Good News Agency – n° 2
Weekly - Year I - Number 2 - 7
July 2000
Editor: Sergio Tripi
Rome
law-court registration no. 265/2000 dated 20 June 2000
Good News Agency carries positive and constructive news from
all over the world relating to voluntary work, the work of the United Nations,
non governmental organizations, and institutions engaged in improving the
quality of life – news that doesn’t “burn out” in the space of a day. Good News
Agency is distributed through internet to editorial offices of the daily
newspapers and periodical magazines and of the radio and television stations
with an e-mail address and is available in its web site: http://www.goodnewsagency.org
Good News Agency is a service activity of Associazione Culturale dei Triangoli e della
Buona Volontà Mondiale a registered
non-profit educational organization founded in Italy in 1979. The Association
operates in support to the Lucis Trust activities, the U.N. University for
Peace, Radio For Peace International and other organizations engaged in the
spreading of a culture of peace in the ‘global village’ perspective.
Via Antagora 10, 00124 Rome,
Italy. E-mail: s.tripi@tiscalinet.it
Contents:
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International Legislation
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Cultural Heritage
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Human Rights
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Environment
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Peace
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Science
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Solidarity
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Health
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Economy and Social
Development
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Religions
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Belgium has become the 14th
State to ratify the treaty establishing the prospective International Criminal
Court (ICC), which will become operational after the Rome Statute receives 60
ratifications.
The decision was announced on
28th June, as the ICC Preparatory Commission continued its work on rules and
procedures for the court's operations. Its next session, will be held in
November.
Along with Belgium, the Rome
Statute has been ratified by Senegal, Trinidad and Tobago, San Marino, Italy,
Fiji, Ghana, Norway, Belize, Iceland, Tajikistan, Venezuela, France and Sierra
Leone.
http://www.un.org/News/dh/latest/page2.html#1
Preparatory Commission for
International Criminal Court adopts rules of procedure and evidence and text on
elements of crimes
The Preparatory Commission for
the International Criminal Court (ICC) met its deadline of 30 June for
finalization of the operational details of the Statute necessary for the
eventual functioning of the Court, as it concluded its three- week session (30
June).
By consensus, the Commission
adopted the Rules of Procedure and Evidence for the Court, as well as a text on
the Elements of Crimes listed in the Statute as being under the Court's
jurisdiction.
The outcome reflected a compromise, Preparatory
Commission Chairman Philippe Kirsch (Canada) said. The statements after the
adoption were a testament of how difficult it had been to accept some of the
compromises reached. For the Court to be effective, though, it must enjoy the
widest support possible. It had been the responsibility of the Preparatory
Commission to develop instruments to enable the Court to function as fairly and
with the widest acceptance possible.
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2000/20000630.l2963.doc.html
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11
July - World Population Day
In 1989, the Governing Council of the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) recommended that 11 July be observed as World
Population Day. An outgrowth of the Day of Five Billion, celebrated on 11 July
1987, the Day seeks to focus attention on the urgency and importance of
population issues, particularly in the context of overall development plans and
programmes, and the need to find solutions for these issues. In 2000, world
population stood at 6.06 billion, and was growing by 78 million a year. The
United Nations estimates there will be between 7.3 billion and 10.7 billion
people in 2050, with 8.9 billion the most likely projection.
http://www.un.org/events/ref39.htm
11 July - World Population Day
2000: Saving Women’s Lives
“Many women do not have the
freedom to make the choices that shape their lives. They are poor—sixty per
cent of the world’s poor are women and girls. They have little
education—two-thirds of illiterates are women. They lack health care—350
million still do not have access to reproductive health services. They play
little part in political decisions—only one parliamentarian in eight is a
woman.
“Better education and health
services, including reproductive health, give women more power to decide. A
woman in control of her life is a woman less at risk. Change calls for
Commitment, Action and Leadership.
“On this World Population Day let
each of us pledge action to save women’s lives: for ourselves, for our
communities, for our world.”
Dr. Nafis Sadik - Executive
Director - United Nations Population Fund
http://www.unfpa.org/modules/wpd00/message.htm
Women’s anti-discrimination
Committee concludes three-week session at Headquarters
Concluding its three-week
twenty-third session, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women adopted recommendations for advancing the status of women in Iraq,
Austria, Lithuania, Cuba, Cameroon, Moldova and Romania.
