<TITLE: European Information Society
ACADEMIC DOMAIN: social sciences
DISCIPLINE: journalism and mass communication
EVENT TYPE: lecture
FILE ID: ULEC01A
NOTES: continued in ULEC01B and ULECD010

RECORDING DURATION: 54 min 17 sec

RECORDING DATE: 4.10.2002

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: unknown

NUMBER OF SPEAKERS: 3

S1: NATIVE-SPEAKER STATUS: Finnish; ACADEMIC ROLE: senior staff; GENDER: male; AGE: 51-over

S2: NATIVE-SPEAKER STATUS: Dutch; ACADEMIC ROLE: senior staff; GENDER: male; AGE: 51-over

S4: NATIVE-SPEAKER STATUS: Finnish; ACADEMIC ROLE: masters student; GENDER: female; AGE: 24-30

SU: unidentified speaker

SS: several simultaneous speakers>


<S1> okay are we ready to begin welcome to this er second lecture of the part B of er INSO one module , er this time we have a , er two er abnormal features number one we are taping this lecture for research and er teaching purposes and i will give the floor to to the person do- doing this taping she will introduce the </S1>
<S4> okay so yes <S1> [yeah] </S1> [this] is for the english department we're taping this just to get a corpus basically on how s- on how er foreign people speak english it's called english as lingua franca in the academia so it's basically non-english speakers who are speaking english and we're just gathering data in order to investigate it okay so we're not trying to sort of judge you on your abilities to speak english that's not it so you can feel comfortably speaking like as you would normally do , okay </S4>
<S1> well i'm afraid that this will be mostly er lectures but , er , hopefully er at least at towards the end of er of of the lecture there there is discussion too er and er you are welcome to interrupt er at any point and er ask for clarification or put some remarks so please be active and aggressive as americans say , erm i understood from er <NAME S3> that er you you were , you were putting some questions and even some debate last time was that so . or were you just quiet like the finnish students usually are , quiet in two languages as as the saying goes . <SS> @@ </SS> okay er so this is er you don't mind er taping for the purposes of our english department research project er this has happened before in in these ISSS er courses and maybe if there is not enough discussion now we can do it later in another occasion , er then the other abnormal feature is that we shall have here er er er another speaker another lecturer in addition to myself i was listed er , here as the the er lecturer of today er but i will bring er along er at ten o'clock er a very distinguished colleague of mine one of the leading scholars of international communication in the world the former president of international association for media and communication research professor <NAME S2> from the netherlands , he's professor of er university of amsterdam and the free university of er er amsterdam er and er he is heavily is involved in the world summit on the information society preparations he's been nominated as a liaison between the organising er secretariat in geneva er and the er an NGO community non-governmental organisations and er he will er tell us er er a general introduction to this whole event of er WSIS er and er then also we shall have an unique possibility of having some inside information he has been briefed by kofi annan and so on on this whole thing so he he's really a man of great knowledge and he feels free in such er er intimate er teaching occasions like this to to share even er discreet information he also has a homework for you he will table for you a draft declaration which the NGO community is about to er distribute er for the for the preparatory committee of of this er world summit and he will ask your comments and your input to that er in due course we'll agree at the end of the er lecture at twelve o'clock how to process your input to him so it's hopefully an exciting erm er er exercise so he will join us at ten o'clock and after his erm let's say half an hour er er er presentation we'll have a break and then he continues with me to the end , is that fine one break and with your er permission perhaps we can continue until 12 o'clock sharp because we should exploit him to the last minute and not not let him go already quarter to 12 it would be formally er the time of er finishing this three hour cycle if we only make one break , you s- follow my logic okay and you agree so we finish at at 12 o'clock now er , i sent you an e-mail , er erm er asking you to pick up those materials for for <NAME S2>'s presentation and er i understand that two or three did not get it yet so er <NAME> will bring i hope before ten o'clock so that you have at least when he begins , i shall distribute to you three papers today er , and er , then i will er present er only two overheads and some notes on the blackboard my presentation is not er very er systematic and coherent er by its presentation i'm not giving you a show of powerpoints as erm <NAME S3> did er did last time er the the the way of er of presenting this theme to you is is different i will leave to you er instead of these visual nice impression of powerpoint some papers and then s- then er some main points er er just er to your notes er but er actually the topic of of of my presentation for this first half an hour er or 35 minutes is a very er , big actually i'm i'm er i'm afraid that you might be left with a little bit chaotic er view in your mind and therefore i promise that you will get later a kind of written summary of the main points of this er lecture erm we'll see how this goes and er and er erm