs and schools
 Often with United Nations International Scientific Information
System (UNISIST)
 Maintains databases
 Develops software technology such as CDS/ISIS for libraries

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Some UNESCO Information
Programs II
 Worked with the Federation of
Documentation (FID) for over 50 years to set
up documentation centers, bibliographies,
professional training and more
 Regional Centers
 Some are cluster offices
 Example: Nairobi, Kenya Sub-Saharan Africa
science and technology information center and
HIV/AIDS clearinghouse

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Some goals of the IFAP (ASTINFO E-
Online and www.unesco.org):
 development of international, regional and national information policies;
 development of human resources and capabilities for the information age;
 strengthening institutions as gateways for information access;
 development of information processing and management tools and systems;
 information technology for education, science, culture and communication;
 digitization and preservation of information and universal access to it;
 participation of all in the emerging global information society;
 ethical, legal and societal consequences of ICT developments;
 providing an international framework for safeguarding world cultural heritage; provide a
framework for the exchange of global environment and climate monitoring information;
 international observatory on regional, national and international information policies;
 promoting the use of international standards and best practices;
 promoting information and knowledge networking in local, regional, national and
international levels;
 promoting the concept of publicly funded universal access to information and the nature of
information as an essential component of global public goods;
 promoting the use of ICTs in government offices, public libraries and communication
centers; and
 supporting the increase of information in the public domain

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Some goals of the IFAP
continued
 initiating and supporting the preparation of guidelines on using ICT
for governance;
 initiating and supporting international debate, studies and
guidelines for protection of world’s information heritage;
 developing programs for equitable access to information;
 developing programs for the interoperability to information;
 establish an international framework for ensuring literacy and
information literacy;
 developing and supporting programs for the preservation of world
languages and multilingual information systems;
 supporting training in Internet journalism;
 developing support policies to ensure freedom of expression on the
Internet; and
 narrowing the gap between the information rich and poor.

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Some Recent IFAP Meetings
Moscow, 2004: 6th International Conference “Law and Internet”
 legal experts, experts in the field of education, science, culture, communication
and ICT, members of the internet-community, and other professionals.
 Collaboration with the Ministries of Culture and Mass Communication and of
Information Technologies and Connection of the Russian Federation, the
Higher School of Economy of the State University, the UNESCO Office in
Moscow and the Global Internet Policy Initiative Foundation (GIPI).
 Samoa, 2004: The development of video programs with Samoan local content
and their dissemination via the Internet
 A Thematic Debate on Information Literacy, Paris, 5 April 2005:
What is information literacy?
What are people’s needs?
What education programs are needed to meet these needs?
What strategies and actions can UNESCO and IFAPP implement?*
*www.unesco.org

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International Program for the
Development of Communication
(IPDC)
 Formed in 1980
 Promote media development
 Works with agencies such as the Non-Aligned News
Agency
 Prize for Rural Communication
 First prize 1985 went to Kheda Communication Project in
India, which set up low-power television transmitter that
relayed programs from India’s satellite
 2003 Prize went to Radio Toco, the first and only
community-based radio station in Trinidad and Tobago

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IPDC Continued
 Some projects:
 Multimedia center in Dondo, Central Mozambique, which
offers community access to computers and email, IT
training and office services
 2003 Ethiopia project to train blind and visually impaired
people to use computers; collaboration with Adaptive
Technology Center for the Blind (ATCB) and the
International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
 2003-2004 Swaziland, Africa: Development of media
resource center for the national association of journalists

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UNESCO and Technology
 Committed to closing the knowledge gap and digital divide
 Technology can increase information flow and can also be used
to control ideas, information and culture. The digital divide can
increase.
 Aspects of the digital divide include: access; quality of
connection and auxiliary services; and processing speed and
other computer capabilities. (Rao 2003, 16)
 Problems of LDCs include: poor supply of electricity; illiteracy;
information illiteracy; lack of funds; lack of dependable
information infrastructure; lack of a popular language; proper
participation of government; and government instability.
 They are often “have-nots” and “know-nots” . (Brown-Syed 1992,
31)

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UNESCO and Technology
Continued
 During the 2003 32nd meeting of the General
Conference, it was agreed that information and
communication technologies (ICTs) can improve the
free flow of information in a multimedia context and can
present challenges for equitable information access.
 Open access solutions such as the formulation of
technical and methodological standards of information
exchange, portability and interoperability and online
access were deemed important.
 The free flow of information and the development of
knowledge societies would encourage self-realization,
openness and communication.

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Conclusion
 Information plays a big part in education, science, culture,
freedom and self-determination
 The reality of UNESCO is idealistic and imaginative. (Hoggart
1978)
 Technology offers new opportunities and challenges for
development, information freedom and connection of nations.
 UNESCO information agencies such as the IFAP and IPDC offer
many new programs promoting development, growth,
communication, democracy and human rights.
 The free flow of information may never be accomplished, but the
effort is worth it.

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Future Research
 Analysis of the evolution of information programs of
UNESCO, and the different agencies involved with them
 Different information agencies of UNESCO such as
UNISIST
 Cooperation between UNESCO and NGOs and IGOs
 Influence of US withdrawal
 Influence of regime changes and political environment in
UNESCO programs
 Budget contributions of the US and other countries and
groups through time
 US role after return

38