International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

Media flows between countries have always been controversial. Fears of cultural consequences if imbalances occur and concerns about the symbolic value of cultural and media products have historically been at the heart of academic and political debates as well as public policies from governments (→ New World Information and Communication Order [NWICO]; UNESCO ). These dimensions of culture and media have generated great numbers of exceptions and qualifications in regional free trade agreements. This was precisely the case when Canada, Mexico, and the United States signed a trilateral trade agreement that came into effect on January 1, 1994. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) had as main goals: (1) to facilitate the cross-border movement of goods and services among the three territories; (2) to promote conditions of fair competition in the free trade area; (3) to increase substantially investment opportunities in the territories of the parties; and (4) to provide adequate and effective protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in each party's territory. Lack of consensus with respect to cultural industries among the three countries left these, by and large, out of NAFTA, although the implicit approach has been to treat media and cultural products like any other commodity (→  Cultural Products as Tradable Services ; Culture Industries ). Canada , historically ... log in or subscribe to read full text