13-05-2004 (UNESCO Kingston)

The genre of "community media" was hailed as the "new media" of the future at the Commonwealth-Caribbean Media Conference, a three-day activity held last week on the University of the West Indies St Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago to mark World Press Freedom Day 2004.

Impassioned pleas from some panelists and members of the audience called on media owners to play their part in resisting the muting of Caribbean voices and cited community media, especially radio, as 'the one to watch' in ensuring pluralism, diversity, local content and democracy in the Caribbean.

Organized by the Commonwealth Journalists' Association (CJA) and the Conference of Caribbean Media (CCM), an umbrella body for a number of participating media organisations in the region, with support from UNESCO, the Commonwealth-Caribbean Media Conference provided the forum for some fifty journalists and media professionals to share their experiences of working in the Caribbean and other regions of the British Commonwealth.

The Conference was opened by Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad and Tobago who called for a Code of Ethics for the media, a comment that stirred considerable debate in the days following the opening.

Of major interest to participants was the warning by Zimbabwean editor Nqobile Nyathi of the Zimbabwe Daily News, embattled in a fight for a free press in her country, not to let the government control the media, voiced during an address to Conference participants entitled "Journalism under the Gun". She cautioned Trinidadian citizens and journalists to "appreciate what they have...because, once it's gone, (press freedom)...it is difficult to get it back."

The delegates also heard reports on the state of the media in the Caribbean and various regions of the Commonwealth and explored within panels questions such as reporting under siege, and experiences in withstanding these pressures, convergence, the new technologies and present day journalism, local content development and legislation, ethics and standards and other aspects of editorial policy, and HIVAIDS a major issue of concern to the Caribbean media and in other parts of the Caribbean.

The overriding issue of the conference was the quality of reporting and writing in all fields of the media and the need to take an in-depth look in the entire question of journalism training in the region in view of plans of the University of the West Indies, St Augustine and the Commonwealth Journalists' Association to introduce a long term programme of training in this field at the University.

In the discussion on local content quotas, media owners were cautioned take careful note of the challenges posed by the GATT and ongoing WTO and FTAA negotiations. The region's lack of an audio-visual policy to "preserve and enhance Caribbean diversity, audio-visual heritage and intercultural dialogue and understanding" was also cited as an immediate challenge to be addressed by Governments, media, policy makers and wider civil society.

The Commonwealth-Caribbean Media Conference was situated within the framework of a weeklong programme of activities (3-7 May) to celebrate World Press Freedom Day including the launch of the new CJA headquarters in Trinidad and Tobago, a media exhibition demonstrating the work of the media in Trinidad and Tobago and other Commonwealth countries, and the opportunity for young people thinking of a career in journalism to talk to working journalists from the Caribbean and other regions.

http://portal.unesco.org/ci/ev.php?URL_ID=15734&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201

Information should be seen as a global public good. In today s society, access to information means access to development. But information is
increasingly treated as a commodity, providing unfair advantage to those with means to access it, and excluding those who don t. The digital
divide is more than a matter of infrastructure, and will not necessarily be overcome simply through technology. The public sector has a
responsibility to ensure that fair access is promoted. (PDF)

http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?id=6422&do=gpage

Geneva - The Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union, Mr Yoshio Utsumi, launched a global fundraising campaign to
support activities for the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society. Appealing to the international community, he called
on all stakeholders to help make the WSIS-2005 Fundraising Campaign and the Summit in Tunis a success.

The fundraising campaign got off to an impressive start with an announcement by the Government of Japan, Ministry of Public Management,
Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, of a CHF 386 300 (JPY 33 401000) contribution to the WSIS Fund. In addition, the governments of
Japan, Spain, Canada, Switzerland and the Republic of Korea as well as other stakeholders, including UNESCO, and KDDI Corporation and BHN
Association of Japan, have confirmed that they will provide professional staff to serve in the WSIS Executive Secretariat.

Mr Utsumi thanked these partners for their continued commitment to the Summit process. He called upon governments and other stakeholders to
contribute generously to the WSIS-2005 Fundraising Campaign. He said, "Financial and in-kind support is essential to prepare for the Tunis
phase of the Summit and to help bridge the digital divide and create a truly inclusive Information Society."

"WSIS depends entirely on voluntary contributions to a special fund established by ITU," noted Mr Utsumi. The cost of organizing the Tunis
phase of the Summit is estimated to be about CHF 15 million. The goal of the fundraising campaign is to raise at least CHF 5 million in cash
contributions for the WSIS Fund while covering the remaining amount through in-kind support from various partners.

The Geneva Phase of the World Summit on the Information Society culminated with global agreement on a Declaration of Principles for the
emerging Information Society and a Plan of Action to implement concrete measures to make it a reality. The road map to Tunis and beyond
envisages accelerated realization of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals built on a foundation of access to information and
communication technology for all by 2015. Contributions to the WSIS Fund can be tracked here.

Contact info
Telephone: +41 22 730 6373
Fax: +41 22 730 6393
E-mail: wsismedia@itu.int
http://www.itu.int/wsis/newsroom/press_releases/wsis/2004/5apr.html

Edited by Bruce Girard and Seán Ó Siochrú of the CRIS campaign and published by UNRISD, Communicating in the Information Society was
launched at a press conference during the WSIS. A number of the authors were in attendance. If you want to acquire a paper copy of this book,
please contact UNRISD at martinez@unrisd.org.

http://www.comunica.org/

This newsletter by the International Institute of Communication and Development (IICD) discusses rethinking external support for
ICT-enabled development; public-private partnerships for ICT development: the Ghanaian experience; national competences for ICT: the role of
education and training; and the role of civil-society organisations in ICT capacity-building.

http://www.capacity.org/Web_Capacity/Web/UK_Content/Download.nsf/0/91EFCB8DF30F21CEC1256D650055679F/$FILE/issue-18e%20nieuw%20ymck.pdf

The World Telecommunication Indicators Database contains time series data for the years 1960, 1965, 1970 and annually from 1975-2002 for around 80 sets of telecommunication statistics covering telephone network size and dimension, mobile services, quality of service, traffic, staff, tariffs, revenue and investment. Selected demographic, macro-economic, broadcasting and information technology statistics are also included, with data available for over 200 economies. The database is available either on the basis of a yearly subscription or a one time purchase, with some sections available online.


http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications/world/world.html

The South Asia Window provides updates on recent communication for development issues in South Asia. This includes programme activities, awards, training, evaluation and research results, networks, books, other materials, planning ideas, change theories and other information recently placed on The Communication Initiative's website.


For further information, please visit: http://www.comminit.com/south-asia/