Towards Realistic Communication

i f : r : : E n d s and ideas compiled and analysed

John A.R.Lee

Unesco

ISBN 92-3-1 O1 295-9

French Edition 92-3-201295-2 Spanish Edition 92-3-301295-6 Published by The Unesco Press 7, Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris Composed and printed in the workshops of Unesco OUnesco 1976 Printed in France

Preface

In the future the 19701s m a y well be remembered as the "communication decade". Since 1969 it seems that throughout the world there has been a rethinkingofmany issues concerningthe present and the future development of the communication media and of the rle which communicationplays i n society. F r o m the Unesco point of view the communication decade m a y well have started in Montreal i n 1969 when a meeting of experts on communication in society was convened. Out of that meeting has grown a whole new Unesco programme which a t each stage has been a response to thepriorities of the Member States which compose the Organization, but at the same time has tried to be futureoriented so that it can take into account the communication problems which w i l l become key issues in years to come. The Montreal meeting pointed towards the need for more and better communication research. It also stressed that this research should be problem solving and policy oriented. At that time, in 1969, few people were talking about communication policies. In 1975 the subject was being much more widely discussed and it was in that year half way through the "communication decade",that it was decided to convene,in 1976,the firstIntergovernmental Conference on CommunicationPolicies. This Conferencew i l lbring together the ministers responsible for communication in the various countries of Latin America and the Caribbean t o "exchange experence on communication systems i n relation t o economic and social development and to consider the establishment, at the national and regional levels of governmental, administrative, technical, research and training infrastructures for the formulation, implementation and evaluation of communication policies". (1) This book attempts to systematize the wealth of ideas which have, between these two events, contributed t o changing a theoretical approach into an international action programme. It is directed t o two related audiences, Firstly, to

the students of communication who, more and more in their studies, have to establish meaningful relationships between the social and cultural functions of communication media, the possibilities and limitations of communication technology and the ethical and legal questions which arise from the new consideration of the relationship between these two. Contemporary communication students must also understand the ways in which communication research can contribute to policy formulation and how the new science of communication planning can present alternative approaches to developing functional l l these things are involved in comsystems. A munication policies, and thus, it is also to the policy-makers themselves that this book is directed. They have to decide on issues which m a y shape, for years to come, the communication structures within their various societies. Too often these decision-makers lack the necessary information and a systematic basis upon which to make their choices of option and action. Dr. Lee has compiled this book from a great number of documents, which have both contributed t o and been the outcome of Unesco meetings and technical assistance projects and from many other sources of ideas and expertise. However, his contribution has been more than that of a commler. His task.has been to bring together, in a logical sequence, and analyse the work and thoughts of many people who over the years, have contributed their viewpoints based on very different ideologies and interests. H e has also contributed his own original thinking based upon his wide and deep knowledge of the whole communication policy field. Thus the opinions and arguments expressed do not necessarily completely reflect the view of Unesco, but the Organization considers that this crystallization of the new thinking is both important and opportune.
(1) Unesco document 18 C/5. Draft Programme

and Budget for 1975-1976,para. 4057.

Table o f contents

Page

PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CHAPTER I
THE FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNICATION

7 11

...............

Communication i n society and the flow of communication Communication and information needs of society

. . . . . . . . 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

CHAPTER II

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
16

......... The international flow of communication:news flow . . . . . . . . . . . Satellite communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Guiding principles on the use of satellite broadcasting . . . . . . . . . .
Some relevant international communications questions Fundamental principles concerning the rle of the mass media . . . . . .

17 20 21 22

CHAPTER III

COMMUNICATION R E S E A R C H . INFORMING THE P O L I C Y - M A K E R S . . . 24

Major relevant questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Communication research
. past

24

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 A new orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ?6 Research proposals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

and present Exchange and use of information on research

.............

29 32

CHAPTER IV

COMMUNICATION POLICIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Communication policies
. dimensions

and concerns

. . . . . . . . . . 33

who is involved? Participation in communication policy formulation .

...

36

Page

CHAPTER V

FROM POLICIES TO PLANNING

Strategic and operational planning

.....................

39

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 The planning process . the need for data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

44

The economics and finance of communication services . economic evaluation of communication systems . . . . . . . . . . . .

...................... Planning integrated media systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Systems management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Manpower planning- the need for professional mediators Technology transfer. external assistance and mutual co-operation

Bases of decision-making .

46 49
50

. . . . . . . . 52

....

53

CHAPTER VI
BIBLIOGRAPHY

CONCLUSION: COMMUNICATION POLICIES AND UNESCO'S P R O G R A M M E BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . 55

...................................

57

Introduction

Individual improvement, social organization and growth demand communication, since all beings are dependent on communication with their kind. T w o forces are at work here: one that pushes m a n to communicate and unite with his kind to form a society, and another which induces a thus formed society to set up, for i t s own operation and its self expression, ever more perfect communication methods, leading to an attempt to create constantly improved social structures. F o r thousands of years, m a n originally relied on primitive, but in those times socially appropriate, forms of communication. Around the forest path, the road and river, there successively appeared the frameworks of those methods of communication both available at a given time and able to satisfy social needs. Progressing from the signal fire on the hill, the courier on foot or horseback, the dispatches sent by coach or boat, communication developed. Civilizations, empires and institutions of whatever sort grew and crumbled, in rhythm with the evolution of more powerful and more effective means of communication. A century ago, the railroad and the telegraph were extended simultaneously in North America westward and in Europe and Asia eastward, building in their wake the super powers of our time. Since Morse Code made telegraphy usable and popular around 1840, there has been a steady stream of invention in longer distance and more rapid communication. Across the oceans covering seventy per cent of our earth's surface the telegraph cable alone held forth until about 1927, when voice transmission became possible for the first time through radio. Radar and television next followed. Ours is an age of communication. There is an actual explosion about us of communicationpossibilities, of which w e are often enough but quiet witnesses, as if the shock wave has not yet reached us. The experts have been predicting that the

