roundtable: MacBride Roundtable on Communication

roundtable: MacBride Roundtable on Communication

MacBride Roundtable on Communication

Andrew Calabrese (calabres@spot.Colorado.EDU)
Mon, 16 Jun 1997 11:57:48 -0600 (MDT) 

Date: Mon, 16 Jun 1997 11:57:48 -0600 (MDT)
Message-Id: <v01540b00afc71239c63e@[128.138.144.57]>
To: roundtable@cni.org
From: calabres@spot.Colorado.EDU (Andrew Calabrese)
Subject: MacBride Roundtable on Communication


                9th MacBride Roundtable on Communication

                 GLOBAL MEDIA AND GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY:
                           A TIME TO CHOOSE

                     University of Colorado at Boulder
                           October 1-2, 1997


A 'New World Information and Communication Order' is coming into being even
as we speak, but not the kind that so many have fought for since the late
1970s. This is not one about media equity, more balanced flow, or even, in
the end, about free flow. The new world is being forged not from a clash of
ideologies - dispensed with even as camouflage - but on the back of a tacit
acceptance by too many that there is only one ideology, that of the
marketplace and competition. The battle is waged not in traditional halls
of the UN, with declarations of rights, learned Commissions etc., but
rather it is fought in the global organs of commerce and Free Trade: The
WTO, ITU, World Bank, IMF all do their bit to instate the new religion of
the global market; while political coalitions like the EU, NAFTA and ASEAN
speak with the same voice. And behind all of them is the virtually
unchallenged power of a globalised media and communication private sector,
willing to surrender all to greater profits. But an alternative vision of
the new world is also coming into view from several directions. A
resurgence of alternative and community media is evident in all continents,
and they are quickly coalescing into national, regional and international
NGOs. At the same time, many UN and national high commissions have called
for innovative institutional ways to counterbalance growing commercial
interests, ensuring that public interests will be served.

Focusing on these contradictory media worlds -- one leading down the road 
to total market control, the other struggling to democratise media and
communication on a global scale -- the Ninth MacBride Roundtable on
Communication will meet in Boulder, Colorado, on October 1-2, 1997. The
meeting coincides with the 50th anniversary of the 1947 publication of the
famed Hutchins Commission's report on A Free and Responsible Press. This
will be a good opportunity for evaluating voluntary codes of media
responsibility.

The Roundtable is pleased to run just before the 12th colloquium of the
European Institute for Communication and Culture on "Communication,
Citizenship and Social Policy, Re-thinking the Limits of the Welfare
State," which is being held at the University of Colorado at Boulder on
October 2-5, 1997.

The Roundtable is calling for papers that explore political and activist
strategies, seeking lessons in history to guide diverse progressive forces
in global media and communication; and that offer an understanding of the
dynamics of world communication on all sides. Abstracts are due by June
30th. Send to:

Sean O Siochru
NEXUS Research
14 Eaton Brae
Shankill
Co. Dublin
IRELAND

Fax: +353 1 4730597, or +353 1 2720034; E-mail: sean@nexus.ie

For more information on the MacBride Roundtable and the Conference, see
http://tdg.uoguelph.ca/~drichard/macbride.html


Andrew Calabrese
<calabres@spot.colorado.edu>

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