Also adopting its draft report
for the twenty-third session, the 23-member expert body noted that the
twenty-third session of the Committee was taking place after the very upbeat
and positive closing of the General Assembly special session entitled
"Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace in the twenty-first
century", which had reviewed the implementation of the Beijing Declaration
and Platform for Action, adopted at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women.
The draft report also notes
that the twenty-third session was important not only because the reports of the
seven countries were analysed, but also because the entry into force of the
Optional Protocol to the Convention was imminent. The commitment of governments
with regard to the Optional Protocol had largely been translated into reality.
To date, 41 States parties to the Convention had signed the Optional Protocol
and five had ratified it.
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2000/20000630.wom1233.doc.html
UNICEF supports children's consultations in Mexico
Millions of Mexican children
went to special polling stations on 2 July -- the same day on which adults vote
in the country's Presidential elections -- to register their opinions about
their schools and communities and about the state of Mexico's democracy.
The Children's Consultation,
as the event is known, is also to put into place certain formal child
participation mechanisms whereby Mexican children have the opportunity to
express themselves freely on their rights. A child's right to express him or
herself freely is enshrined in article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of
the Child, the world's most ratified human rights treaty.
This is the second time that a
similar event takes place in Mexico (on 6 July 1997 almost four million
children aged between 6 to 12 voted to identify which right was most important
to them. The overwhelming majority chose the right "to have a school in
which to learn and improve ourselves").
Preliminary results of the
Children's Consultation will be made public during the week of 17 July.
The seminar, organized for Central and Eastern European countries in
cooperation with the Polish Government, is part of a series of regional
meetings being held in preparation for the World Conference against Racism,
Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, which is set to take
place in South Africa in September of next year. Experts taking part in the
seminar, which is open to observers from all United Nations Member States, had
among their objectives the consideration of some of the key issues of racism,
racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in the region; the
exchange of information on 'best practices' in dealing with racism; discussion
of action-oriented strategies and the encouragement of a groundswell of
Governmental, institutional and public support for the World Conference and its
goals.
http://www.unog.ch/news2/documents/newsen/hr00045e.html
Human rights NGOs in Gambia have formed an umbrella organisation, 'The
Independent' newspaper reported. Its role is to create a hotline for free flow
of information for the NGOs and general public and to organise educational fora
on human rights issues, according to its coordinator, Mohammed Silla, who is
secretary-general of Amnesty International in Gambia.
http://www.reliefweb.int/ocha_ol/index.html
Launch of Human Development Report 2000 puts rights of the poor in media
spotlight
(July 3rd) Hundreds
of newspapers in all regions of the world carried reports and commentaries on
the launch of the Human Development Report 2000 last week. This year's global
launch was led from Paris by French President Jacques Chirac. Other launches
were held in more than 70 countries where civic and political leaders embraced
its central theme "Human Rights and Human Development."
UNDP Administrator, Mark Malloch Brown said that unfortunately, human rights
and human development are largely abstract and unattainable concepts for too
many of the world's poorest citizens. Speaking at the Paris launch, Mr. Malloch
Brown said that economic, social and cultural rights for people living in
extreme poverty had not kept pace with the promises of democracy.
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
Family planning could save
nearly three million of 11 million under-five lives lost annually
Family planning saves the lives of millions of
children and mothers all over the world, according to Save the Children, a
leading child development and relief body. Family planning, it states, could
prevent 25 per cent of the annual deaths of more than 11 million children under
the age of five in the developing world. It would do so by spacing births at
least two years apart, helping women to bear children during their healthiest
reproductive years and by enabling parents to have the number of children they
want.
Save the Children says that in
its State of the World's Mothers 2000 report, which ranks, for the first
time, the status of mothers and children in 106 countries according to a
Mothers’ Index it has developed.
http://www.unfpa.org/news/features/fpsaves.htm
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Nature preserve in demilitarized zone
Some Koreans are hoping that
the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea will be turned into
a nature preserve. The 155-mile-long DMZ -- laced with landmines, razor
wire, and chain-link fence -- has been cut off from human interference for
nearly half a century, so many plants and animals are thriving there, including
some endangered species. Military borders in other regions have been
turned into "peace parks" to promote reconciliation -- Laos, Vietnam,
and Cambodia share such a reserve, as do Nicaragua and Costa Rica. But the
reserve plan will have to compete with proposals from South Korean companies
that want to build facilities in and around the DMZ.
http://www.sunspot.net/content/news/story?section=news&pagename=story
The International Peace Poem
Project, started in 1996 by a six-year-old girl, now includes
over 30,000 lines in 60 languages from over 70 nations. All are invited to
compose a two-line poem on peace in the language of her or his choice and send
it on papers to the organizing group: Peace Poem, P.O.Box 102, Lahaina, HI
96761 USA. Thus individuals all over the world become co-authors of the world’s longest poem focused on peace, that
will be presented to the United Nations next October.