evolving and new communication technology w i l l affect and change life styles as radically as the motorcar did in the 1920s and the industrial revolution earlier. As w e ponder the effect of this revolution on ourselves and on future generations, w e are only dimly beginning to perceive the extent to which our lives are shaped by these c o m munication media that give us our images of this planet and beyond. Already the following communication technological improvements are upon us: the telegraph to the teleprinter and the telex; the telephone and various related telephonic services from the manual to the fully automatic subscriber; the use of the radio spectrum, starting from the pioneering application of Marconi, to cater for diverse services, now stretching out beyond the ionosphere to outer space; man's capability of launching satellites to the geostationary orbit of outer space s o m e 36,000 kilometres from the earth, including communication satellites which have the capacity for handling simultaneously thousands of messages; other wide-band transm ission and t e ledistributi on through the advent of cable systems; the application of computer technology to telecommunications; sound and picture transmission by wave guides, optical fibres or laser; video-recording facilities; and digital television; to list some of the more important and well-known aspects of this recent rapid and significant communication technological development. And what is predicted, by those most concerned and involved in these matters, for the i l l be more communiproximate future? There w cation channels into the home: twenty, forty or eighty, by coaxial cable, or, by the perfecting of fibre optics, hundreds and even thousands. H o m e information centres will be capable of

printing out daily newspapers even while screening the latest movie or television re-run; this w i l l be watched not on a picture tube but on a wallsized screen creating third dimensional illusion; it can provide "narrowcasting" aimed especially at oneself or one's neighbours or interest group; it can also provide "interactive capacity", providing the opportunity to talk back or at least send back a signal of some sort; connected to the computer, it can bring libraries into the home, and a communication dish on the roof can pick up telecasts direct from around the globe. A major promise of the more optimistic futurologists is that there w i l l no longer be communication scarcity but a period of abundance, as a vast flowering of services is foreseen: social entire channels devoted o universities without walls and round-the-clock delivery of health services; civic fire and police service, electronic mail delivery; political town meetings from the home, instant plebiscites, the world turned into a truly "Greek market place" of democracy; and economic shopping from home, business and cultural conferences by picturephone, relief for congested transportation systems, There w i l l also be demographic benefits, where the efficacious use of the new communications can provide incentive for families and businesses to quit huddling together in crowded megalopolises and to spread themselves more throughout the vast and more unpopulated parts of the planet. Some of the corresponding non-technological communication ramifications of this are the following. People w i l l be increasingly called upon t o make more critical assessments, t o take personal views upon more and more issues, and to try to understand the affairs and complexities of more peoples in other regions of the earth. Having gone from a period of communications scarcity to one of growing abundance, our thinking, reasoning and communication structures are s t i l l too confined and reflecting the times of scarcity. Our ideas, psychological make-up, mentality and actions must change. Too little has s t i l l changed i n our individual behaviour since those times when our ancestors communicated by fire or smoke. Mass communication s t i l l appears to be miraculous, rare and expensive, with the instruments external t o ourselves rather than internal to our senses. A new philosophy and a new approach to communications issues leading t o considerationof the reshaping of national and international structures must begin in earnest, if we are to reap the many benefits of this communication cornucopia. A rapidly growing world literature testifies to the fact that our post-industrial revolution is characterized by the emergence of "knowledge" industries and informationbased society. Emphasis is moving from the production and distribution of material goods towards the assembly and distribution of information.

With the "right t o communicate" and "right to receive communication", basic socio-political rights which belong to every individual, which ent a i l the right of access of a l l individuals t o the information system, existing disparities in access w i l l be even less desirable i n a society which depends on a wide range of information services. The counterpart t o these basic human rights i s "the right to privacy", wherein implications in a l l ofthe technologicaldevelopments are enormous. It is possible also that a continual increase i n the volume of information being made available might actually result in even less effective information reaching the public. The reaction could reflect an "information overload", with individuals, regions and nations over-producing and leaving no one at the receiving end of such a communication system. Technology i s directing mass communication in two opposite paths. One direction includes increasing centralization, passivity, often frustration for the receivers and concentration of the power of a few to reach the many, where the communication is uni-directional, and too often can only mean political and commercial information. O n the other hand, a genuine implication of the new technology i s that it portends the end of a nationally-closed society, Teledistribution,videocassettes, etc., open the opportunity for choice and comparison by each individual, and offer m a n a tool of individual communication and a new age of true free circulation of "the message". If today, people are more difficult to govern, it m a y also be because the instruments,policies, plans and structures of communication no longer correspond as well as they could to the presentday world and i t s technologicaland social progress. The underdevelopment of both national and international communication m a y be seen t o be an underlying cause of general underdevelopment. And, because communication is a fundamentalsocial process underlying any social change that a developing country wants t o make, and is necessarily a part of any plan to improve human life in any culture, the development of the communication sector becomes imperative, Everywhere, i n Latin America, Africa and Asia, w e witness today the emergence of new countries which were often previously deprived o f an adequate communication system; countries where until recently, communication existed best along the colonial channels of command in a northsouth direction. Akin to an organism lacking a nervous system, these countries too often had seldom more than antique aeroplanes and inadequate radio telecommunications systems to link the different provinces of a not yet mobilized national t the same time, the potential of existing, body. A yet so far unused, communication methods and technologies for both developing and developed

countries is of the same magnitude as the neurons of our brain which (for reasons s t i l l to be discovered)w e do not yet use more than partially.( T o the extent that every new technologicaldevelopment in mass communication has extended and enhanced the world-wide penetration and impact of ideas and information, it has served also t o further the social and collective aspects of freedom of information. Indeed, since ideas expressed in words and i n live images can now girdle the earth instantaneously, freedom of information has become a consideration of a definitely international character. Consequently, the protection of the right to impact and to receive information has become a basic concern to all, including certainly governments acting individually in the interest of their respective peoples or jointlyin the o each of us, wherever or howinterest of all, and t ever w e live. Radio, television and the printed word are factorsof wide distribution and crucial importance in modern society. In present-day society a l l individuals come under the influence of mass media, and in fact to a very great extent, normally about a third of our waking time is spent i n their company. And with the ever-increasing size of the audience o f mass media, these media have come to form gigantic systems in certain developed societies. While the circulation of newspapers and magazines and the rating figures of radio and TV audiences assume greater importance, a basic purpose of communication - the transmission of information and experiences to the audience struggles for its existence. (2) Responsibility for the policies, operations and output of the mass media i s assigned, assumed and exercised in different ways in different l l or some of the countries. In some countries a media are operated as organs of the State. In others private commercial companies with some being economically multi-corporations in every sense or independent public corporations created by the State operate this or that medium. The machinery of modern mass communication is linked by complex and intricate ties to the economic and political structure, and this integration of mass communication into the other institutions of society has increased during the last few decades, as the part played (where applicable) by advertising in maintaining the media has grown and as the control of the media has become concentrated i n fewer and fewer hands. Thus w e must not view the media and their content i n isolation from socio-political-economical structures. W e should also be careful not tooverdifferentiate between the establishment (including the government and the private sector) and the media system. A s British mass communication researcher James Halloran has said:

