International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

During the 1970s and 1980s, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (→  UNESCO ) was the site of vociferous debate about global communication. Collectively, these arguments have come to be known as the →  New World Information and Communication Order [NWICO] debate. Nations of the south, many of which had relatively recently emerged from colonial domination, demanded a restructuring of the flows, distribution, and practice related to global information and communication. Many nations of the west, led by the United States and Great Britain, resisted any restructuring, arguing that such changes would have to be mandated by governments and would amount to undermining sound universal principles such as the free flow of information. Among the most contentious issues in the debate was development journalism – a term referring to the role of the press in the process of socio-economic development, primarily in countries of the south (→  Development Communication ). Development journalism was conceived in the 1960s at the Press Foundation of Asia (PFA), where Filipino journalists Alan Chalkley and Juan Mercado were concerned that news organizations were inadequately covering socio-economic development. Journalists were reporting government press releases and quotes but giving little attention to detailed analysis, interpretation, or evaluation of development ... log in or subscribe to read full text