The document discusses the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) which was proposed in the 1970s. It aimed to address imbalances in global communication and the dominance of Western news agencies. However, the United States opposed NWICO as it was seen as a threat to the free flow of information and the interests of American media corporations. The controversy around NWICO ultimately led to the United States and United Kingdom withdrawing from UNESCO in 1984 and 1985 respectively.

1. BY SAFIA
AKHTAR

2. • The MacBride Commission so-
named for its president
was officially design
UNESCO's International
Commission for the Study of
Communication Problems

3. Many Voices One World, also known as
the MacBride report, was a 1980
UNESCO publication written by the
International Commission for the Study
of Communication Problems.
Its aim was to analyze communication
problems in modern societies,
particularly relating to mass media and
news, and to suggest a new
communication order to solve these
problems to further peace and human
development.

4. • The controversy around a New World
Information and Communication Order
(NWICO) is a key episode in the
emergence of global communications
governance.

5. Beginning in the 1960s, US efforts to
maintain the “free flow of
information” as a core principle in
international communications were
met with criticism from the Soviet
Union and its allies as well as the
Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) of
independent states.

8. Actively promoted by UNESCO until 1983,
NWICO contributed to the departure of two
of its key members, the United States (1984)
and the UK (1985).At the time of World War
II, the British network of sea cables
connected Australia, Canada, China, India,
and South Africa to the imperial center and
established a communications monopoly;
British (Reuters) and French (Haves/French
Information Office) press agencies
controlled news flows to and from their
colonies.

9. Implicit in these
discussions (called the
'New World Order in
Communication')
It was the idea that
communicators, in order to
authentically contribute to
cultural and social
understanding, must first
serve social and cultural
development.

10. New International Information Order (NIIO)
appeared during the 1970;s as a result of
what they are perceived as their
disadvantages situation in the field of
information and communication.


11. Third World countries
encouraged by the
movement of Non-
Aligned Countries
(NAM), protest again
the global leadership
of the Western News
Agency ( AP,AFP and
REUTER).
These agencies were
perceived as
controlling up to 95%
of worldwide
information flows.

12. NWICO grew out of the New
International Economic Order of 1974.
From 1976-1978, the New World
Information and Communication Order
was generally called the shorter New
World Information Order or the New
International Information Order.
The start of this discussion is the New
World Information and
Communication Order (NWICO) as
associated with the United Nations
Education, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) starting from
the early 1970s.

13. A wide range of issues were
raised as part of NWICO
discussions. Some of these
involved long-standing issues
of media coverage of the
developing world and
unbalanced flows of media
influence. But other issues
involved new technologies
with important military and
commercial uses. The
developing world was likely to
be marginalized by satellite
and computer technologies.

14.  The United States was hostile to NWICO. According to some analysts,
the United States saw these issues simply as barriers to the free flow of
communication and to the interests of American media corporations.
 It disagreed with the MacBride report at points where it questioned the
role of the private sector in communications.
 It viewed the NWICO as dangerous to freedom of the press by
ultimately putting an organization run by governments at the head of
controlling global media, potentially allowing for censorship on a large
scale.
 From another perspective, the MacBride Commission
recommendations requiring the licensing of journalists amounted to
prior censorship and ran directly counter to basic US law on the
freedom of expression.