"From time to time we m a y need to put the media under the microscope, but when w e do this w e should be careful to maintain thewider perspective. Always w e are studying the mass communication process, the operation of the media in society. A l l aspects of the mass communication process should be seen in the wider economic, technological settings. Our present ignorance about the impact of the mass media is partly due to the refusal of researchers to accept this. " (3)

If mass communications are as an integral organ o f the social body, it is not sufficient to look at what happens within the media and only try to change their policies, since such of their determining forces operate from outside, through other institutiona1 structures. At the same time, the mass media should not be viewed as 100 per cent predetermined, either. There is always more or less scope for freedom to change the practices within the media. Something can be done to increase democracy i n the media, and w e must work constantly to this aim. But those who want to l i m i t their effort inchanging the world only within the media are unrealist i c in their analysis and policy. The improvement of national and international communications together with the acceleration of technological, economic and social development have placed the mass media in a new situation, in which their function and working criteria must be re-evaluated. This is particularly so in the case of television which a t birth took over the traditions shaped by the press, f i l m and radio, but which has turned out to be in many respects more effective than i t s predecessors. It is becoming increasingly obvious that an attempt at maximal true information cannot be sociallyneutral, but necessarily b ecom es 'I partial". While true information is often thought t o be ''neutral" or ''pure'',in reality connexions between the content of information and its implications for practical action in social and political life cannot be distinguished one from the other, for a l l information either supports the status quo or promotes new approaches to reality (innovation). N e w
(1) Jean dfArcy"Communication as a right. Unfrocking the magicians", Intermedia, International Broadcast Institute, No. 5, 1974, p .2 . Nordenstreng, Informational Mass Communication, T a m m i , Helsinki, 1973, p . 178. James D. Halloran. "What do w e need to know? Are w e going to be able to find out? Paper presented at the International Symposium on Communication:Technology, Impact and Policy, Annenberg School of Communications, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 23-25 March 1972, p . 11.

information by definition involves reorientation in outlook and hence initiation to action. Crucial in the principles of informational communication policy is the goal of using the mass media for transmitting information about concrete reality, that i s accumulating concrete evidence on the objective world in the consciousness of a recipient. The informational principles of selection of messages for mass communication are derived from the concern for the truthful reflection of objective reality, not from the concern only for the "balance" of a l l kinds of social interests - justified andnonjustified. Considering the central significance of the organizational forms in planning and executing communication policies during the forthcoming era of the new media technology, a l l nationaland international experience in the broad field of communication policy should be carefully analysed and evaluated. In this evaluation due concern should be focused on the fact that lasting international understanding and cultural CO-operation can only be generated by national, ultimately local, activity, based on democratic participation i n the framework of the cultural and political autonomy of a l l nation States, large and small alike. The implementation of communication policies and practices requires joint action among those involved in the social, economic, scientific, educational and foreign affairs of each country. Their rle is not to be conceived as a superpower set up to control the media. They can be successful only in constant contact and consultation with the communicators and the citizens whose direct participation in the formulation and implementation of communication policies and plans is i l l more effecboth essential and vital. Nothing w tively frustrate and distort the real and best flow of communication than lack of respect for the nature of communication itself and the social need to communicate. In less developed countries, a principal task i s to assure greater participation of the people in economic and national affairs, to increase their skills and knowledge, to weld them together into nationhood, and to assist them in finding their cultural and personal identity. Without communication, without the maximum use of the modern

mass media in conjunction with more traditional ways of social communication,there is less hope that such urgent goals m a y be reached in areasonable time. Today, the decision-makers and the citizens o f these countries cannot but payclose attention to the rle which communicationcurrently plays in society, and explore how communication m a y best contribute to a l l aspects of human and national development. In more developed countries, communication technology is today upsetting many existing institutions. Potentially, it makes it possible for more and more citizens to ben-efit, or suffer, from cheap and plentiful opportunities to choose what he or she would like t o see, hear or read, and to express views to others. But it also threatens older and more traditional social values and ways of l i f e . All countries, developing and developed, are involved in far-reaching debates and practical issues, which not only affect the future means of communication but the nature of society itself. Policy-makers are increasingly aware that, in the allocation of natural and social resources, future-oriented policies can no longer afford to ignore the communication dimension. Failure t o take a total view of communication, to examine present and future communication policies and to translate these policies, where appropriate, into plans can easily lead to ill- afforded wastage. Because communication is so obviously sa l l too commonly accepted that pervasive, it i effective communication occurs spontaneously and necessarily. In fact, however, the process of hum a n communication in modern society can break down because it i s now so dependent on many technical, material, legal and organizational factors which derive from public policies and call for direct public concern and participation. Both societies and the individual need greater consistency between the policies and activities of various communication sub-systems and planning which can allow for diversity. Inevitable tensions and contradictions arise. These are often easier to reconcile in an affluent society with more alternative channels for communication and education. Under the restraintsofscarce resources - material and human however, coherent communication policies assume a particular importance.

10

Chapter 1

The functions of communication

Communication in societv and the flow of com munication Communication is generally understood as the processes of transport and transmission between places and people. To planning authorities, this normally meant the transport of goods and people by land, water and air, and the transmission of messages through telecommunications. This narrow concept, however, does not fit the notion of "communication in society", where the particular concern is with the information capacity required by society to operate 'effectively,and with the flow of communication throughout the social fabric. Social communication involves both interpersonal contact and "mediated" communication in which information is carried by technical facilities or oth-a5rt"edkr+es;S-o-csfahamunicztion m a y take place spontaneouslyamong individuals, or it m a y be organized and conducted through institutional channels. These include not only the media of mass communication, but also other institutions designed for the transmission of information political agents, extension services, cultural animators, educators, social services. They m a y be operated by the State government, public institutions, administrations at the national and local level, or at the non-governmental level private enterprises, CO-operatives, associations, etc. They m a y be fully or partially financed by commercial revenue or rely on public funds, licence fees and other resources. The information capacity available t o any society depends partly on its tele-communication infrastructure. This has been, generally, the primary preoccupation of those responsible for developing and operating communication networks. Based on the notion that such networks should be self-financing, if not profit-making, there has been, however, a tendency to pay less attention to the needs of those fields o f social communication which are of equal public concern, but less

