To follow is the Media Caucus text, in English. This text will be the
basis for interventions on Financing, Internet Governance and the
Political Chapeaux.


<fontfamily><param>Arial</param>Statement to WSIS II PrepCom 2 on
behalf of the Media Caucus

February 21, 2005


The members of the Media Caucus, including Northern and Southern
journalists of both the industrialized and developing worlds, have
expressed their deep concern that the texts currently under
consideration for the second phase of the World Summit on the
Information Society make only a passing and ambiguous reference to the
central place of the media in that information society.


We hold strongly that Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights must be reaffirmed. Not only that, we concur in the statement
by African and Arab and international journalists groups in their
recent Declaration of Marrakech - held under the aegis of ORBICOM, the
international network of UNESCO Chairs in Communication, and the
Kingdom of Morocco, with the support of UNESCO -- that "The time has
come to move from the promise of Article 19 to its universal
implementation."


We recall that Article 19 states, "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." 


The member states of the United Nations are all committed to those
fine words. They must all now honour those commitments. If they do
not, then tomorrow's Information Society will prove to be an empty
shell.


This December's catastrophic tsunami illustrated that, to be
effective, international solidarity requires an immediate and truly
free flow of information.  The same principle applies to longer term
development. There can be information without development, but there
cannot be effective development without full and free information.


Journalists and their outlets in the North and the South must have the
same opportunities to transmit their news and comments. That is a
large part of what overcoming the digital divide is all about.


It is also important that there be no legal bars for anyone to
practice journalism freely, on or offline. Access to publicly held
information must be provided to all on an equal basis. Any exceptions
to the general rule that such information is publicly available must
be precise, narrow and clearly legitimate in the public interest.


And the world of journalism must be given its rightful place at the
table to discuss the future information society. It is both bizarre
and unjust that the Working Group on Internet Governance does not
number a single journalist. Consideration of communication without
communicators is like talking about farming without consulting
farmers. In the words of the Marrakech Declaration, "Representatives
of the media must be involved as full partners in any future Internet
governance system."


The term "governance" must not be allowed to become a code word for
government regulation of Internet content. The system must not be
reorganized to permit this internationally nor to encourage it
nationally. Any changes to the Internet governance system should not
involve controls over content, nor modifications of the Internet's
technical "architecture" that facilitate or permit censorship of news
or opinion. Nor should "self-regulation" be allowed to become a
surrogate for governmental regulation of content on the Internet.


Security concerns must not serve as pretexts to limit freedom of
expression in cyberspace. Nor should considerations of "ethics" be
allowed to become a veiled way to justify censorship.  To quote the
Marrakech Declaration again, "The creation of ethical norms is the
sole responsibility of media professionals themselves." 


On a practical note, Internet Service Providers should not be held
liable for the content of the messages they carry. The installation of
filtering systems must be an individual choice, not something imposed
by authorities.


The determination of what constitutes illegal content subject to
punishment must be left in the hands of independent courts
administering laws that derive their legitimacy from universally
accepted norms.


Any alleged offense committed on the Internet should normally be tried
under the laws of and in the country where it originated, except for
very clear and well-defined special circumstances, like explicit and
credible calls for violence elsewhere.


Public and private aid providers and grantors should insist that there
be freedom of expression and press freedom when they fund programs and
projects to help media and to overcome the digital divide.


And, finally the general principle applied to cyberspace should be
that the Internet and other new media forms should be afforded the
same freedom of expression protections as traditional media. #


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Tracey Naughton

NYAKA

Communication for Development Consultant

201 Somerset hall

239 Oxford Road

Illovo     2196

South Africa


landline & fax:	+27 (0) 11 880 5030

cell / mobile:	+27 (0) 82 821 1771

email:		tracey@traceynaughton.com