[WSIS CS-Plenary] Notes from Tunis / Media caucus

[Tracey Naughton]

Greetings from Johannesburg.

Below are some notes on the Tunis meeting from David Lewis of the European
Broadcasting Union who represented the Media Caucus in the recent Tunis
meeting.

Regards

Tracey Naughton
 
Nyaka - Communication & Development
Tracey Naughton
Consultant
201 Somerset Hall
239 Oxford Road
Illovo  2196
South Africa

Phone/fax:    +27 (0) 11 880 5030
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Email:              t.naughton at iafrica.com


------ Forwarded Message

> Subject: Notes from Tunis
> 
> Hi Tracey,
> Very briefly:
> We were 90-100 officials, diplomats, representatives of civil
> society, gathered to hear a good speech from the Tunisian minister (who then
> absented himself for the duration, except to host a dinner) and pleas from
> Utsumi to help out with ideas for WSIS II.  There was, he said, no clear
> idea of what should be done by whom in the wake of Geneva. ITU's Council had
> instructed him that ITU should not be engaged in anything that would be
> "outside of ITU's core business". So others would have to step in.
> After the first plenary we were divided into three groups by
> language:  Bilingual English-French, French, English to consider the same
> three questions in three different sessions, each to be followed by a
> plenary.
> 1.    How should the Geneva meeting be followed up?  Who should
> report to Tunis, and how?
> 2.    What deliverables should there be from Tunis?  A report?
> Resolutions?  A "Charter"?
> 3.    How should Tunis be organized/prepared?  Who would take
> responsibility?  Who would provide the money?
> To answer the first question I attended the bilingual working group.
> My statement about the importance of the media was ignored by the
> rapporteur. So I went to the English group for discussion on the second
> question, and made a similar statement about the importance of radio and TV,
> freedom of the press, how countries without electricity in every home should
> think about radio before computers.  Etc.  The rapporteur made very brief,
> undetailed mention to the plenary of the media.
> There was a meeting of the Civil Society bureau on the first
> evening, which spent all its time deciding whether the meeting was official
> or unofficial, whether it should have a chair and an agenda, whether it
> should be minuted ...
> By the second morning I was seeing if there was an earlier flight
> out.  (There wasn't, so I left as originally planned at 1500 hours, just
> after the beginning of the afternoon session.)
> From my corridor discussions with a couple of diplomats, it seems
> that even the sympathetic ones feel they have shot their bolt by insisting
> on Article 19 etc in the Geneva declaration.  If the media want to have a
> role in Part II, they seemed to be saying, we should get involved in
> alliances to perform activities that could be reported to Tunis.
> As I could not stay to the end of the meeting, I do not know if any
> firm decisions were taken.  Certainly there is nothing of substance on the
> WSIS website.  The Swiss were beginning to think of holding the first
> Prepcom only early next year, with a second in Tunis perhaps in autumn 2005,
> but a decision was expected at a meeting of the government bureau this week
> in Geneva.
> That's all I've got time to report now.  I'll be happy to answer any
> questions, if I can.
> Best regards
> David
> 
> 
> 
> 
>