likely to be remunerative in monetary terms. Equally, an understanding and organization of modern communication must go beyond the outdated vertical model, the one-way concept of flow, for no genuine communication system can ever be complete without some form of response mechanism. Communication flow should be seen as a multilateral process, in which not only one o one, can communicate to many, but also one t and many to one or many to many. Unless people can respond to the information they are receiving and make known their points of view, there i s simply reinforcement of the pgssive one-way system which w e now too often have. It is not enough just t o build in some feedback into the present communication system. Ideally and technically - it is becoming mureamd-more possible for an individual to be able to convey t o others precise questions and immediate problems which arise out of his occupation, his familylifeor his intellectual curiosity,and he should be able to receive answers t o these through an appropriate communication channel. Governments communicate regularly with their people, but the people also seek and should have regular communication with governments, because this is true democracy in the twentieth century. Communication systems should be viewed not as "social overheads" t o be ignored or tolerated, but as a basic need and right of human society. Rather than looking at information as a disposable luxury product, and the audience as a Ilconsumer" and just a "receiver", it becomes more andmore important t o approach both policy formulation and planning for communication in a positive manner, wherein the productive potential of communication within the socio-economic structure of society i s of prime consideration. Consciousness of the overall and sometimes contradictory functions of communication is a prerequisite for a more precise analysis by

11

policy-makers of the potentially positive or negative effects which m a y be achieved through a deliberate and more functional use of communication. Communication policies and planning w i l l therefore be guided by the determination by each country of the social functions which communication media should fulfil. Generally, the main social functions, in any society,for communicationmedia are as followsil) Information Everyone has to make decisions, day after day, and is involved i n responsibilities which go far beyond the immediate possibilities of his personal observation and contact. Whether he is a young m a n on the farm or a high civil servant, he requires l'information''on what is going on around him, t o what he m a y look forward in the future. H e seeks warning about imminent dangers and indications of rewarding opportunities. The basic task of communication media is t o inform him, to help him keep abreast of a rapidly changing world in which events on one side of the globe m a y have repercussions right at home. To f u l f i l their function of bringing messages, signalling dangers and revealing conditions the surveillance of the environment - the media require access to the kind of information which vitally affects the existence ofindividuals in society, while the individual in turn should demand access to this information through the communication media. Thus, a primary rle of the media shouldbe one of translation, t o make information obtained from specialized sources (meteorologists,statisticians, scientific researchers, etc. )accessible and understandable t o the point where it i s useful. Social participation In this context, primary emphasis must be placed on the promotion, through the media, of basic c o m m o n norms and values, to be understood and adopted. T o function properly, society requires development of a social consciousness based on awareness and application of these norms, not only by present members, but also by newcomers, be they children or immigrants. Socialization through adoption of c o m m o n values i s seen as a function of the media. Others place greater e m phasis on the need for diversity and personal choice, though they are no less concerned about preservation of the social bond. Preservation and innovation The mediamay often be asked t o assist i n the preservation of traditions and cultures, to recall the accomplishments and values of the past and thus enhancenational identity and social confidence. But society needs innovation to grow. It is equally the rle of the media t o present new ideas and values as alternatives. Cultural functions T h e media are a way of cultural expression in their own right and vehicles for the transmission of other cultural

forms. Frequently, they are the only type of cultural communication which is accessible to the mass of the people. Their social function is therefore one of enhancing traditional cultures and opening the mind to new forms and styles, of linking the national past with the worldwide dimensions of the culture of man. Entertainment and recreation assume particular significance in this context, as in the serious content of the media. In the context of social needs, relaxation, entertainment,laughter and enjoyment can be seen to have positive and productive functions. The issue is not between entertainment and seriousness; it i s between "meaningfulness" and "triviality". Government - Government cannot function without communication with the citizens at large and with i t s own administrative components a t the central and local levels. One of the essent i a l social functions of communication i s to provide the channels for a continuous flow of information, instruction, opinion and active involvement from government t o the people and back, and, among the different government services. Management - Management, whether of administration or of industrial and commercial enterprises, requires also a constant flow of information t o orient its operation toward the broader social scene, to co-ordinatei t s action, and to communicate continuously with i t s own staff. A modern complex society of industrialization and post-industrialization, in which public administrations play an ever-increasingrle, cannot function without communication systems. Management of industry, agriculture and education, and social services are dependent on concerted action by dispersed officials throughout the land. Communication is essential t o keep the machinery going. Economic affairs Communication plays a vital function in economic affairs. The media are economic enterprises in their own right, and m a y act as stimulants in agricultureand commerce, manpower training and vocational orientation. The productive impact of communicationthrough the information which is disseminated and the impact o fi t s commercial enterprise, are essent i a l social functions of communication, which are not confined to those circuits directly built into economic enterprises. Education - Unesco's 1971 International Commission on the Development of Education report in their book(2) that every individualmust

Unesco. ReDort of the Meeting o of ExDerts on Communication Policies and Planning, C O M / M D / 2 4 , Paris, 1 December 1972, p . 7. Unesco, Learningto be, the World of Education Today and Tomorrow, Edgar Faure et al, Paris 1972, p . 181.
I 1

12

be in a position to keep learning throughout his

life. The idea of "life-long education" is the

keystone of the "learning society". Life-long education is not an educational system, but the principle on which the overall organization of a system i s founded, and which should accordingly underlie the development of each of its component parts. This Unesco Commission proposed lifelong education as the master concept for educational policies in the years to come for both developed and developing countries, for "we remain convinced that the question of life-long education, the decisions t o take and the paths to follow in order t o achieve it are the crucial issues of our time, i na l l countries of the world, even in those which have yet to become fully aware of this idea". Communication media are educative whether designed t o be so or not, because people are always learning from and being influenced by them. They provide knowledge, and shape values. D i rectly applied, they can inculcate specific aptitudes or skills. To the degree that communication systems are given particular educational tasks, they frequently perform functions in areas where formal education systems have left a void. Whether deliberately called upon to do so, or simply because of their very existence, communication media are establishing parallel systems of education for the citizen during his school education and especially in life-long education to whichhe is frequentlyfar more and easilyattached than t o formal institutions of instruction, which too often are the components of systems of the past. In addition, the social functions which communication media should f u l f i l can also be spelled out very practically in response t o such broad questions as:(l) H o w m a y the impact of science and technology on human existence be understood and dominated rather than suffered in passive submission? H o w m a y the values which guide our action in consumption and social affairs, in family relationships and attitudes t o work, keep abreast with changes in conditions and social needs? H o w can communication help rural development, city planning, environment, promote social change, disseminate useful knowledge, enhance participation i n community and national and international affairs, make the points of view and experience of one group of people known t o other citizens and the authorities? H o w m a y conditions of health and family life be improved through communication? H o w m a y different social strata, older and younger generations, different ethnic and racial groups, m e n and women, better understand each other's preoccupations and aspirations? How m a y the culture or cultures - of a country find new forms of expression through the

