Communication and Social Change in Developing Countries - Essay Example

Communication and Social Change in Developing Countries QUESTION ONE The developing nations or the third world had fought for their cause in the United Nations and its agency, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization or the UNESCO. The UN acceded to their demands and passed several declarations and resolutions. Altogether, these declarations and resolutions formed a New International Information Order or NIIO. The NIIO enabled the international community to work collectively and actively to maintain an equitable balance in the international flow of information. As was to be expected, the United States and the other industrially developed and powerful western nations opposed and finally refused to ratify this new order. They demanded a continuation of the existing order, according to which, international communication depended on the principle of free flow of information (Graubart, May 1989, p629). This new international information order ultimately saw the light of day, and the third world countries sought for an order that was to be controlled publicly. However, the new information proved to be different from what they had dreamed of. The media of the United States criticized and condemned the new order. As such, most of the US corporations are very powerful in terms of capital and operational capabilities; due to the high concentration of capital and other economic resources in their countries. Furthermore, the United States is the dominant center for worldwide communications. Accordingly, it is very difficult for the third world nations to easily access information and to participate in the creation of messages. The strategies and other initiatives undertaken by the corporate giants of the US have enabled them to retain their powerful and advantageous position in the world. In the areas of production of robotics and automation, there is a growing use of digitalized information, and computers are playing a key role in the information field. Moreover, several new industries have entered the information field, in order to provide processing, storage and dissemination of information, digital imagery and data handling. The present media industry incorporates this new subset and promotes the development of the system. In addition, mergers have become common, thereby creating a new form of corporate economy, in respect of cultural industries (Schiller, 6/8/1985, p696-698). The 1955 meeting in Bandun, Indonesia saw the inception of the nonaligned nations movement. That movement brought together most of the world leaders from the Asian and African continents; which intensified rapidly. By the 1970’s the nonaligned movement boasted of more than ninety member nations, and a number of regional groups joined forces with it. Most of these member nations had represented their predicaments in several agencies of the United Nations, and they were successful in strongly presenting their new agendas. Influenced by their demands, the UN agencies had adopted a development ideology. Under this new ideology, the UN promised that it would provide high priority to the requirements of the developing nations in the third world. In 1973, a nonaligned summit was held in Algiers, in which a resolution regarding a new international economic order was adopted. The UN General Assembly had endorsed the new economic order in 1974, which set the precedent for the adoption of the resolution on information and its flow. The UN declared the adoption of the information resolution in the 1976 nonaligned news symposium that was held in Tunis. Subsequently, the information resolution was transformed into a new international information order. Ultimately, it evolved into a new world information and communication order (Lecher & Boli, 2003. Pp. 290 – 291) The 1970’s, were witness to several international resolutions, meetings and manifestos that claimed total reformation in the international information arrangements. There were debates and disputes for a new order in those information avenues. At times these debates and disputes intensified around the world. Many of the non – aligned nations had responded to these debates and supported them. These nations had gained independence at that time and many of these found their euphoria after independence to be short – lived. The economic conditions in those nations were abysmal, despite some strenuous efforts to rectify the situation. Moreover, there were some international assistance projects, which were unable to have any significant impact in improving the economic conditions in those countries. In some of these nations there had even been a complete deterioration of the economy, and some of the countries had earned income through foreign trade. Nevertheless, these earnings were insufficient to service even the interest on the loans availed by the countries. There was rapid development of new communication media during that period, and was named as the Information Age. As such, information was recognized as a significant factor for obtaining power and wealth (Lecher & Boli, 2003. Pp. 290 – 291). The developing countries soon realized that the multinational corporate giants and other agencies situated in the developed and powerful nations were the key players who dominated and regulated the flow of information, internationally. The developing nations could not access or maintain the flow of information properly, which resulted in widespread disparities. In order to overcome this adverse situation, they intended to establish platforms for discussions and negotiation, within their nations. Moreover, the political independence of these nations was in conflict with their economic independence and other socio – cultural spheres, and there was a huge gap between them. In addition, most of the non – aligned nations realized that they were both the subjects and victims of cultural colonialism. This was because cultural colonialism gave rise to most of the imbalances within these nations. Consequently, there were a number of debates to deal with these imbalances in the non – aligned nations (Lecher & Boli, 2003. Pp. 290 – 291). This constitutes the present situation with regard to communication and social change in developing countries. QUESTION TWO The United Nations and the UNESCO conducted a convention on the flow of information in Copenhagen; and there were restrictions on