mhm , what else we shall do in terms of following up <NAME S2>'s presentation i sort of foresee that towards the end of this fall semester we might have an , an extra hour or two er kind of coming back to today's thematic especially the world summit but also also some of those things that i'm i'm presenting and i i can then er assu- assure to you that if something is left sort of , mhm unclear to you in in today's er morning presentation you will you will be er er erm , furnished with er adequate er material in due course , er the topic that i am having this morning before <NAME S2> is actually the history and er overall present panorama of international communication er , debates not so much international communication as such but how questions of communication and international communication are discussed at the international er er , organisations which are called intergovernmental organisations er <P:05> so we our general topic is <WRITING ON BLACKBOARD> international . communication . er and er , along with that we are looking at er or or in practise we we look at communication , er let's say issues , er in er inter- , -governmental <P:06> organisations </WRITING ON BLACKBOARD> erm , intergovernmental organisations the what are intergovernmental organisations we have actually in this , er in this copy from <NAME S2>'s book er we have a very useful handout of the international communic- er organisations er , if you look at the last page of that that copy you see this er chart with united nations and various bodies under that , er so that's intergovernmental organisations or erm erm erm <P:05> I-G-Os intergovernmental <WRITING ON BLACKBOARD> I-G-O intergovernmental organisations </WRITING ON BLACKBOARD> then er . under that er s- <NAME S2> has listed a number of I-NGOs er namely , er , international non-governmental organisations NGO is the typical acronym for er civic society organisations which for instance in this in this seattle er prague et cetera er erm mhm , world bank and er and and so on er mhm negotiations have put against the intergovernmental structures so we have er I-G-Os and <WRITING ON BLACKBOARD> I-N-G-Os </WRITING ON BLACKBOARD> non-gover- non-governmental organisations but now we are mainly discussing intergovernmental organisations in this in this presentations in this presentation of mine and it's interesting to ask historically when did er , international communication and and and this whole question of communication issues intergovernmental organisations begin what is the histo- historical route well we know all it's part of our basic civ- civil knowledge er civic knowledge or er or education that united nations was formed after the second world war , in the in the er , er mid-40s so the current intergovernmental system was was established after the second world war but there is a long pre-history to that first of all we had the league of nations established after the first <SIC> forld wold </SIC> world war based in geneva , league of nations , and er er in a way united nations is the continuation of the league of nations and er there were already communication issues discussed er at the league of nations so historically we go back we have currently <WRITING ON BLACKBOARD> UN er then we have the league of nations <P:07> </WRITING ON BLACKBOARD> er , er and er er , then even before that we had one intergovernmental organisation which was dealing with communication issues namely I-T-U , international telecommunication union . actually I-T-U <WRITING ON BLACKBOARD> 1865 </WRITING ON BLACKBOARD> established 1865 is the first intergovernmental organisation of any kind . it is currently part of UN system as you see from <NAME S2>'s <NAME S2>'s er chart , I-T-U is there among the specialised agencies , er next to UNESCO erm , er and er and the international postal union and and er er world intellectual property organisation , er and then there are a l- number of others as you see and er er and er but it's er it was not created after the second world war er along with un- united nations it had a free history actually it was before united nations and before league of nations erm er league of nations was established in the 1920s er it's a matter of definition when it was exactly er started and when it ended but let's say 1940s it was more or less finished it was 20 year's history , erm and er and before that you see we had I-T-U and I-T-U was exclusively a communication organisation so we can say that historically speaking the routes of international organisations intergovernmental organisations are in communication . why , because the whole notion of international , system er is crucially er focused to communication structures , post and telegraphy , these were the practical international activities which needed some regulation in terms of law politics rules et cetera , of course we had trade and traffic people and goods were floating between er countries but somehow this trade relations did not , er cause erm any immediate need for an international agency which would er set the rules somehow trade had its own er natural , er practices and regulations and customs and so on they developed since the mhm middle ages and er throughout the modern history of er industrialisation and er colonisation and imperialism et cetera , er trade and er military relations have developed er , more or less naturally , erm but er er it was not possible to deal with postal and telegraphy , or er er er activities between countries without a clearly set rules which also were handled by an international organisation and now is my first transparency look