media? H o w m a y media cease to be dependent on unassimilated foreign cultural products whose value systems tend t o be alien and sometimes disru ptive ? H o w m a y communication support the objectives of economic development as determined by government authorities and by the conditions prevailing in key economic sectors? What economic objectives are desirable, and what uneconomic effects of communication should, if possible, be avoided? H o w m a y media of communication best support, extend and transform education, in and out of school, from pre-school child to adult, from formal instruction in institutions to educational self-service and life-long education? H o w m a y the media foster a process of twoway communication, enhance democratic participation, insert themselves into the total process of social communication? Communication and information needs of society Too often, the institutionswhich influencepeople's lives are out of reach of the ordinary citizen, and this remoteness means that knowledge of the way these institutions work including the mass media does not reach substantial sections of the population. This leads to alienation and prevents full participation, individually and communally. The whole subject of media freedom i s wide open for review. It is no longer a question of media freedom alone but the basic rights of the citizen both t o be informed and to communicate - which are undergoing today an unprecedented challenge. In 1971, there was a questioning especially of the fate, the rle in society and the economic future of the media. In 1972, the media became more resigned to accept limitations to the free exchange of information for reasons of State or of certain economic and political determinism. And in 1973 and 1974 it emerged that what is at stake i s not only the fate of the.media themselves, but that the very principle of the right of the people t o receive diversified,complete and well-balanced information and the new "right to communicate" both need t o be fortified. In reality, whatever the excuse for the attacks made upon them, the amount of freedom which the media enjoy and manage to defend is a yardstick of the amount of genuine democracy which the people enjoy. The need to communicate can be looked at either from the basic or subsistencelevel or from

(I) Unesco, Working Paper for Unesco Meeting

of ExDerts on Communication Policies and 8/3, p. 12, Paris Planning, COM-72/CONF. 1972.

i3

the more complex level of the need to keep abreast of how society works, including the personal implications of changing political and economic structures. The relevant question is to what extent do people have problems demanding information from different sources, and what is the real contribution of the communication media in assisting them to solve those problems. In the past, social psychologists, sociologists, anthropolzgists, etc. , have undertaken what must by now come to many thousands of studies of the structures and life styles of different societies. Very few, however, have been carried out with a "communication optique'' tcj focus attention on the communication behaviour of individuals and groups within the society, their real needs for information to enable them to live their everyday lives, and the "traditional" network patterns through which this information flows. There is another important viewpoint to this question of the communication needs of society. This looks at the problem from the other direction, to ascertain the communication components in all aspects of national development plans and Programm es. This approach involves a general survey of a l l sectors of the national development plan, including both the public and private sectors of the economy, and analyses the needs for a l l forms of communication in order that the plan can be carried out. Development plans are usually broken down into programmes and projects. These should be examined i n detail and the project "support" communication needs and requirements noted. F r o m the various parts of the plan, for example, agriculture, housing, transportation, health, culture, education, industry, etc., could be extracted in quantifiable terms, all requirements and needs for communication measured as broadcasting time, printed pages, paper, f i l m footage, communication manpower, institutional structures, network capacities, distribution systems, etc. , which should then be aggregated and compared with the performance o f which the present communication system is capable. This process w i l l assist in identifying and quantifying the gap between needs and capability and point to areas where priority expansion of the system i s required if development tasks are to be effectively performed. The identification of needs thus becomes a prior concern in the formulation of policies. The work already done or under way in some major communication projects in countries like Sweden, Canada, the Federal Republic of Germany and the U.S.A. , through surveys, research and commission-work indicatesthat this phase alone constitutes a major challenge for research, as well as management structures, as would any policy and planning that ultimately have to result in

allocation of national resources or taxpayersI money. Informationcan be fed into the system through many filters, but there must be filters to econom ize the hand1i ng and opti mizthe uti l i zation, and because information has t o be channelled and diffused for utilization and action. In order to economize, the outlets have to be carefully planned and structured according to genuine needs. One piece of information m a y need carefully selected and tailored presentation at several levels. Scientific data m a y be stored for academic research in computers, be interpreted and commented by experts for policymakers through in-house papers, be incorporated by specialists in periodicals, cassette or videotraining programmes, be discussed and applied by professionals with audio-visual aids in extension work, be discussed and questioned i n users' groups i n a community centre or be the cornerstone of national poster 2ampaigns to promote awareness and change. The existence and proper functioning of such systems for information dissemination and processing are no less important than primary schools or literacy group-teaching. The need for communication is bound to be a t least equal t o the need for information. Often this latter ''newer"need m a y be met through reallocation of national resources rather than provision of new ones. A number of local rural newspapers, and some more mobile libraries, m a y be a better way of disseminating information and at the same time of retaining literacy, motivating for self-reliance, identifying daily life problems, fostering national integrity, increasing participation in national affairs and promoting cultural identification, than many hours of daily t a l k from the capital and central government over radio or television.(1) Obviously, innovation can introduce strain and conflict into any system, and it is sometimes the most "effective" innovations that cause the greatest tension. The first problem we must solve is that of defining what w e mean by effective. W e ought to be more precise (perhapseven more honest) i n defining what w e consider to be the basic needs and primary objectives,and w e must bear in mind the legitimate national and local aspirations of peoples and societies at different stages of development. In considering the overall influence of mass media in countries, it is not enough to confine studies to specific campaigns, say in health, agriculture or education. These types of programmes also have indirect or unintended effects. W e must attempt to assess the wider andprobably

(I) Gunnar R. Naesselund, Communication Policies in Unesco's Programme, Paris,April 1974, pages 10-13.