Radio For Peace International: info@rfpi.org
(TOP)
Launching the second phase of its Growing Up Alone Campaign, which
focuses on the 13 million children worldwide orphaned by AIDS, UNICEF UK is
calling on the UK Government to acknowledge HIV/AIDS as the global emergency
that it really is.
The call comes as two governmental bodies are meeting to discuss
HIV/AIDS, and in advance of the World AIDS conference in Durban next month. A
UNICEF UK Agenda For Action also calls on the private sector to show leadership
and commitment in fighting HIV/AIDS, and urges individuals to support the
Growing Up Alone campaign.
UNICEF UK is inviting visitors to see its website to help break through
a virtual Wall of Silence. The aim is to remove bricks one by one as the number
of people signing up increases, and bring down the Wall by World AIDS Day in
December this year.
http://www.unicef.org.uk/breakthesilence/campaigns/press.htm
The Sierra Leone Red Cross Society (SLRCS) is to operate a clinic for
children under the age of five and run an expanded programme on immunisation
(EPI) in Mile 91, east of Freetown, the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) reported. The decision followed an ICRC/SLRCS health-needs
assessment in the area on 23-24 June.
http://www.reliefweb.int/ocha_ol/index.html
The European Commission has decided to earmark 365,000 euro (about US
$345,000) for more than 2,500 infants suffering from malnutrition as a result
of drought in northern Mauritania, along with their mothers, the EC
Humanitarian Office (ECHO) reported this week.
http://www.reliefweb.int/ocha_ol/index.html
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In a new initiative to
implement the Programme of Action of the World Summit on Social
Development (Copenhagen 1995), the International Labour
Office (ILO) today announced the immediate launch of a new programme aimed at
promoting human development at the local and national level.
Initially to be funded by a 15
billion lira (US$ 7.5 million) grant from the Government of Italy, the
"Universitas" programme will seek to promote decent work by training
development officials and ILO social partners in 15 developing countries in Central
America, the Mediterranean, West Bank and Gaza, the Balkans and Africa. The ILO
said additional countries were expected to eventually participate in funding
the project.
The programme and the Trust
Fund agreement were prepared by a Joint Task Force set up by the Italian
Government and the ILO in February 2000.
Annual session of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
5th July – 1st August – Geneva and New York
The Council was established as
a principal organ of the United Nations by Article 7 of the Charter. It
generally holds one five-week substantive session each year, alternating
between New York and Geneva. Each session includes a high- level special
meeting, attended by ministers and other senior government officials, to
discuss major economic and social issues. The year-round work of the Council is
carried out in its subsidiary bodies, commissions and committees, which meet at
regular intervals and reportback to the Council.
The theme of this year's
high-level segment, scheduled for 5 to 7 July, is "Development and
international cooperation in the twenty-first century: the role of information
technology in the context of a knowledge-based global economy".
http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/FramePage/PressRoom?OpenDocument
Agreement was reached on a wide array of initiatives to reduce poverty
and spur job growth in the global economy at the United Nations General
Assembly Special Session on social development that ended July 1st in Geneva.
At a time of widely diverging interests between developing and developed
countries over trade and economic issues, countries managed to agree on a
series of measures to promote social development while mitigating the adverse
effects of globalization. The resulting agreement provides specific targets and
strategies that will have major ramifications for national governments and
international institutions in setting and achieving social development
objectives.
Noting that globalization and rapid technological advances offer
unprecedented opportunities and benefits, the Special Session found that a
growing number of people in all countries and regions remain marginalized by
the global economy. Reducing poverty, promoting job growth, and ensuring the
participation of all people in the decision-making process were the main
objectives of the agreement. To achieve these goals, countries endorsed actions
to ensure improved education and health, including in times of financial
crisis.
http://www.unog.ch/news2/documents/newsen/soc0015e.html
Seeds of empowerment for the world’s rural poor
The Internet can empower the
world’s poorest populations to attain their socio-economic potential, as shown
by networks financed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD).
