[WSIS CS-Plenary] Community Media statement - endorsements invited

[Steve Buckley]

Dear all

Attached and below is a statement on the draft Declaration and Action Plan 
produced by the WSIS Community Media Working Group for Prepcom 3.

We are seeking endorsements to this statement from civil society 
organisations. All endorsements received by Monday 15 September 12.00 noon 
(UTC/GMT) will be included in the published version for distribution to 
delegates at Prepcom 3.

Endorsements can be sent to cm at wsis-cs.org. We also invite other civil 
society caucuses to incorporate the key points of this statement.

Steve Buckley


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World Summit on the Information Society

WSIS Prepcom 3, Geneva 15-26 September 2003
WSIS Community Media Working Group

FINAL VERSION (open for endorsements, 11 September 2003)
Community Media and the Information Society
Statement on the draft Declaration and Action Plan

A just and equitable information society strategy must be people-centred, 
inclusive, built on fundamental human rights and focused primarily on the 
reduction of poverty. Traditional and new means of communication must be 
focused on creating opportunities for people and communities to participate 
in shaping their own destiny.

Much is promised by the information society - access to vital knowledge for 
health and education, better information from governments and corporations, 
electronic democracy, global trade and exchange, up to the minute news. But 
the world's poorest communities face the danger of being left out. The 
communication needs of poor people are compromised at the highest levels by 
a vastly unequal access to the global communications environment and by the 
absence of structural measures and commitments to redress past imbalances.

Free and universal access to basic education and affordable access to 
electricity are required before the world's poorest people can benefit from 
new ICTs. Nearly one third of the world's population still do not have 
reliable access to electricity. Basic literacy skills are lacking for 20 
per cent of the world's population, especially women and girls. The most 
widespread and accessible communications technologies remain the 
traditional media, particularly radio - an oral medium, low cost and 
receivable by 90 per cent of the world's population. And the most effective 
approaches to poverty reduction are community-driven and empowerment oriented.

Community media are thus a vital means to enable public participation, to 
strengthen cultural and linguistic diversity, to promote gender equity and 
to bring about a more just and equitable information society that includes 
the voices of the poor and the marginalised. We urge this be reflected in 
the WSIS Declaration and Action Plan.

In particular, we are calling on government delegations to WSIS Prepcom 3 
to make the following improvements:

In the draft Declaration
- include reference to the specific and crucial role of community media

In the draft Action Plan
- strengthen commitment to community broadcasting in country level legislation
- strengthen commitment to spectrum allocation for community broadcasting
- support the establishment of an international Community Media Fund

Comments and Proposals on the draft Declaration (version 18 July 2003)

In the draft Declaration of Principles, paragraph 51 has not yet been 
adequately formulated to reflect the essential role of media in the 
provision of information and communication, nor does it reflect media 
diversity and the importance of public service broadcasting and community 
media. Freedom of expression is also worryingly compromised by phrases such 
as  "in accordance with the legal system in each country" which represent 
an unacceptable weakening to the provisions of Article 19 of the Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

The Declaration of Principles requires a much clearer statement on the 
media, based on respect for the provisions of Article 19 of the UDHR and 
recognising the importance of a diverse and pluralist media environment 
including public service broadcasting and community media. This would 
provide firmer foundations for the following series of points that we 
consider should be made as specific commitments in the WSIS Action Plan.

Comments and Proposals on the draft Action Plan (version 22 August 2003)

We warmly welcome paragraph 6b in the draft Action Plan:
"6b) Public service broadcasting and community media have specific and 
crucial roles to play in ensuring the participation of all in the 
information society."

We are also encouraged by commitments in paragraphs 27, 41 and 42 of the 
Action Plan:

"27a) Governments should support a generous allocation of frequencies for 
local radio stations at affordable prices."
"41f) Give recognition and support to media based in local communities and 
support projects combining the use of traditional media and new technologies."
"42f) Encourage investment in regional and community-based media content as 
well as new technologies."