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more pervasive influence of commercially and/ or politically oriented mass media in terms of increased aspirations, possible sources of frustration and conflict, changingpatterns of consumption andlife styles,weakening of traditional bonds, changing authority patterns, stereotypes and images of other countries, and so on. Changes from oral to electronic media sometimes missing out the intermediate stage of print the use of traditional and electronic media side by side, the taking over and transformation of cultural forms are but a few of many questions that could be examined. W e might also ask whether or not a "package deal" i s inevitable. Need the "candyfloss" world always accompany economic and technical aid? Not that the "candyfloss" world is the only thing that is portrayed by commercial mass media, for they do bring pictures and stories of news and current affairs from developed countries to those living i n the developing countries. Demonstrations, riots, revolutions, poverty, squalor and alienation can be presented side by side with the attractive trappings of the consumer-oriented, affluent society. But what impact has this on the young person in the South American or African village? What do w e know about his ability to deal with this sort of information glut? Given that social change cannot occur except through organized social communication, communication institutions perform numerous and vital functions i n the service of national development. In transitional societies they are vital for inducing the members of society to adapt to those changes which are a prerequisite for development, t o help establish a general climate favourable to new ways of life, t o teach the population the numerous new skills that development and transition demand them to perform, and raise levels of aspiration. The demand for cable networks and systems is manifesting itself and results in the steady accretion of the basis for distribution of broadband services. It is becoming increasingly probable that cable development represents the path into

the "wired city" when desired. Installation of the systems involves heavy financial investments and raises legal, economic and political problems in countries where both television and the laying and maintenance of cables are a monopoly of the State or of bodies operating under licence to it. In many computer-basedsystems presently in operation, it is already difficult t o separate the communications and data processing functions; many communications systems use computers t o switch either circuits or messages. This overlap has raised new problems of the boundaries between communications systems and the "receiver". In thelongterm, technologicaladvances are likely to blur completelythe interface between the computer and the communication system, giving rise to a new concept of "teleprocessing". There is the ever-present danger that the immediatepriorities of the present circumstances m a y override proper consideration of longer-term policy issues, and possibly damage future opportunities for integrated telecommunication development. The question of teledistribution and cable television's form and future are not best resolved in on-off decisions about specific proposals. Rather, they need t o be expressed in a series of carefully evaluated and costed choices related to the schedules of medium- andlong-term policy and planning decisions. Sensible longer-term policies for future development can only be based on evidence gained from carefully organized and evaluated experiments in the short term. Cable experiments must be clearly defined i n their purposes, and adequate procedures must be used to assess them. Furthermore, these experiments must ensure impartial and C O - ordinated consideration of the public interest. Given current economic and political pressures and the problems inherent in forecasting future requirements, it appears most sensible t o co-ordinate teledistribution with policies and plans for an integrated national telecommunications network i n the future which w i l l answer the social need to communicate.

15

Chapter 2

International communication

Communication i s an activity which does not respect boundaries set up by logic of individual disciplines, by geographical frameworks or by economic separations. The free movement and flow of people, ideas and materials is a fundamental issue for m a n and society. Neither technologically nor socially is communication a matter purely of national dimensions. Communication policies and planning within a country cannot be formulated or implemented without constant reference to international involvements. Nations are called upon t o frame their national policies with due regard to a number of widely accepted international agreements and standards. Most countries have external broadcasting and public relations/information services, which pose basic questions concerning their objectives, control and financial resources. At the same time, the almost constant inward flow, for almost a l l countries, requires attention. This includes such matters as the sources and quality of news reports, import of films, and the impact of foreign radio and television whether through recorded programmes or direct transmission. At present, the power of communication nationally and internationally rests mostly in the hands of governments or business enterprises. With such power ever increasing, the community of people of a nation, region and the whole world forthe good of their own freedom and development, and the integrity of their society, must see that those who have this communication power and potential, use it with the highest sense of responsibility. N o matter how large or developed the technology becomes, it s t i l l remains basically only the machinery- the means, and cannot function any better than the institutions, policies and planning that direct and control it.

S o m e relevant international communications questions International communication, which includes

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intergovernmental as well as international business activities, gives rise to many important issues. These issues must be known, faced and must be a contingency of the formulation of national communication policy and planning. Certain questions come to mind. What are the possibilities and limitations of international communication networks those i n operation now and those potentially possible? What are the barriers and obstacles to the "free flow of information" once this important concept is itself clearly understood and defined? H o w much is really an equal exchange of communication, and how much is a one-way "pipeline" from the industrially more developed world to the developing countries? What are the factors social, economic, political and legal which determine the nature and degree of the import of media materials? What should be national policy regarding "cultural privacy", to protect the fragile pattern of autochthonous cultures against the massive intrusion of foreign mass media contents? Where is the demarcation line between a protective screening and harmful isolationist policy which would deprive the nation of the cultural achievements of the world as a whole? Can w e assess the content of local media for cultural indicators which would provide a fuller comprehension of each culture and would thus improve the potential for truly empathetic international communication? What of the multinational operations of communication industries, from news agencies and broadcasting to electronic equipment manufacturers? Other questions at the international level are those which are of importance to the arrangement of international agreements and regional policies, F o r example, copyright and performing rights agreements have historically tended t o encourage, by means of copyrightlaws and international copyright conventions, forms of control over the distribution of books and other sorts of intellectual and artisticproperty, and have more often favoured

the industrialized over the developing countries. A n examination of the effects of these conventions would enable national communicationpolicy-makers t o recommend appropriate diplomatic action. There are also here such questions as frequency allocation for radio, television, micro-wave transmission, point-to-point satellite communication, which are a l l subject to international agreement and need critical examination. Engineering standards embodied in the hardware of communication systems - for example, TV, cassettes, tapes, phonographs, etc., and how these are tending t o exert monopoly control i n both hardware and software systems demand critical analysis, which is important t o any country considering the adoption of communication strategiesinvolvingthese technologicalinnovations. Once a particular communicationstechnical system is adopted the magnitude of the total investment committed to that system constitutes a powerful force conditioning future choices for further development. Critical examinations of the alternative sources are needed at both national and international levels as well as an analysis of the structures of control, both externaland internal,arising from investment decisions regarding communications equipment and systems. It is more than likely that all these types of questions can best be studied - and the necessary research can best be rganized and co-ordinatedby regional and interI & tional organizations. This implies active collaboration between international agencies (ITU, Unesco, etc. ), international professional bodies engaged in this field (International Press Institute, International Broadcast Institute, International F i l m and Television Council, International Association for Mass communication Research, etc. ) , and other international organizations dealing with broader fields of social sciences,but which also enter the communication field (International Council of Philosophy and the H u m a n Sciences, the International Council of the Social Sciences, etc. ) , in order to make better known the relevant international communication questions, issues and research needed, and to make certain that they are being competently dealt with. ( 1 )

