Free Flow versus Fair Flow: Revisiting the New World Information and Communication Order debates in the global era

Abstract

This study reexamines the political and cultural dimensions of the New World Information and Communication Order debates, which were hosted by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization during the height of the Cold War. By both revealing stakes of – and enacting the values underpinning – the contest between the ‘free flow’ and ‘fair flow’ models of the press, these debates helped determine the eventual trajectory of the globalization of journalism. After an historical review which synthesizes contemporaneous press coverage and scholarly accounts, the author offers an analysis which emphasizes the disparate cultural commitments and the ‘performance’ of opposition by various actors (including journalists, academics, and government officials) on each side of the debate. Although there has been significant scholarly inquiry into the New World Information and Communication Order debates and the ‘MacBride Report’ which emerged from them, much of the previous research has focused each side’s distinct political or economic interests. By examining these debates through the lens of culture, this study illuminates the competing opinions, attitudes, and beliefs which contributed to the United States’ withdrawal in protest from the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (and to its reentry 20 years later) and the rise of international press freedom advocacy organizations. At a moment when elected leaders in the United States are once again ambivalent regarding their commitment to international institutions and their leadership position within international press freedom advocacy, this historical analysis offers an instructive account of a past breakdown in official diplomacy and revisits the values underpinning Western ideals of press freedom.