After 20 years of combating
rural hunger and poverty, IFAD – a Rome-based specialized agency of the United
Nations – has learned that the experience of poverty in today’s knowledge-based
global economy means more than lacking access to productive resources and
capital but also to information.
Known for its use of
innovative approaches to rural development, IFAD is linking poor communities to
the Internet in order to cultivate grassroots information exchange and
e-commerce opportunities.
These initiatives will be
showcased by IFAD at a conference on information technology hosted by the
United Nations Economic and Social Council, 5-7 July.
http://www.ifad.org/press/2000/00-32.htm
The General Assembly concluded 1st July a Special Session which
followed-up on the 1995 United Nations Social Summit by calling, among other
things, for halving the number of persons living in extreme poverty by 2015;
for the achievement of free and universal primary education by 2015; for a
reduction of trade barriers affecting developing countries; for gender equality
in pay for equal work; for avoidance of 'unilateral measures' affecting the
health and well-being of women and children; and for greater steps to ease the
debt burdens of developing countries.
The final document also urged reallocation of resources from 'excessive'
military expenditures to social programmes; for responses to the debt problems
of middle-income developing countries; and for efforts to refrain from using
food and medicine as 'tools for political pressure'.
http://www.unog.ch/news2/documents/newsen/soc0016e.html
The World Bank has agreed to lend Mali's government US $115.1 million
for a 10-year National Rural Infrastructure Project designed to improve irrigation,
rehabilitate roads, and supply clean water and sanitation services to rural
areas, the World Bank reported. It said the governments of Mali and the
Netherlands, along with the beneficiaries, will contribute US $22.7 million to
the project, which also aims to increase food security through higher,
sustainable and more reliable farm production.
[More information is available at: www.worldbank.org/developmentnews]
http://www.reliefweb.int/ocha_ol/index.html
(TOP)
Experts meet on international convention for the protection of
underwater cultural heritage
3-7 July – UNESCO Headquarters – Paris
Governmental experts
representing some 100 governments from around the world meet from July 3 to 7
to examine the Draft Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural
Heritage which aims to protect valuable underwater cultural heritage
(shipwrecks and archaeological sites) increasingly vulnerable to pillaging by
treasure hunters as ever more efficient underwater excavation equipment becomes
more accessible.
This is the third meeting of
governmental experts to discuss the Draft Convention. In 1999, the Second
meeting of governmental experts stressed the importance of training and
international co-operation and invited States to take all appropriate measures
to limit damage and destruction to underwater cultural heritage immediately,
even before an international convention is adopted.
The revised Draft Convention
and report will be submitted to the 31st session of UNESCO’s General Conference
at the end of 2001.
http://www.unesco.org/opi/eng/unescopress/upanglo.htm
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A building under construction and set to open in New
York City in 2002 may earn the distinction of being the world's greenest
high-rise apartment complex. The 26-floor, 250-unit building is intended
to be 30 percent more energy efficient than state codes require. It will
take advantage of natural light, use motion-controlled and dimmable lighting, and
feature energy-efficient appliances. Solar panels will be used to
generate electricity for common areas and hallways. Water from bathtubs
and washing machines will be recycled for use in toilets and maintenance
work. The high-tech, eco-friendly features are expected to push up
building costs by about 15 percent.
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/174/nation/Pioneer_green_apartment_high_r:.shtml
The European Union wants fines to be imposed on
nations that fail to meet their commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions,
with the money going to support projects that would reduce such emissions and
help curb global warming. The environment ministers of European countries
discussed the matter on June 22 in Luxembourg as they worked to develop a
position to take to international negotiations on the Kyoto climate change
treaty that will take place in November. The U.S. is likely to object to
such fines. Meanwhile, a new report by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change
found that of five European nations studied, only the U.K. is on track to meet
its emission-reduction targets under Kyoto.
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=7236
http://www.pewclimate.org/projects/pol_review.html
Drastic rules to reduce diesel
emissions in Los Angeles
The Los Angeles metro area made a national first on
June 16 by adopting sweeping rules that will require new transit buses and
garbage trucks to be powered by electricity, fuel cells, or relatively
low-polluting fuels such as natural gas. The new rules, intended to cut
down on diesel emissions that foul the air and are believed to cause cancer,
could spur similar action in other U.S. cities plagued by air pollution.