at this , british <SIC> imperium </SIC> was typical erm global structure it was er one , er <SIC> imperium </SIC> er which er did not er within its own limits er need regulation but there were other <SIC> imperiums </SIC> which were also having these these er er er er connections by de- telegraph and er later telephony and er therefore er er er it it er clearly er er this is just er for you to remind of the fact that it was at this time of the late 19th century when er er nations and global imperial forces such as british er empire they more and more were based on er electronic communication cable and er te- telegraphic and and later telephony , so in a way we can say that of course ship ships and er and er traffic er traffic or military traffic or er commerce were er crucial to er im- er building of empires both british french er portuguese er spanish er and to some extent german er empires but er they were er certainly not er <LOOKING AT THE TRANSPARENT> well this is terrible , it's not inside our mind it's in the gadget right <SS> @@ </SS> er so but anyhow we don't need to look at the details because i will give you a copy of this this er , this er er thing you can , you can distribute it to the , er just as a reminder of the fact that er that , last er er or the er 19th century there was this this er building of the electronic empire and that actually er the , the we can we can even ask was it wouldn't it have been possible to have a british imper- er empire and er and er other other imperial er er forces without this these electronic nerves which kept the empires together , hardly it would have been possible , er so er the strategic importance of of electronic er communication and in that situation then er the empires between themselves and the countries between themselves needed some rules or regulations that's why the intergo- international telecommunications union was was er established , er , now , this I-T-U er 1865 is the beginning of of the history of of , communication issues in intergovernmental organisations and at the same time it was the the the reason why the first intergovernmental organisation was established , after that the story continues so that in the league of nations communication issues were discussed in the context of er contribution of the newspapers and er the newly established broadcasting to peace and good international understanding or hatred between countries so there was an element of content-related mass-communication which came on the agenda of internat- inter- intergovernmental organisations and the league of nations , and er in order to to highlight this erm league of nations' er interest in the matter i will er distribute to you er package of er appendices from a book which is , which was or which is already nearly ten years old but these documents are er crucial and you should you should each take one copy of that , er , the <P:05> they er when you have , when you have a <P:05> er distributed it er please turn the last page of that , that er handout <P:09> <SU> what's the (xx) </SU> and you will see there a short , there i have the book here in my hands and er there is a short . resolution this appendix number three , please note appendix number three at the end of the document , collaboration of the press in the organisation of peace from the year nine er september 29 er 25 . this was the first resolution of any intergovernmental organisation which deal with the content of media , the I-T-U , er since 1865 was dealing with a technical transmission and agreements of how how a telecommunication is organised and how er radio frequencies are are distributed et cetera , so it was te- typically a technical agency this I-T-U but the league of nations ta- took on the agenda a content-related er aspect of communication and it's highlighted by this resolution which very openly and i would say strongly in view of today's er perspective speaks of er the need of media to contribute to peaceful relations between countries . er and er , this resolution was the basis of er certain committees and conferences which were held within the league of nations er over the next er erm 15 er years er and er there was even one outcome just before the second world war in the form of an intergovernmental er treaty or convention on the use of broadcasting for the cause of peace , finland and er and er most er members of the league of nations er er signed that er treaty and it was clearly meant to be a kind of a inter- will of the international community faced the aggressive er way of using broadcasting by the by the er nazi germany in the 30s er but it did not help er because er the ag- aggressive propaganda did continue and during wartime of course when when there was the second world war every country including finland england US and so on they were er engaged in a very heavy er war propaganda using also airwaves and in a way this convention remained a dead letter but it still remained in force and when after the second world war the league of nations was buried , er was given an honourable peace in the graveyard of international er organisations er the er UN united nations er picked up that convention like all other conventions which were legally established by by the intergovernmental system er it took it er under its own umbrella and this convention on the use of broadcasting still today is in force formally er whi- which comes er in a way er which is routed on this very resolution on 1925 , so it's er it's it's kind of interesting content-related er focus on international communication er <P:05> now after the second world war