Nevertheless we believe these statements can and should be strengthened. 
The statement in paragraph 6b) should be reflected in an improved 
Declaration of Principles and the commitments in the Action Plan need to be 
more specific and measurable.

Country level legislation

The major barrier to the development of community broadcasting services, is 
the country level legislative and regulatory framework. Many countries 
provide specific legislative and regulatory frameworks that encourage 
community broadcasters. Others retain legislative or regulatory systems 
that restrict freedom of expression by preventing or discouraging local 
communities from establishing their own community broadcasting services.

The draft Action Plan sets specific targets for access to the information 
society including, for example, a commitment to Internet access in every 
village by 2010 and in every school by 2015. These commitments, if 
realised, would give the world's literate population access to global 
information resources and communications capacity. They need to be balanced 
by investment in the local communications infrastructure, recognising that 
for the poorest people radio will continue to be the dominant source of 
information.

We propose the WSIS should set specific targets for the opening up of 
broadcast licensing to allow for the operation of community broadcasting 
services in every community by 2010 and to ensure all of the world's 
population can access community broadcasting services by 2015.

Spectrum allocation

The draft Action Plan recognises (paragraph 27a) the importance of access 
to spectrum for local radio services but it includes no specific targets 
nor does it address the importance of managing the radio spectrum in the 
public interest to ensure a diversity of services.

The Action Plan should include an explicit commitment to ensure the 
radio-frequency spectrum is recognised as a natural resource belonging to 
all humanity and that should be managed in the public interest as a 
publicly owned asset through transparent and accountable regulatory 
frameworks. Regulation should ensure equitable access to spectrum among a 
plurality of media including sufficient capacity reserved for community media.

We propose the WSIS should set specific targets for the reservation of 
spectrum to enable community broadcasting services in every community by 2010.

Community Media Fund

The draft Action Plan proposes a global ICTs for Development Fund but 
leaves open how such a Fund would be deployed. There has been a strong 
focus in the WSIS draft Declaration and Action Plan on building the 
infrastructure, generally taken to mean the telecommunications 
infrastructure for local and international connectivity. Private sector 
infrastructure and content providers and some donor governments have a 
strong interest in promoting public investment in infrastructure 
particularly where this opens up new markets.

This is unlikely to address the needs of the poorest, mainly rural 
communities, who face barriers of literacy, electricity supply and 
affordable consumer equipment. A substantial portion of any investment in 
ICTs for poverty reduction must be ring-fenced for community-driven 
development and community communications initiatives based on the 
principles of empowerment, inclusion, sustainability and appropriate 
technology.

We propose the Action Plan should include a commitment to establish a 
Community Media Fund by 2006. The Fund would support new community radio 
development and community media content including projects that make 
provision for the poorest communities, for cultural and lingistic diversity 
and for the equal participation of women and girls. The Fund should also 
support community projects that combine the use of traditional media and 
new communication technologies. The Fund should be established through a 
donor - civil society partnership involving leading community media 
organisations and civil society organisations working in this field.

Endorsements received so far:
African Women's Development and Communications Network (FEMNET), Asociación 
Latinoamericana de Educación Radiofónica (ALER), APC Latin American 
Committee ICT Policy Monitor Project, APC Women's Networking Support 
Programme, Association for Progressive Communications (APC), Catholic Media 
Council (CAMECO), Community Media Association (UK), Foundation for Media 
Alternatives (Philippines), GreenNet (UK), Heinrich Boell Foundation 
(Germany), Hitec Aztec Communications Network, International Association of 
Women in Radio and Television - Ghana Chapter, Knowledge and Rights with 
Young People through Safer Spaces (KRYSS), Korean Progressive Network - 
Jinbonet, LaNeta (Mexico), La Peña Cultural Center (USA), Rede de 
Informações para o Terceiro Setor (RITS, Brazil), Women's International 
News Gathering Service (WINGS), World Association of Community Radio 
Broadcasters (AMARC)
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            steve at commedia.org.uk
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         http://www.commedia.org.uk
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