The internationalflowof communication:news flow While the use of newer communication technologies, such as satellites, makes possible the very rapid, even instantaneous, flow of communications and news to and between news agencies, the press and broadcasting services in all parts of the world, not all of them benefit to the same extent from these new facilities available. There are national news agencies i n ninety countries, but they are unequally distributed and there are great differences in the scope and effectiveness of their operations. Most national news agencies depend upon the five major world agencies located

in the U.S . A. , the United Kingdom, France and the USSR to carry news about their countries to other countries. The majority of countries operate external broadcasting services as a means of communicating with people in other countries, directly or through the intermediary of national radio services. A l l television services give broadcast time to foreign news, and show considerable quantities of television programmes and films obtained from abroad. Many of them Co-operate from time to time in covering events of c o m m o n interest and in producing programmes for each other's audiences. Radio and television in the home have now become the means by which most people regularly receive knowledge and form ideas about other peoples and countries. News work basically involves the process of selection from the abundant raw material available. The criteria by which relevant news is selected for distribution have never been closely analysed either by news practitioners or by media researchers, both of w h o m have relied chieflyon the "eye for news", the "news instinct", "what draws attention", or the "rule of thumb" developed by the journalistictraditionwhich determines the order of importance and manner of presentation of news items, chiefly on the basis of unwritten rules. Deviation from these mythical rules has been held to be a manifestation of poor journalism. Newsmen are asking more and more often now, "what t o tell" and "how t o tell it". These problems are especially acute in publicly controlled broadcasting, where attention must be devoted to providing a balanced service to a l l social groups. Speed and an instinctive "eye for the news" are no longer enough; what is needed i s an analytic approach t o news activity, based on broad information and rational decisions, along with increasing skill. It is self-evidentthat the content of the international flow of communications and "news flow" cannot be unrelated to the power interests of the political or economic owner of the news medium. In the same way, the interests of the medium owner cannot deviate very far from those of the social class in power i n the society. In theview of Sir Charles Moses, Secretary-General of the Asian Broadcasting Union, "as an influence on international relations,news is the most important ingredient in broadcast programmes - television or radio. The content and the form of presentation of broadcast news bulletins can have a beneficialinfluenceor just the reversel1.(2)Sir Charles

( 1 ) Unesco, International Programme of C o m -

(2) Charles Moses,"Third Wo;ld

0 -

munication Research. COM/MD/20. OD cit.. . 19. - ,D Broadcasters Seek to Bridge a Gao". Intermedia f Tnternational Broadcast Institute), No. 5, 1974, p .8 .
I - .

I - - - -

\-

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outlines the work which has been undertaken in intra-union news workshops, which have taken place in Tokyo, 1971 and Cologne, 1973, where the dialogue between professionals in the workshops has made it abundantly clear that there is a need to improve the global and regional movement of news - in greater speed and at lower cost but at the same time, to recognize the divergencies in approach to both content and treatment. The broadcasters of Asia, Africa and the Arab States are not as concernedwith"sensationa1" news as their colleagues in Europe and, particularly, in North America; they feel that there should be more items which are constructive from and about their regions, and which emphasize achievement as well as disasters. While Europe and America are anxious t o speed up the movement of news by satellite,many developing countries are s t i l l more interested,at this stage, i n their practical problems, such as the removal of obstacles caused by airport and customs procedures. While the Arab broadcasting organizations, for example, are making rapid strides toward establishing a regional network that w i l l permit regular and frequentnews exchanges amongst their members, this desirable situation i ss t i l l very remote as far as the vast Asian region is concerned. Exchanges bylandlines or microwave are now possible between Japan and Korea; between Singapore, West Malaysia and Thailand; and between Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. But it could be many years before these sub-regions can be really linked together. There is the difficult problem of the island countries of the Pacific, such as Samoa, F i j i , Gilbert and Ellice, the Solomons and Micronesia. There are virtually no links joining the widely separated island countries. Their only hope for the future lies in getting into the satellite queue, but, because the total populations involyed are very small, they are likely t o be at the end of the queue for a long time to come. There is far more immediate need for elementary equipment, such as the telex, in facilitating international communications and news flow. These considerations stress again the strong differences of approach to news in the developed and developing countries. There are a number of points about which the developing countries are unanimous:that the agency servicesare overloaded with items from and about Europe and North America, where they are headquartered;that inadequate coverage is given to news emanatingfrom countries of Asia, Africa and South America, where about 90% of the world's population live; that the agencies, when transmitting news stories from Europe and North America, often assume, quite erroneously, that newsmen in other parts of the world have a knowledge of the relevant background similar to that of their colleagues i n the countries originating the stories.
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The presence and active participation of representatives o f the major news and newsfilm agencies in the 1973 Cologne workshop couldlead to anumber of long-term benefits for newsmen working i n developing countries. They learned that one valid reason for newsfilm stories submitted from their countries not being used by the agencies was the high proportion of technically poor prints, poor camera work and poor direction. The result was an important recommendation aimed at assistingbroadcastingorganizations i n developing countries to contribute m a terial of appropriate technical and professional standards. This can be done mainly by providing professional training for journalists,cameramen, directors and by improving the quality of the cam era equipment available. Another useful recommendation stressed the importance of establishing, as soon as possible, regional news co-ordinating centres, where these do not presently exist, and the placing at "gateway" points i n each region of experienced journalists t o assist i n co-ordination and selection of news items and i n keeping down costs. The opportunity of the carefully considered Cologne recommendations being positively implemented in a large way presented itself i n Rio de Janeiro, November 1974, when a l l eight regional broadcasting unions, together with representatives of the major broadcasters of North America, met for the Second International Broadcasting Conference. The Cologne workshop was seen to have laid a solid foundation for real progress. There now should be seen, not only a speeding up and an increase in the flow of news, but evidence of efforts t o correct the existing imbalances which are resented in Asia, Africa and Latin America. This change is bound to be a gradual process; but a spirit of CO-operation and understanding should ensure that news items from developing countries w i l l progressively appear more and more frequently in the television and radio news bulletins of the major broadcasters of Europe and North America, and that the international flow of communication w i l l be more balanced. External broadcasting i s considered as one of the most powerful vehicles of international information, as well as one of the most effective and influential communications "weapons". Since the 1930s, when sound broadcasting missed an excellent chance to become a world medium of international co-operationand understanding, it has mainly developed i t s international function as a device of political and ideological proselytization. (1) n association w i t h ( 1 ) University of Ljubljana i Unesco research study on "Content and effects of external radio broadcastind'. bv T o m o Martelanc e t al., Paris 1975.
u I