media persons and press coverage of the meeting. Not surprisingly, the media opposed these restrictions placed on them. Subsequently, there was an introductory press briefing on the new world information and communications order, prior to the second international round table meeting. The Director of the Division of Free Flow of Information and Communications at UNESCO, Paris, Mr. Dileep Padgaonkar, urged the journalists and photographers, who were covering the roundtable meeting to obtain prior permission from the participants. He also demanded that the journalists were to be compelled to receive the clearance of the participants, in order to quote their speeches or papers (Ban stifles meeting on free media, April 3, 1986). The journalists and correspondents considered this new requirement as a deliberate restriction on the freedom of press. The Director insisted that such requirement was essential to ensure the proper coverage of the proceedings of the meeting, and the participants felt free to discuss and voice their opinion in the meeting, without the fear of being misquoted. The main purpose of this meeting’s agenda was to assess the international flow of information. In this meeting, there were proposals to address the imbalances in the flow of information between the East and West, North and South, the third world nations and the developed nations. The other issues that were discussed included the freedom of the media, world communication developments and access to communication and participation in communication all over the world (Ban stifles meeting on free media, April 3, 1986). Proponents of the UNESCO and the NWIO argue that third world nations must be allowed to implement special types of media controls in their nations. They also criticize the involvement and domination of Western media corporations in other democracies and demand a restriction on such policies. The media regulation policy will provide special benefits and advantages for the non – Western nations’ political economy. First, they will be protected from cultural imperialism and secondly, there will be the promotion of political stability and uniform national identity. Moreover, there are several allegations that the content of the Western media promotes violence in the developing nations (Meyer, Mar1988, p24-39). The Least Developed Countries should, thus, ban the inflow of such material from the West. Supporters of this argument recommend that third world nations should not depend on the western media and should prevent the import of these materials. Moreover, the governments of these nations should regulate the activities of the press and the broadcasting organizations. This will ensure that the nations that regulate the media and prohibit imports from western sources will achieve political stability and experience less internal political unrest (Meyer, Mar1988, p24-39). If these results were achieved by regulating foreign sources, then the supporters of NWIO would get rejuvenated and forge ahead with the proposals of their policies. However, the opponents of the NWIO policies demand that the flow of information in the world should be without restrictions. Furthermore, they contend that free speech and the free flow of ideas can mitigate political violence in the third world countries (Meyer, Mar1988, p24-39). NEWS from the South had managed to come into the mainstream of Western media after its recovery from the great collapse after the emergence of the New International Information Order or the NIIO. Furthermore, specialist publications collapsed and were compelled to close down, en masse. Several major news agencies in the north started to control news in the southern media corporations and implemented dominating agendas against the latter. The cooperation between the Southern corporations declined beyond redemption, and the measures and initiatives of the NIIO proved to be very influential. For instance, the Pan – African News Agency remained discredited due to decreased financing (Brittain, May 18, 1992, P 25 ). Freedom of expression is important as it provides many alternative paradigms, new possibilities, and enhances contacts and relationships between the developing and developed countries, which will provide mutual benefit in all aspects. A number of authorities and experts were of the opinion that there was a systematic interdependence between increased media exposure and increased political participation. The latter, includes voting and campaigning (Meyer, Mar1988, p24-39). Furthermore, if developing nations that promote freedom of press and free flow of information tend to be politically stable by such acts, then such liberal arguments would survive. If developing nations that controlled the press and imposed restriction on the imports of material were politically more stable, then the proponents of NWIO could be construed to have succeeded in their arguments (Meyer, Mar1988, p24-39). The third world nations opposed the domination of the western countries in the flow of information and communication, and indulged in diatribes against this western domination in all platforms. The US declared that the NIIO restricted the freedom of western journalists, and claimed that the proposed NIIO would enable the third world to control the media (Graubart, May 1989, p629). List of References Ban stifles meeting on free media. (April 3, 1986). The Times (London, England) . Brittain, V. (May 18, 1992, P 25 ). Media: News from nowhere - Just when the developing world needs a strong voice its media is being squeezed. The Guardian (London, England) . Ghosh, P. K. (1984, September 25). New International Economic Order. Retrieved July 01, 2008, from http://www.greenwood.com/catalog/GNI%252f.aspx Graubart, J. (May 1989, p629). Whats News: A Progressive Framework for Evaluating the International Debate Over the News. California Law Review , Vol. 77 Issue 3, 35p; (AN 6769252). Lecher, F., & Boli, J. (2003. Pp. 290 – 291). The Globalization Reader. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN: 1405102802. Meyer, W. H. (Mar1988, p24-39). International Information Flows As A Determinant Of Political Violence In Third World Nations: Fact Or Fiction? Social Science Quarterly (University of Texas Press) , Vol. 69 Issue 1, 16p, 3 charts, 1 diagram; (AN 165663). Schiller, H. I. (6/8/1985, p696-698). Behind the Media Merger Movement. Nation , Vol. 240 Issue 22, 3p, 1 bw; (AN 11022695). Read More