Dear All,
This meeting was organised
by the Panos Institute, London, in
association with the Communication for Social Change Consortium and the
Rockefeller Foundation. Financial
support was kindly provided by the Rockefeller Foundation. The meeting was one of series of "Frati Dialogues on Media and Social Change" organised at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Conference Centre in Italy. The meeting built on work carried out at the
Global Knowledge Media Forum, a joint activity between Panos and the Global
Knowledge Partnership.
Murali
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Murali Shanmugavelan
Communication for Development Programme
Email: muralis@panoslondon.org.uk
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Panos
Institute
9, White Lion Institute
London, N1 9PD
Phone: +44 (0)20 7239 7608 (direct)
Phone: +44 (0)20 7239 7608 (board)
Fax: +44 (0)20 7278 0345
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Panos-London's mission is to work with the media to
enable developing countries to shape and communicate their own development
agendas by catalysing and promoting informed
public debate. We particularly focus on amplifying the voices of the poor and
marginalised.
Bellagio Symposium on Media,
Freedom and Poverty
Statement
The Bellagio
Symposium on Media, Freedom and Poverty came together to explore the links
between and develop a better understanding of current media trends and poverty. This meeting
was in part an attempt to bridge differences in approach among organisations involved in media freedom, media pluralism
and social advocacy. While we have differences in perspective, we agreed on the
following points.
We are particularly concerned that in the
World Summit on the Information Society some of the measures being considered
run counter to freedom of expression; that insufficient attention is being paid
to the crucial role of the media, and to the importance of poverty reduction;
and that there is inadequate mapping of development objectives against the
proposed actions.
We believe that urgent attention needs to be
brought to bear on issues of media and poverty in ways that are rooted in the
principle of freedom of expression.
Freedom of expression, as expressed in
Article XIX of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is a fundamental
right which underpins all other human rights, and enables them to be expressed
and realised. The eradication of poverty is essential
to the realisation for all peoples of the aspirations
in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
People living in poverty face particular
obstacles to achieving freedom of expression and access to the media which are
associated with the conditions of poverty. These obstacles include economic,
social, educational, logistical, and political factors. Economic obstacles
include the cost of equipment for production, distribution and reception, and
the costs of licences and operation; social obstacles
include gender and language; educational
obstacles include literacy and language;
logistical obstacles include transport, physical access and electricity;
political obstacles include repression and lack of will of many states to allow
democratic expression and to give voice to the most marginalised
groups, as well as censorship by government, commercial and social
interests.
The interests and concerns of people living
in poverty are not sufficiently exposed in the media. Economic and market
pressures on the media are tending to deprioritise journalistic
investigation and reporting on issues of social and public concern. Because the
poor often do not constitute a viable market, issues of concern to them are
increasingly and particularly marginalised. New
strategies, which address these issues and reinforce freedom of expression,
need to be devised. Threats to media freedom and freedom of expression continue
to come from undue political influence but we are also concerned about issues
of economic control and pressure.
We recognise that
these obstacles need to be overcome in the interests of society as a whole, and
not only because in many societies poor people are the majority. When people do
not have a voice in the public arena, or access to information on issues that
affect their lives, and where their concerns are not reasonably reflected in
the media, development tends to be undermined and catastrophes such as famines
are less likely to be averted. Lack of access to communication undermines the
capacity of the poor to participate in democratic processes. Frustration and
alienation over lack of means of expression lead to disaffection with the
political process resulting in apathy or violence.
Realisation of freedom of
expression for people living in poverty requires: media pluralism and diversity,
including diversity of forms of ownership; more equitable access to
communication; support for cultural and linguistic diversity; and promotion of
participation in democratic decision-making processes.
6. Action
points
- There is a growing number of initiatives
taken by the media, by people living in poverty and by other actors to
address poverty reduction, including issues of voice, content and access
to information and communication. These should be encouraged and actively
supported. Best practices should be publicised
and exchanged.
- Access for the disadvantaged to information and communication
should be an integral part of any strategy to reduce poverty. Such a
strategy should include participatory media.
- Community media should be specifically encouraged, including
through access to licences and spectrum
allocation. Frequencies should be allocated in a balanced way amongst
community, commercial and public service media. Broadcast licensing should
be administered by independent and transparent regulatory bodies.
- There is a need for increased resources, better coordination and
targeting of training programmes; including
training journalists in poverty related issues.
- Involvement of media in education, and the development of media
literacy, should be promoted.
- Public service broadcasting mandates should include obligations to
provide information and education to address issues of poverty; and to
ensure that public service broadcasters provide universal service.
- National communication policies should be developed that address
access to communication for people living in poverty. Such policies should
be developed and implemented in a transparent and participatory manner.
- Professional standards and ethics of journalism, as defined by
journalists themselves, should be supported and encouraged. The
journalistic ethic should include sensitivity to issues of poverty.
- Journalists should be provided with living standards and working
conditions which enable them to realise these
professional standards.
- South-South and South-North exchanges between media and journalists
should be encouraged, including personnel, training, equipment and
content.
- Support should be provided for civil society organisations
in working with the media.
- Mechanisms should be encouraged for making newspapers more
affordable and more available to the disadvantaged, including measures to
cut the price of newsprint and equipment.
- The use of ICTs to provide the media with
more diversity of information sources should be promoted; together with
combinations of traditional and new information technologies to facilitate
better access to communication for people living in poverty.
- Resources should be provided, including by public authorities, to
address shortcomings in communication access for those living in poverty
and to remove cost and other barriers, in ways that do not compromise
freedom of expression.
- More research needs to be undertaken on the implications of current
media trends for poverty reduction.
5th October, 2003
This statement was agreed by:
Steve Buckley, President
AMARC - The World Association of
Community Broadcasters
John Barker, Director of Africa Programme
Article XIX
Professor Cees Hamelink
Centre for Communication and Human Rights
Lindsay Ross, Executive Director
Commonwealth Press Union
Alfonso Gumucio,
Managing Director
Communication for Social Change Consortium
Sean O'Siochru,
Coordinator
Communication Rights in the Information
Society
Mahfuz Anam, Editor in chief,
Daily Star, Bangladesh
Jean Paul Marthoz,
International Media Director
Human Rights Watch
Mario Lubetkin,
Secretary General
Inter Press Service
Luckson Chipare, Executive Director
Media Institute of Southern
Africa
Wafula Oguttu, Editor in Chief
The Monitor Group, Uganda
James Deane, Executive Director and
Conference convenor
Panos Institute, London
Diana Senghor, Executive Director
Panos Institute, West Africa
Damian Tambini,
Executive Director,
Programme on
Comparative Media Law and Public Policy, Oxford University
Denise Gray-Felder, Vice President
The Rockefeller Foundation and CEO, the Communication
for Social Change Consortium
Mr Gerolf Weigel, Head, ICT for
Development Division
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
(SDC)
Mogens Schmidt,
Director, Division of Freedom of Expression, Democracy and Peace
UNESCO
Ronald Koven,
European Representative
World Press Freedom Committee
Guillaume Chenevière,
Chairman
World Radio and Television Council
All participants attended the meeting as
representatives of their organisations, and the
statement represents a consensus of all who participated. However, this statement has not been through
a formal approval process by all of these organisations
and therefore signatories should be taken to have approved this in their personal
capacity.
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