Liaison Newsletter > LIAISON Vol. 3, No. 1, January 1999 - Articles

« Return to Liaison Vol. 3, No. 1 Index

The Struggle for Free Media: A New Approach Within the Global Economy
By Siobhan Whelehan, Project Officer (UNA-Canada’s intern) for the Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society (IMPACS)

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 19, Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The right to an open, independent and accountable media is a basic human right. Nevertheless, in many countries people struggle to access accurate information and journalists face threatening conditions or silencing for veritable reporting.

In the current era of globalization, nations have become increasingly interwoven through trade liberalization. In this climate of market expansion, governments tend to direct their attention, policy efforts and resources toward trade negociations. However, the expansion and protection of media which fonctions in advancing economic interests, democratic development and good governance is rarely a priority for the policemakers.

On November 13, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was the setting for the first meeting of the International Monitoring Group on Free Media and Trade. This group has come together to advance free media within the context of trade deliberations. Canada’s Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society (IMPACS) co-hosted the meeting with the Malaysian-based Asian Institute for Development Communication (AIDCOM). Participants were comprised of media organization leaders from South Asia, Canada and the Pacific Region.

In their first gathering, participants explored the relationship between trade liberalization and free media and developed an action plan to advance media freedom in the region. The plan involves monitoring media coverage of the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, promoting freedom od economic information and advocating for the appointment of a free media rapporteur on APEC.

The group will work in partnership with national media non-governmental organizations to implement stategies that advance free media. Program intitiaves in the first year will focus exclusively on APEC. In successive years, the group will broaden its emphasis to examine other trade negociations.

The international monitoring group takes a decentralized, multifaced approach to understading and expanding media freedom. The group’s founder and Executive Director of IMPACS, Shauna Sylvester, sees the development of free, fair and accurate media as essential to transparency and good governance. IMPACS’ involvement in the international monitoring group is part of a three year strategy entitled Open Market, Open Media? which endeavors to promote media freedom.

Canadian and international organizations are working diligently to address the issues of censorship and suppression. Although there continues to be strong efforts to protect Article 19 within human rights policy fora, the relationship between free media and trade is one that remains largely unexplored. In the emerging context of trade, the international monitoring group takes a unique approach to advancing free, more open and accountable media.