The rules are a victory for environmentalists, public health advocates, and
community leaders who have been fighting to curb diesel pollution in L.A.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/news/local03_20000617.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environ/20000618/t000057720.html
Historic Victory for Brazilian Amazon
The Environmental Defence
Organization of Brazil has announced that leaders of Brazil’s Congress have just
shelved proposed legislation to increase the area and rate of Amazon forest
destruction, handing the Brazilian environmental movement its first major and
precedent-setting victory in protecting the rainforest.
Representative of powerful special interest groups had
pushed a draft law through a joint House/Senate Committee that would have
loosened restrictions on Amazon deforestation and could have caused a 25%
increase in annual rates of clearing and burning. Massive e-mail and fax
protests to Congress and the President from all over the world, and broad
national media coverage killed the measure before it could come to the House
floor.
Radio For Peace International: www.rfpi.org
For further information: sschwartzman@environmentaldefense.org
IOC adopts new measures to favour ocean study and protection
Paris, June 30 - The Executive
Council of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), ended its
annual meeting at Organization Headquarters yesterday, with a reinforced
commitment to monitor and protect the world’s oceans.
Among the decisions approved
by the Executive Council’s 36-members in its 33rd session, chaired by Su Jilan
(China), was one to co-operate in the launch of the Integrated Global Observing
Strategy (IGOS), encompassing land, ocean and climate observation. It is to be
operated with a number of space agencies (CNES, NASA, and EUMETSAT along with
the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA), several United
Nations agencies, international science institutes, and funding agencies.
The IOC was established in
1960 to provide the Member States of the United Nations with a mechanism for
global co-operation in the study of the ocean and to serve as a common body for
co-ordination amongst UN agencies and programmes with a responsibility for
marine affairs.
http://www.unesco.org/opi/eng/unescopress/upanglo.htm
(TOP)
UN Food and
Agriculture Organization announces final steps to eradicate deadly animal
disease; world expected to be rinderpest free by 2010
Rinderpest, one of the world's
most devastating livestock diseases, is expected to be eradicated worldwide by
2010, officials of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced
today (20th June). Rinderpest is a highly infectious viral disease that attacks
bovine animals often destroying entire populations of cattle and buffalo.
The remaining reservoirs of
rinderpest are located in southeastern Sudan, where the virus was last seen in
1998, southern Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan and Iraq.
Once the remaining pockets of
infection have been cleaned up, the next major milestone will be worldwide
cessation of vaccination against rinderpest by the end of 2002.
http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/OIS/PRESS_NE/PRESSENG/2000/pren0036.htm
http://www.fao.org/ag/aga/agah/GREP/GREP.htm
(TOP)
The World Health Organization
has carried out the first ever analysis of the world’s health systems. Using
five performance indicators to measure health systems in 191 member states, it
finds that France provides the best overall health care followed among major
countries by Italy, Spain, Oman, Austria and Japan. The findings are published
in The World Health Report 2000 – Health systems: Improving performance.
The U. S.
health system spends a higher portion of its gross domestic product than any
other country but ranks 37 out of 191 countries according to its performance,
the report finds. The United Kingdom, which spends just six percent of gross
domestic product (GDP) on health services, ranks 18th . Several small countries
– San Marino, Andorra, Malta and Singapore are rated close behind second-
placed Italy.
The full report
is available on www.who.int/whr
http://www.who.int/inf-pr-2000/en/pr2000-44.html
Success of organic foods in U.K.
Sales of organic foods in the
U.K. are expected to be five times higher in 2000 than in 1996, compared to a
doubling of U.S. organic food sales during the same period. Why the surge
in Britain? Opposition to genetically modified ingredients, now common in
nonorganic foods, has been widespread and strident in Britain, pushing organics
so much into the limelight that 70 to 80 percent of sales have occurred in
conventional supermarkets. Observers also surmise that organic foods in
the U.K. have been helped along by a supportive press, historic connections to
the land, the high profile of vegetarianism in the country, and consistent
government standards for organics across the European Union.
http://www.nytimes.com/library/dining/062100well-organic.html
(TOP)
Christian and Muslim leaders say the implementation of Sharia anywhere
in Nigeria should not violate the freedom and legitimate interests of
non-Muslims as guaranteed by the constitution, 'The Guardian' newspaper
reported on Wednesday.