UNESCO was also established 1945 er and UNESCO became the UN special agency for er education science and er culture and communication er E for education S for science and and O for er for , or C C for culture and and and communication and UNESCO to- became more and more active in two respects number one to to er continue this league of nations focus on the media content , and the contribution of mass-communication which was growing after the s- second world world world war not least because of television and and radio also became more and more widely distributed erm er it it became a kind of platform of international er community to discuss the the the contribution of mass-communication to to er the health of erm mental health of nations and and and their cultures and and so on , er but als- this was number one focus but the second focus was a kind of development aspect became which became more and more important er along the er late 1940s and early 50s when er more and more countries became independent and the process of de-colonisation was rapidly progressing , by the early 50s , UNESCO had already established together with a united nations general assembly a kind of programme to er create er , er projects and er and er strategies to ensure that developing countries would not lag behind in communication development so there was a development emphasis in addition to this content emphasis so in a way historically speaking er we have since the I-T-U we have this technical <WRITING ON BLACKBOARD> emphasis of <P:05> then we have the content . emphasis </WRITING ON BLACKBOARD> from the league of nations and , eh both of them continued technical with a new ideal content with erm UNESCO but then became this development , er especially with UNESCO er sin- since the late 40s . and for instance in the 50s UNESCO developed a kind of criteria targets for every country to have so and so ma- many er newspaper copies per 1,000 inhabitants and so and so many radio sets and so and so many er television sets and cinema seats it set a kind of er objectives or policy targets er for media development as part of the general socio-economic development , this was the time in the ne- er in the 1950s when also the so-called modernisation er thinking or paradigm was dominating er both political and er scholarly a- agendas , modernisation in the sense of saying that that we have to er get away from this er er either feudal or rural er agrarian er way of living we must industrialise we must er create economic growth er which will then er er er er become to the benefit of the whole population so we must er we must er modernise and through modernisation welfare and er happiness will will follow , er , this UNESCO was really an instrument of united stations er united nations to pursue modernisation this was typically in the 1950s , but when we came to the 1960s all statistics showed that modernisation doesn't work , er both in general socio-economic development and also in media development er developing countries became more and more behind from industrialised countries in terms of er newspapers television radio and also other telecommunication facilities including telephones only very small elite the very privileged people of the third world were able to benefit from these instruments of mass-communication and UNESCO turned its attention and united nations' resolutions also dealing with communication was er becoming more critical against modernisation paradigm , and by the late 60s the dominant er paradigm became a kind of dependency theory paradigm whereby er the developing countries are victims of a kind of imperial legacy and that er a kind of a not conspiracy but structural linkage between the dominant western industrialised countries and the local elite has created a system whereby the majority of the populations in the developing countries are cut off from development and and er one has to really er break out of this vicious circle in order to get get some er some improvement in the lot of people moreover there was more and more criticism against the content of media especially the western developed countries er both the left of the , north er from paris streets of 60 er er -8 to er ottawa san francisco helsinki et cetera er they they er became er quite critical of the of the er existing er communication structures both of telecommunication structures which were still er following the the the imperial er connections and the content er mass-communication content structures and at this stage in early 1970s UNESCO commissioned a study with my department and actually i did it together with a doctoral student of mine <NAME> , and it was published by UNESCO in a report television traffic one way street it was an inventory of television very simple study not even very scientific almost vulgar statistics we counted what is the import and export of TV programmes of each country but we were lucky to get i will , let er let this copy go around so you see the the the product this is the best seller of any UNESCO publication it has been translated to more er languages and sold in more copies than any other of their communication er er reports it came out in 19 er 70 er , 4 at a time when the whole international community intergovernmental system including united nations' general assembly and UNESCO general conferences et cetera and and er intellectuals and scholars around the world were sensitised to the fact that modernisation is is not working and even more it's bad it's not instrumental we have to break out of it there is an imperialist structure a kind of media cultural