Tuesday 29 May 2007

Asia Media Summit 2

Mini break: Dr Hamadoun Toure from the ITU. The ITU regulates telecommunications internationally – he is the recently elected sec-gen. It is NOT a trade union, a mistake I first made when I heard of the International Telecommunication Union.

Pointed out that this is a wealthy industry – so it can afford to help promote the MDGs. Still thinks that a profit-oriented market is the best model for ICTs.

Also talked about the cyber-security agenda....two years for a global agreement on cyber-security. He talks about concerns that schools that are e-enabled will be prey for chld pornographers and other criminals. These are, obviously, real concerns. Does anyone else know more about this? I worry that increases in cyber-security in turn lead to increases in cyber-surveillance. How much civil society input has there been on the global cyber-security agenda? How much more likely is it that the child in the village, prey for pornographers, would be better protected by education rather than an international cyber-security agenda? Pornographers, etc, are actively looking for ways round regulations – any cyber security protocols enacted today are likely to be obsolete, soon. But if you teach the child to protect him or herself, then and only then are they guaranteed safety. Unfortunately, that requires empowerment, transfer of resources to vulnerable communities etc. Much harder.


Seemed to think the key problem with Internet access is cost – which some of you will know I think has been conclusively debunked by the Akshaya project in Kerala. The website doesn't say much, but the presentations I've seen by those involved in the implementation of the project, say that it allows 23 million rural farmers access to an Internet portal, with basic information available free of charge, and with training provided for 80% of the families in the region.


Session Two: Future of Public Service Broadcasting


The first speaker, unfortunately, was from the Maldives – he did however draw the distinction between State and Public Service Broadcasting. He sounded great – but it was hard to reconcile what he said with what I've read on the repression being faced by Minivan journalists and broadcasters – Minivan being a pirate-type community radio broadcaster. And the problems that journalism in general has been faced by journalists in the Maldives.


Murray Green from the ABC was the next speaker, focussin on impartiality. The broadcasting law requires the ABC to be accurate, impartial and objective. Impartiality is expressed in two forms – it doesn't apply to performances. Hm. I wonder if there is an argument here for some form of regulation... remembering Nazi propaganda, dramas full of happy young blondes, and thinking about the need to represent Australia and many other countries in all their diversity, not just in the news.

Some form of impartiality perhaps could apply here – but how soon would it lead to censorship? He says public broadcasters will stand or fall by the quality of public broadcasting, and the key features of what public broadcasters can offer is this fairness, imparitality, objectivity in news reporting.


Radio Netherlands, an important funder for radio in this region, D-G Jan C Hoek spoke next. Started with free press and independent journalism. Yay! Need laws guaranteeing freedom of speech. Definition of PSB – financing from society, via government, but government has no influence on content. Diversity of commercial stations, owned by indivis and cos with their own agenda – and so it doesn't mean it is working in the public interest. For PSB they aim to show a diversity of opinions, deal with difficult subjects. Big difference is that commercial bcasters work for sponsors, advertisers and shareholders, PSB works for society.


Jim Thomson, from NZ spoke next. His talk was titled 'unlocking the archives', dealing with the rights issues related to distributing content. Problems faced include inadequate documentation, the impossibility of finding out who owns the rights, the people who own the rights demand prohibitively expensive demands. And if anyone who holds the copyright doesn't want it to go ahead, or can't be found, then they can scupper the deal. Everyone loses out in the current scenario – those involved in the programmes, those who want to watch the programmes. So TVNZ has proposed legislation to allow PSBs to rebroadcast any prog made with public money, more than seven years earlier, that a fee is paid to those involved, can be broadcast in any format. The license fee would be fixed. A new way of looking at copyright. Sounds good.


Eric Soulier, French Embassy in Singapore: He emphasised that culture is not a commodity, so doesn't come under agreements for commodity trade, such as WTO (though he didn't mention it specifically). He was acting as an ambassador for the UNESCO convention on cultural diversity.

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