The recommendation came at the end of a recent two-day seminar on Sharia
by the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC). NIREC noted in a communique
that Muslims have the right to practise Sharia in accordance with the demands
of their religion and within the provisions of the Constitution. However, it
said it also appreciated fears by non-Muslims about the application of Islamic
law, especially its provisions on apostasy and capital punishment.
http://www.reliefweb.int/ocha_ol/index.html
www.worldgoodwill.org is the address
for World Goodwill on the Internet
(TOP)
The energy of synthesis is
once again at work in the field of mass communications in a far more magical way
than 500 years ago. For today, what is being synthesised is not just the
devices that make up one tool, but rather the many communication tools that
constitute ”the new media“, i.e. computer-based telecommunications. With a
typical personal computer one can access written information, audio and video
presentations, conferences and concerts, and telerobotic devices which are
operated via the World Wide Web. Even cell phones are being designed to access
the Internet. In short, the vast treasure trove of human thought and vision is
available with the click of a mouse. Symbolic of this synthesising process is
the vastly reduced ”signalling time“ it takes for information to go from sender
to receiver. Humanity has transcended a significant span of time and space in
this respect, for we’ve gone from needing days, months, even years, for
messages to reach their destination to the few seconds it takes via the light
and sound waves of the air. From our separate places of work or residence, we
can come together by way of email, Internet newsgroups and chat forums, and
websites. A nascent sense of ”isolated unity“ has begun to emerge as an
identifiable state of awareness.
The word ”media“ is derived
from the Latin word meaning ”middle“. Clearly, the basic role of the media is
to function as a channel of communication. Just as language between individuals
acts as a relay point between two or more people, the aggregate of media acts
as a mediator or transmitter of ideas and information among the whole of
humanity. This transmitter function is all the more true with respect to the
new media. But the pattern of transmission has changed. Prior to the advent of
the new media, the pattern was largely pyramidal; information went from
authority figures and the scholarly to those in need of information, usually
ranking members of society themselves. Now, the pattern is more akin to that of
a honeycomb. Thanks to the Internet and its multi-media branch, the World Wide
Web, the public is sharing information and knowledge directly with each other.
In the process, they are learning to better evaluate news and data that comes
their way whether from traditional authority sources or their peers. But does
additional information equal greater understanding? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
The recipient of information must be able to sift through it, evaluate it, and
integrate it properly into an intelligent world view. For their part, conveyers
of information must be able to discern that which is worthy of communicating to
others and present it with clarity and a minimum of words.
The Internet user is presented with unlimited access to
virtually the whole of formulated thought and activity, spanning all of known
time and space such that in one evening it is possible to access anything from
the writings of ancient philosophers to the current news report from Istanbul,
or elsewhere. The abundance of articulation in the world has been referred to
as ”disproportionate discussion“. Language, and the related ability of the
concrete mind to continually produce thought-forms, must be brought under
control so as to avoid creating a form of mental pollution. Another problem is
the role and influence of the handful of international corporations that own a
large percentage of media outlets. Scholars, journalists and ordinary citizens
are expressing increased concern about the trend of profit-oriented corporate
owners to influence the factors which determine newsworthiness by ”customising“
news and information products according to market surveys. William Randolph
Hearst III speaks for many when he expresses a preference for ”an editor or
some agent or somebody out there that’s kind of testing, probing, trying things
out for me.“ 1 There is also the additional ethical problem posed
when the editorial policy of media companies may be influenced by the other
business interests of their parent corporations, business interests of which
their readers/viewers may be unaware.
Bearing the above issues in mind, just like the newspapers,
radio and TV before them, the new media will increasingly be called upon to
address the civic importance of good journalism. The exercise of civic
responsibility is especially important in places such as Sierra Leone, where
journalism is reduced to an act of survival due to on-going civil strife.
Mohammed Jalloh of Sierra Leone, a communications officer with the Media
Section of UNICEF, recently remarked that, ”International media has a big role
to play in hopefully highlighting the facts and truth about the situation and
in giving Sierra Leoneans hope.“ 2 (…)
If it seems clear that the purpose of the media is to act as an
intermediary between senders and receivers, it is less clear how well it
fulfils this purpose. Indeed, the quality of thought communicated via the media
ranges from that which is powerfully inspiring to that which is harmfully
persuasive. One thing is evident. The stronger the light, the darker the
shadow, and the new media displays both light and shadow in abundance. Wisdom Networks is an example of a lighted
convergence of electronic media through the creation of radio, cable TV and
Internet programmes which highlight ”ageless wisdom and universal truths“.4
Their aim is to ”serve humanity with something that is good for the soul “
according to Founder and Chairman, William ”Bill“ Turner.