imperialism is working in this world despite the de-colonisation process and we must do something about it we must create an , alternative strategy to get out of this one-way er flow , and the data which we provided were perfect in the hands of the radical politicians especially politicians of the third world who were er angry to the dominant er imperial masters and also they were very er welcome to to er the critical er scholars and experts in the west itself that wanted to to do something to improve to have a kind of media reform established , so er . this one-way flow er was erm er recognised in the early 70s , the next stage of the international debate or issues in communication after the the er imbalanced er situation was erm in the late er er 70s when UNESCO started to er to prepare er er declaration er for the role of media in terms of peace and development et cetera and you have a copy of that er landmark declaration in this er er in this er package that i i gave you it is the appendix one in in the in the package , er i think you should be not only aware of this declaration but you should also also er , kind of er , read it and er and er make some sense out of it er in terms of its er its er ser- substance it's not very radical it's far from the most er the strongest voices of critics in the third world and in the in the er er western er er left , it's sort of wishy-washy diplomatic language and it was adopted by consensus including britain and u- united states , but it di- it was a very hard compromise and the making of this declaration was was the most l- laborious and painful of any other UNESCO decla- er er documents and i have written a book about the history of this this er preparation which gives also er some other erm er context er since i was involved personally er in in a team appointed by the director general of UNESCO in in helping to draft this er declaration it was formally in the hands of the governments , er because governments are making UNESCO but the governmental politicians could not agree they were too er too much disagreed in disagreement due to cold war erm er pressures and you must remember that in the 70s the non-aligned movement of the er of the developing countries was very strong and er aggressive very much anti- imperialist by its er er its orientation and therefore they needed some scholars and er also NGOs non-governmental organisations to help them in in in er hammering out a kind of acceptable compromise and it was finally approved er this er document in paris in 1975 and you you see the text there , however then after that text the the debate continued and er , the the next stage was that UNESCO general er er director general appointed er a committee for the study of communication problems headed by sean macbride the er irish former foreign minister of ireland and the the and er er peace er nobel and er lenin peace prize winner et cetera and this committee ma- so-called macbride committee became the landmark in in in er communication er er issues er in in the er in the er international community er the er macbride er report became a kind of expert committee report by consensus there were americans soviets er indians er pakistanis et cetera involved in that it was a consensus or er assessment of what er is the international er issues of communication it heavily focused both on content and on development issues , er technical issues were there on the background because they were not considered so crucial more attention to content and development , however when this was got by consensus published in 1980 something happened in international system which changed the whole context , in a way we can say that the heaven moved its configurations reagan came to power in america and america moved out from multilateralism to unilateralism , we see the same line today in george w bush's policy but it started in in during reagan's there was a strategic move of US not to go along with this multilateral intergovernmental organisation negotiations they withdrew from the law of sea treaty er which w- was an outcome of some 20 years of negotiations at other platforms of u- united nations they refused to agree er there and they er made it clear that they will not er continue this er consensus looking policy at the U- er UNESCO around communication issues , and er this led then in by 1983 to withdrawal of er er US from UNESCO and also britain followed it was margaret thatcher's er regime in power there and UNESCO with its pursuing of both kind of ecumenical content philosophy and eq- equality global equality development er policy er they they er they were left er sort of a little bit crippled they continued f- formally and UN even pursued er the ideas of new international economic order and information order but er er it wasn't very forceful and persuasive because of the fact that that er US and er and britain were er were against this kind of , inter- er multilateral global philosophy of communication so there was a kind of controversy in the 80s about er both content and development but meanwhile I-T-U with its technical regulation went on without any problems , and I-T-U did not get this stamp or er stigma of politicised er third world soviet dominated er policy as was the case with UNESCO and united nations among the american and british right-wing political forces , so erm er it was the 80s was typically a decade when er er communication issues were quite politicised and very little progress took place in terms of putting into force these programmes of reform , the slogan for reform policy since the time of our , in er er