WORLD SUMMIT ON THE INFORMATION SOCIETY
WSIS Net Summit Ends but Talks Continue
Bridging the Many Divides
ICTs Give Development Aid a Shot in the Arm
Bloggers Converge on World Summit
TELEVISION
Linking Digital TV Must-Carry To Increased Viewpoint Diversity
Supreme Court Campaign Finance Decision Gives Nod to Broadcasting
Fairness
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WORLD SUMMIT ON THE INFORMATION SOCIETY
WSIS NET SUMMIT ENDS BUT TALKS CONTINUE
Friday evening marked the close of the first World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS). Some label the summit a success, others a failure, and still
others say it is a combination of both. About 13,000 people participated in
the three-day UN event. The summit resulted in government delegates adopting
two documents, a declaration of principles and an action plan, which is
designed to ensure freedom of speech in the information society, bring
computers and Internet access to remote villages in poor nations. However,
it failed to address important issues such as Internet governance and the
creation of a digital solidarity fund. Swiss President Pascal Couchepin said
the summit was a success because these documents were adopted, and the
variety of participants helped craft them with the quality of their dialog.
Numerous members of civil society, though, were less satisfied with the
results. "We thought we would be able to help formulate public polices on
the Internet," said Adam Peake, a spokesman for the Civil Society caucus on
Internet governance. He say complained that they were only given minutes to
present our positions, then governments hopped right into the policy-making
behind closed-doors. Many participants commented that the second phase of
the summit in 2005 would require many organizational changes.
SOURCE: IDG News Service; AUTHOR: John Blau
http://www.idg.com.hk/cw/readstory.asp?aid=20031215010
BRIDGING THE MANY DIVIDES
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan spoke last week in Geneva at the opening
plenary session of the World Summit on the Information Society. Annan noted
the extraordinary power of information and communication technologies: "From
trade to telemedicine, from education to environmental protection, we have
in our hands, on our desktops and in the skies above, the ability to improve
standards of living for millions of people on this planet." He also
explained that the digital divide is also several gaps in one, among them a
technological divide, a content divide, gender divide and a commercial
divide. "We cannot assume that such gaps will disappear on their own, over
time, as the diffusion of technology naturally spreads its wealth," he said.
"Let us recognize that we are embarked on an endeavor that transcends
technology. Building an open, empowering information society is a social,
economic and ultimately political challenge."
SOURCE: The Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/A...
le_Type1&c=Article&cid=1071272705385&call_pageid=968256290204&col=9683501167
95
(re-paste URL if link is broken)
ICTS GIVE DEVELOPMENT AID A SHOT IN THE ARM
Experts are hopeful that information and communication technologies (ICTs)
can improve development aid effectiveness. "For the first time, humankind
now has the tools to redress the inequalities that divide us," said Adama
Samassekou, president of the world summit's preparatory process. "ICTs also
vastly increase the potential for learning and production." Opinion is
divided over how best to integrate and apply technology tools. One theory is
that building technical infrastructure that offers access to ICTs will
automatically generate development, but many experts disagree with this
approach. "The other option ... is to concentrate on local needs and
priorities," explained Gerolf Weigel, head of the ICT division at the Swiss
Agency for Development and Cooperation. "This theory is based on the idea
that while ICTs are powerful tools, they are not an end in themselves." The
industrial transformation brought about by ICTs must take into account the
inequalities between North and South in order to continue evolving, says
Bruno Lanvin of the World Bank's Information Development (InfoDev) Program.
SOURCE: swissinfo; AUTHOR: Frederic Burnand
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=105&sid=4475071
BLOGGERS CONVERGE ON WORLD SUMMIT
Last week's World Summit on the Information Society was covered by bloggers
from around the world, using articles and streaming media to capture summit
events. DailySummit.net, an online collaboration of British and Arab
journalists, reported on the ins and outs of the summit almost in real time,
with contributors blogging via Wi-Fi-enabled laptops during events and press
conferences. Student journalists from sub-Saharan Africa, meanwhile,
contributed articles and streaming video as part of the Highway Africa News
Agency, a project of South Africa Broadcasting Corporation and Rhodes
University. Similarly, OneWorld TV featured a team of young journalists from
South America and Asia who created video diaries for distribution over the
Internet. And Communications-Related Headlines' own Andy Carvin offered his
own perspective on his Waste of Bandwidth blog, covering events and speeches
ranging from Stanford University's Lawrence Lessig and Richard Stallman of
the free software movement to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and
Iranian President Mohammed Khatami.
Sources: DailySummit, Highway Africa, OneWorld TV, Andy Carvin's Waste of
Bandwidth
http://www.dailysummit.net
http://www.highwayafrica.org.za/hana/
http://tv.oneworld.net/tapestry?cluster=21
http://www.edwebproject.org/andy/blog/
TELEVISION
LINKING DIGITAL TV MUST-CARRY TO INCREASED VIEWPOINT DIVERSITY
In the comments it filed with the Federal Communications Commission, the
Center for Creative Community (CCC) called on the FCC to tie digital TV
must-carry to increased viewpoint diversity. The commission has an
opportunity to lessen today's excessive concentration in television and
improve viewpoint diversity provided it links digital must-carry to a
mandate for more independent viewpoints, voices and sources in program
production, the Center for the Creative Community told the FCC. "Today,
viewpoint diversity in television is on life-support," says Jonathan
Rintels, Executive Director of the CCC, citing grim statistics from the
record in the FCC's 2002 Biennial Media Ownership proceeding. Of the 91
major cable television networks each available in more than 16 million
homes, fully 80 percent -- 73 networks -- are owned or co-owned by just six
media conglomerates. Five of these conglomerates control approximately a 75
percent share of broadcast and cable prime-time viewing.
SOURCE: Center for Creative Community
http://www.creativecommunity.us/page/page/854752.htm
The CCC's filing: http://www.creativecommunity.us/f/CCCDigTVComm121203.PDF
SUPREME COURT CAMPAIGN FINANCE DECISION GIVES NOD TO BROADCASTING FAIRNESS
In a landmark decision last week, the US Supreme Court upheld provisions
requiring broadcasters to maintain public files on candidate requests for
advertising time, and other requests for time for ads about elections or
important public issues. In addition, the court recognized the need for both
regulatory agencies and the public to evaluate broadcasting fairness. "The
Supreme Court's language arguably supports the push to keep a watchful eye
on what broadcasters are doing -- or failing to do -- to serve their local
communities," said Amy Wolverton, Associate Legal Counsel and Media Program
Director of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. "There's a real public
and congressional move afoot to take license renewal hearings seriously, and
the Court seems to support the idea that public interest obligations still
exist."
SOURCE: Campaign Legal Center
http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/press-961.html
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