Phenomenal progress in new communication techniques—the digitization of images, sound and data, the digital compression of data and the growing power of electronic components—is part of the technological upsurge that is set to overturn completely the existing conditions under which information and knowledge are produced and disseminated, according to the World Communication Report—The media and the challenge of the new technologies, authored by Professor Lotfi Maherzi of Algeria and published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

It states that the digital revolution will enable us to store and transmit information of any type—voice, image and text-free from any constraint of space, time or quantity, without changing the quality and content of the information itself. The convergence of activities in the information field and the gradual merging of telecommunications, computer and audiovisual technology allow us to imagine innovations unthinkable just a few years ago.

Says Alain Modoux, Director of the Communication Division of UNESCO: "Because of the convergence of informatics, the media and telecommunications, the telecommunications system that was controlled by the State in the past was now vanishing in an increasing number of countries as a result of privatization." Those developments and the changes brought about by marketing and globalization raise questions regarding the future role of States when major decisions are outside of State influence.

The stunning growth of the Internet and its potential developments are also addressed in the three-part Report; almost 200 countries were connected to the Internet in 1997. Although North America has the lead in the use of the network and utilizes virtually three quarters of the network access sites, it is estimated that by the year 2000 there will be some 100 million Internet users worldwide. It is a new information carrier, capable of transmitting news in real time equally, as well as written press, radio or television programmes. The extensive use of English, highlighted as one of the limitations of the Internet, could be addressed by both the State and civil society, says Mr. Modoux.

While the Report acknowledges issues such as questions of surveillance and security, the Internet's use to convey bigoted, racist or pornographic messages, and computer piracy, problems of data-overload and traffic jams, which appear to have worsened with the introduction of images that consume large volumes of computer memory, are also experienced on the network. It sees the Internet as potentially a powerful commercial medium, with infinite potential for training and education.

One of the main characteristics of the information highways is the ability to transmit an infinite variety of information simultaneously and interactively. They are now considered a priority for a country's entry into a new type of economy and are being developed in a number of industrial countries. Developing countries, however, express concern at marginalization or exclusion from the possibilities afforded by the information highways.

The 298-page UNESCO Report also focuses on the internationalization of the media as part of the process of globalization of communications—a geographical dispersal of business activities around the world, as well as the ways in which societies are increasingly connected by the networks and their products that operate on a world scale. Large transnational television channels operate regionally or globally.

But programmes of transnational companies are likely to lag behind the expectations of their local or regional audiences or be out of touch with them. Although there is a trend towards the search for a stock of images common to national and regional cultures by some international networks, a growing number of Latin American, Arab and Asian broadcasters are launching their own channels and often competing with the major channels for their own communities.

Also examined in the Report are the range of transformations of world media landscapes as a result of the impact of digital technology. But radio remains the primary source of information for many countries, as well as the cheapest means of transmission; it is the only medium to reach remote rural areas. With UNESCO's assistance, experiments in community radio, which encourage the participation of local populations, including women, in the operation and management of that medium, are being pursued.

"We strongly recommend that public service broadcasting should be maintained in every country—not as a monopoly, but existing in parallel with the commercial networks", says Mr. Modoux, stressing editorial and journalistic independence to ensure credibility. Surveys carried out in most democratic countries reveal that public opinion has little confidence in the press. The public's verdict on television is even harsher. Criticism is levelled at a persistent drift towards sensationalism, hype and trivialization, and even a certain form of manipulation—dishonesty in the presentation of facts, or lack of detachment in the reporting of information from official sources.

In raising the issue of the potential threats of the new developments in communications and information to democracy, the Report stresses that media can change the rules of democratic evolution. Vigilance is essential, "technological magic can now make virtual reality into an actual merger of the real and the unreal, a drift that threatens to undermine the foundations of democracy".

There's obviously a need for a democratic approach to filling the gap between "the haves and the have nots" with regard to access to information and communication technology—a gap which does not only exist between the North and the South, but also between groups in societies in the North.

Says UNESCO's Director-General Federico Mayor in his introduction to the Report: "There can be no doubt that the future of new democracies would depend in part on the development and strengthening of free, independent and pluralistic media in both the public and private sectors, since the spread of knowledge and values is impossible without freedom of communication."

Mr. Mayor also says freedom of communication enables ordinary citizens to express themselves and make their voices heard and, as a result, influence the events that shape their daily lives.

Today, cultural communities and non-governmental organizations are taking advantage of the opportunities afforded by technological progress to argue for broader participation in the flow of information on the Internet. "This new mode of communication between and among members of civil societies has favoured the emergence of new actors on the international scene", the Report states. "Armed with a democratized electronic tool, these collaborative organizations have mobilized and established their own electronic networks for the exchange of information."

Developing countries face a number of challenges in implementing a new information and communication policy in order to modernize, democratize and diversify the telecommunication and information services, according to the Report.

The first challenge entails favouring a worldwide strategy for the reform of communication services, which implies opting for deregulation or privatization. Privatization must be accompanied by a statutory framework guaranteeing all sectors of the population access to basic communication and information services.

Another challenge concerns the capability of developing countries to adopt an overall strategy which ensures that the acquisition of know-how and knowledge becomes a priority in national development strategies.

Mr. Modoux stresses the importance contributions of specialized bodies in the United Nations system, such as the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which have a role to play in the challenges resulting from the new technologies. ITU has to establish technical standards, while WIPO would address the increasingly complex issue of intellectual property rights as in the area of multimedia.

UNESCO's role would include studying the impact of cultural identity, the problem of use of languages, promoting the introduction of the new technologies in the education curriculum and ensuring that teachers are trained to teach the new technology. Furthermore, a critical part of UNESCO's role, Mr. Modoux says, is to make the United Nations system aware of the necessity of incorporating the new technologies into the development process. UNESCO should guide those efforts and certain policies in this new area of development.

"We must have a highly coordinated approach. All United Nations organizations must be involved in such a process." He envisages introducing the new technologies even in refugee camps around the world. "In refugee camps ... there are thousands of young people without any type of activity, siting and waiting for a better future. Just imagine if we could teach these children the new technologies, it would give them hope to escape the camp one day and find a job." The new media also offers new possibilities for teaching the illiterate.

In light of the new technological developments and their actual and potential impacts, UNESCO's Director-General encourages the international community to join in a debate on all the complex issues raised in the Report which, he says, calls for a variety of approaches. As the conclusion to the Report states, there are "numerous hazards, in particular those of cultural exclusion and globalization. That is why it is crucial that an attempt be made to sketch a broader view of what is possible and desirable in the future information society, rather than allowing this society to be imposed on the world and expand according to its own principles: it must become a genuine tool for development in the service of humanity as a whole."

Targeting Women and Children The limited roles of women in the media are described as a "presence without power". Despite the evidence that more women are working in the media, the Report states that the world of the media in fact remains resolutely male. Women are conspicuously absent from the decision-making levels, as well as from posts directly associated with creative work and programme design. "The call for equality in the media does not constitute a radical feminist demand. It is a question of human rights, and as such, part and parcel of the struggle to bring about true democracy within the mass media as in societies as a whole." Violence in television programmes, video games and other media is also addressed. When murders, suicides and accidents occur in the real world, involving children and young people, they appear to be copying action that they have seen on that medium or in the cinema.

—Yvonne Acosta