Community Media in Global Communications

In the modern world it’s hard to separate the local from the global and I want to look at communication issues – and the human right to freedom of information and expression by examining the changes in context produced by the process usually called globalisation.

By globalisation, I mean a process that is increasing the interdependence of states and which is creating a global site for social, economic and political activity. While there have always been global relationships, what is new in the modern world is the intensity of global networks and exchanges, the "speed" of global transactions and the impact of these changes. This has weakened the grip of nation states on key parts of their destiny and made the economy of their world much more integrated than ever before. And communications technology is at the heart of these changes.

I think the most startling change is the weakening of the state. In many parts of the world experiencing the worst human rights problems, the biggest problem is not the strong state but the weak or failing state. This is characterised by internal conflict, non-state threats to peace and security – and a lack of governance which hinders economic development and social progress. This compounds the increasingly unequal aspect of globalisation. In fact, increasingly the state itself is not the problem – in much of the rural developing world it isn’t there in a meaningful sense.

Human rights violations are as likely to be committed by third forces or paramilitary groups in civil conflict as by state forces, fuelled by the private market in mobile commodities like diamonds or coltan. In such an environment – like the DRC - community media can play a vital social role – often they are the only media that are trusted and which give a voice to the communities most affected by the conflict.

Globalisation is also reflected in the growth of communications networks and their speed, cheapness and availability have also transformed the world in which we work. The cost of an international telephone call is around 1,000th of the cost in the 1930s. At Article19 we rely on e-mail to work globally. Of course access to communications is uneven – as Thabo Mbeki said, half the world’s population has never made a telephone call.

But access to communications networks is a major factor in modern development. Moreover, communications technologies create new ways of fighting repression. For example when Anwar Ibrahim’s trial began in Malaysia, over 60 websites sprang up covering the trial and sales of the government controlled Straits Times fell from 200,000 to 130,000. So modern communications can be a powerful ally of human rights.

But more worryingly, globalisation has seen communications companies of all kinds emerge as among the largest corporations in the global economy (16 of the top 20 MNCs have major communications interests). It is possible to foresee a world where global communications will be dominated by around 10 to 20 MNCs, all of them OECD based and most of them American. Driven as they will be by commercial imperatives, the scope for public service broadcasting, for news and community reporting, will diminish rapidly. Look at how ITN was forced to cut the tender to ITV for providing news to avoid being undercut by Sky – which is bound to reduce the news output on all commercial channels.

I’m dwelling on these issues because they fundamentally affect the context in which the human right to expression and information is realised. These rights matter because they are foundation rights – rights that are both important in themselves and ones upon which the exercise of other freedoms and rights depend. You can’t have a meaningful democracy unless people are ale to express themselves freely and communicate with each other in a public form.

The struggle for political freedom in Western Europe often centred on the fight for freedom of expression – and that is still the case - look at Mugabe’s attempts to silence the media in Zimbabwe.

The media are crucial to the exercise of freedom of expression because that freedom only has meaning if it is exercised in public – what I say privately is one thing, but to have greater effect it needs public expression where others can hear or read it. The media is a way of giving public voice to our views, enabling us to learn from the experience of others and to organise effectively. If we can’t communicate beyond our circle of family and friends we are taken out of effective public action.

the most absent voice is the plurality of voices from the Islamic world
The events of September 11th highlight this point. In a period of conflict all sides wish to control the images and information that flows from the conflict. The absence of small independent media on the ground in Afghanistan (as we had in Belgrade during the Kosovo war) hinders our ability to understand the reality of the conflict – although the BBC’s World Service has done it’s usual professional job. But the most absent voice is the plurality of voices from the Islamic world – partly as a result of the historic censorship in the Arabic and Islamic media in general.

We know little of the different currents of thinking in the region, find it impossible to gauge levels of support for Al-Queda, or understand the political forces in the region. Women’s voices are almost entirely absent from any debate.

All of these factors should lead us to value the role and importance of community media as a voice for people and communities who face exclusion or marginalisation. In particular we at ARTICLE 19 are increasingly promoting "access to the means of communication" as a human right.

By the 'right to communicate' we mean the right of every individual or community to have its stories and views heard. The typical mass media outlet does not do this – driven by commercial imperatives it takes a "top down" approach to events shaped by the pressures of a competitive environment. We view media as a two way communication process and a way in which communities can communicate to each other and to other communities.

It is also a form of media that is not necessarily owned by conglomerates and can have a participatory process for management and production. It can help challenge the growing monopoly domination of much news and factual content. It can provide an alternative to the "herd" mentality that dominates much modern broadcast output.

Community media matters because it helps us hear the range of voices that exist in the world. As media becomes more global and English the world's second language, community media can provide the depth and diversity that mainstream media can’t hope to emulate. The growing globalisation of communications only emphasises the importance of the local. I’m sure today’s festival will be a valuable step in making community media even stronger.

© Andrew Puddephatt, 2001
with permission