In his book, Weaving the Web, Tim Berners-Lee,
inventor of the World Wide Web, shares his vision of the Web as a universal,
information-sharing medium, utilising freely available technology rather than
being controlled by one or a few powerful companies. The availability of
information via the Internet and the Web is especially important to the poor,
yet often they lack the means to purchase computers and pay for service
providers. Mr. Kwese Botchwey, Director for Africa Research and Programs,
Center for International Development, Harvard University, mentioned at a recent
conference that the Internet “offers Africa the chance to get knowledge almost
free of charge but the big problem is the cost of Internet service provision is
much higher than for other regions.” 3 This goes to the
heart of the shadow side of the new electronic media; that despite putting
information and ideas into the hands of far more people than ever before, many
are still unable to travel the ”information superhighway“. Yet the same media
that bypass them in one way, shine a spotlight on their plight in another, for
this problem of ”communications technology marginalisation“ is recognised and,
hopefully, will soon be rectified. 4 And the impetus
may well come from the disenfranchised themselves who today, due to the
pervasiveness of mass communications, know in a general way what they do not
know.
Access to the new electronic media may be restricted for
political rather than economic reasons. Numerous governments, particularly
those lacking a tradition of democracy, sometimes view the Internet as a
threat; individuals who are enabled by the Internet may use it in a way that
goes against some traditions. Using tools of the media to break up crystallized
customs is not new; the printing press is often cited as an indispensable
factor in Martin Luther’s religious reformation efforts. The speed,
availability, greater reach and cross-fertilisation of ideas made possible by
the descendents of the printing press are the new factors. Even among the more
open, democratic societies ”direct digital representation“, as distinct from
representation by elected officials, poses challenges not yet fully grasped.
This ”bypassing“ function of the Internet is present in the field of journalism
as well as politics. People are increasingly able to access news and
information on the Internet and on certain cable TV channels from many of the
same sources used by journalists, a process called ”disintermediation“. While
an argument can be made that the direct accessing of information will lead to
brighter, more well-informed people, others are more cautionary – such as Peter
Arnett, formerly of CNN Cable TV Network and now foreign correspondent for the
first international, Internet-only TV network, ForeignTV.com. Recently, Mr. Arnett emphasised the ”added value
provided by the experience, training and insight of a trained intermediary such
as a journalist.“ 5
When all is said and done, the over-arching purpose of the media
is to use the energy of mediation to
foster right human relations. Through its capacity to bring light into dark
places, to radiate images of the good, the true and the beautiful outward for
all to see and hear, the media can help foster right human relations. Language
has always served to express either the material or the spiritual aspects of
life. It now seems called upon to express, on a large scale, a synthesis of
both in order to help humanity envision a material world infused with
spirituality and a spiritual world brought into closer contact with the
material. Surely only beneficial results will occur when the spiritual side of
life infuses and elevates the material, and when the material side is clarified
and made wholly available to those in need. The new electronic media makes it
possible on a larger scale than ever before for a vast interplay of ideas to
take place – and through this mindful cross-fertilisation the germ of a more
enlightened humanity can be nurtured and seen through to fruition.
1 Remarks made at News in the Digital Age – Forum One, 5
June 1997, organised by The Center for New Media, Columbia University, Graduate
School of Journalism, New York, New York, 10027 USA. Web: www.cnm.columbia.edu
2 Remarks made at a
meeting of the Committee of Religious NGOs held at Church Center for the United
Nations, New York, New York, 16 December, 1999.
3 Presentation to
the United Nations Department of Public Information and Non-Governmental
Organizations Conference, Meeting the
Challenges of a Globalized World, New York, New York, 15-17 September,
1999.
4 For a more
detailed examination of inequality of access to communications, cf. Ch.2 of the
Human Development Report 1999, Oxford
University Press, Oxford. Also available for download from the United Nations
Development Programme web site at www.undp.org
5 Presentation to
Meeting the Challenges of a Globalized World, cf. note 3.