flow study and this this er one-way street statistics was new information order new international information order or as it was er later called new er international information and communication order the acronym for that is , <S2 ENTERS THE ROOM> come come in i'm only at N er Y er I- N- N-Y-I-C-O now , so as usually it goes slowly <NAME S2> but er we don't need to go into detail here just to say that this reform programme , which has its roots , er in the er de-colonisation process erm er came , at its high noon er in the er late 70s and early 80s and perhaps one of the last manifestations of this high noon was UNESCO's report the new international economic order colon links between economics and communications which was a kind of positive scholarly contribution to er show that communication and economic , factors hang together and as there must be and will be according to united nations' lines er an a new need for new international economic order there also is a similar parallel parallel er interest for a need for international information order this is written by by a yugoslav lady breda pavlic and a dutch professor <NAME S2> , er in year ba- 1985 , after that , er US was out of UNESCO britain was out of UNESCO accusing UNESCO for being politicised and so on and often they , put the argument of media as an excuse for their removal and , er even some scholars er by this er shallow misleading excuse er argument namely that UNESCO became a censorship agency of preventing journalists from free exercise of the profession and er therefore er the forces of freedom led by US and g- er britain er left UNESCO but this is not true even the er former er deputy foreign minister of of US er erm erm er government before reagan er from jimmy carter's government said that UNESCO was the grenada of the united nations , meaning UNESCO was picked up from the multilateral system as a harmless little case of showing the muscle of the big brother , this came from US the the the er from the horse's mouth the witness saying we er during this unilateral policy of reagan , er we are currently pursuing this doubtful policy of of er of er er , showing these small er er easy targets like UNESCO and er UNESCO in in UN system and grenada in terms of international er sort of radically-minded countries er and er arresting them er as US occupied grenada and changed the regime and so on er er er in order to show that we are serious in not accepting this er and er this er multilateral si- er policy of of er , er of the international community which is perceived by the republican er er er government as as a kind of anti-american force , okay so er this was the tone until about er the mid-90s , and , in the mid-90s it became obvious not least because of the developments in er europe through the er eu- european union and in america through the er carter administration er investment to er to telecommunication and to this er internet-based er er , what they called er er mhm electronic highways , then the communication issues became again a kind of new er more serious matter also in the deep interest of the united states er britain and so on and in a way the the politic er the politicised and very controversial cold war-dominated period of the er late 70s and early 80s was removed by a more er again business-like and er if you if we want to use the term ecumenical er debate interest by all parties including the western parties and we had to remember that of course in 1990 -91 the soviet union finished and the , er as we say communism collapsed thi- this had an impact on the balance of forces in this debate also er but it's interesting that all the essential elements of the debate are still the same as they were already in the league of nations' time and er at the post-war united nations and UNESCO including the episode of this anti-imperialist-minded er new information order er erm debate the the the topics such as imbalance of infrastructure er improper coverage of er of developing countries in the western media and er the insufficient involvement of civil society in in er er er media activities both in the west developed industrialised countries and in the south , all those still remain and they are now taken by a new slogan a new kind of perspective called information society , so it took me , how long to get to information society from this historical route er or wha- 45 minutes , anyhow now we as we have got to information society i just want to er give you one more er one more handout and then we move on to to er to <NAME S2>'s presentation the handout is the last er my my er epilogue in in a , in a book which er , i think you will find er in your , oh here are some more copies , you will fin- i i don't go into detail there now you can use it as home home reading and we can return to that later er i'm putting there in perspective in the middle of 1990s er the the relations between international system and and er communications especially the context of er national sovereignty er . now er , i think now we would er let er , let <NAME S2> take over i think it's it's er better we'll continue little bit with you warming up and then we have a break or do you think </S1>
<S2> well er i i think you (speaking on) fundamental human rights was great [(at this point in time)] </S2>
<SS> [@@] </SS>
<S1> [well let's] i </S1>
<S2> amnesty international will be very sorry now if you wouldn't give a break now <SS> @@ </SS> tha- er tha- tha- that's er five minutes now you can stretch stretch legs and then </S2>
<S1> what is that five okay let's have well with this clock 20 past we continue </S1>