This misdirection actively began with the Nazi propaganda, which turned this marvellous new communication technology international radio into a strong tool of propaganda diffusion. Later, during the Second World War, sound broadcasting assumed the rle of one of the most forceful means of information, persuasion and war propaganda. The ensuing cold war i n the post-war period amply used a l l the potentialities of the international radio for delivery of propaganda messages backwards and forwards across a divided Europe. Today, in a period of relativelymitigated,and i n places improving, international relations where the nations (above a l l the super powers) are more reluctant to resort to force, international broadcasting has taken on a different rle. The most recent data on this world-widecommunication phenomenon, come from a Unesco supported two-year study. ( 1 ) Very few attempts had ever been made t o compare the television programme structures of different nations, or to measure or study the flow of information among nations via the television screen. A prevalent view emphasized the free flow of information an idealsystem in which sovereign national networks distributed the best programmes from a l l over the world, balanced by their own productions. This system, however, had never been shown t o exist; i n fact, evidence tended more and more to show a quite different effect. Professor Nordenstreng, Dr. Varis and the Tampere teams drew a number of conclusions from their inventory of the composition of television programmes, particularly from the point of view of programme material imported to a country from outside, combined with a survey of the international networks for sales and exchanges of programme material for television. The television stations of nearly 50 countries were surveyed about their programme schedules, the sources of their programmes, and the conduits through which international programme transactions are conducted. While there are those who would question whether the methodologyused here was sufficiently developed t o allow such broad conclusions t o be drawn, s t i l l the Tampere/Unesco study i s in fact the first comprehensive survey which makes it possible t o form an idea of this very important subject matter. O n these statistics collected, the flow of material is seen t o be extremely imbalanced, and most programmes in international distribution are tailored to satify audience tastes in the United States, Canada, Western Europe and Japan, where most commercial sales take place. T w o indisputable trends were uncovered in this international flow: a one-way traffic from the big exporting countries to the rest of the world; and the dominance of entertainment material in the flow.

Dominance of the market by the Unitedstates comes through as a striking reality. But it is only part of the great disparity on the international television scene between a handful of producerexporter nations and the vast majorityof consumer countries. The United States and China are largely selfsufficient, importingonly a smallpercentage of their programmes. Japan and the Soviet Union also depend mainly on their own productions. But the vast majority of other countries are heavily dependent on foreign imports in their program min g . The reasons for United States predominance on the international television market are both historical and economic, having t o do not only with production capacity, but also with the fact .that the United States got off to a headstart. Until the early 1960s, the United States had more television sets than the rest of the world together. B y 1962 when there were 50 million sets in the United States, there were 53 million elsewhere. This meant that the big distributors in the United States and elsewhere could produce and market shows with the new export market in mind. Obviously though, the economic realities in receiver countries constitute an equally important factor. While it costs $100,000to make an instalment of "Peyton Place", a country like Finland can buy it for $500. Most countries cannot afford to fill the hours of broadcasting with home-made products any more than they can afford t o shop around endlessly for exactly the programmes they want. What happens too often then i s that "I Love Lucy" (which closed down "live" in the United States in 1974 after 23 years and 495 shows) becomes an import answer. For more complex reasons, there is also a heavy imbalance in exchange between the West and the Socialist countries of Eastern Europe. While more than 3,000hours of television programmes a year flow from the Western countries through Eurovision, to the Socialist countries, the report reveals the flow in the opposite direction, through Intervision, is only 1,000hours a year. N o matter how it is viewed, however, the study indicates that the world television market i s likely to be dominated by the industrialized Western countries for a long time. Vast regions of the world, and particularly the developing countries, have little choice but to depend on the almost exclusive services of the Western agencies for news and much of their TV programming.
(1) Unesco. Television traffic
I I

- a one-wav street.
. I

A survey and analysis of the international

flow of television Dropramme material. bv Kaarle Nordenstreng and Tapio Varis, Reports and Papers on Mass Communication, No. 70, Paris 1974.
L U

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The authors of this report conclude that the trend w i l l reverse. They pin their hopes for a more balanced flow not only on the regionalbroadcasting unions, but also on the willingness t o coproduce across national frontiers and particularly across different social and political systems. Whenever and wherever an indiscriminate "free flow of information" principle is recognized, formulation of national cultural and communication policies w i l l be needed. The technical and practical problems are important i n the presentday television industry, but the basic problem has been, and remains, the social and political rle of television communication: what i s the real communication policy regarding this medium in various societies? Satellite com munication The constant advances in communication technology and the proliferation of information, confront individuals,nations and decision- and policy-makers with increasingly complicated dilemmas of choice and utilization, as the technology continues to develop faster than the principles and regulations guiding its best use. There is probably no area of technological development today to which this applies i n greater measure, than that of communication satellites, which, along with submarine cables, serve increasingly well international communication and global tele communications. Today, only a dozen years after the first experimental television transmission between North America and Europe by means of communication satellite, it is accepted as normal that eventslike the Olympic Games, World Cup Soccer Championships, a royal wedding, a United Nations meeting i n N e w York or m e n in space are seen as they happen, simultaneously, by hundreds of millions of people in a l l parts of the world. There are those(1) who consider the communication satellite as not just the extension of existing communications devices, but as a kind of technological quantum jump causing a major restructuring of our society. In this century, the automobile i s perhaps the most notable example of something similar that has already happened. After the USSR, the first country to apply satellite communication to exclusive national use was Canada, which in 1973 with its Anik I, II and its Telesat Canada, began operating the world's first domestic synchronous orbit satellite system for telecommunication purposes and for the distribution and reception of television and radio programmes, through low-cost earth stations and low-powered transmitters, over vast, distant s to be develareas of that country. The system i oped to cover all but central Canada. Australia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Iran,

Japan and the U.S.A. are actively considering the establishment of domestic systems similar to Canada'sas ameans of achieving morequickly and/or at less expense full and efficient telecommunication services, and of expanding education. The countries falling within the European Broadcasting Zone have also, for some years, been studying the establishment of a satellite system t o complement the present terrestrial Eurovision network. It could also be connected with the ORBITA satellite system of the USSR and Eastern Europe for further East-West programmme ex changes. While the existing satellites in the Soviet Union system and the satellite presently contemplated by Western Europe are intended to provide point-to-point telecommunication services,including the relay of television programmes, in the long-term European satellites with the capacity to broadcast directly to community or individual thlevision receivers can be anticipated. A n allocation of a frequency band i n the radio communication spectrum has been made for this purpose in the European, as well as in other regions. This development w i l l open up the possibility of wide diffusion of television programmes of a l l types, including those regionally planned or produced, and also could include national programmes whose reception beyond their originating national frontiers m a y not be welcome. In 1974, the first of anew generationof broadcasting satellites was put into orbit. These can transmit television programmes directly t o community reception points equipped with specialantennae within a defined area. This development makes it possible t o broadcast educational and cultural programmes to rural and remote populations long before this would have been possible by the gradual and slow expansion of terrestrial networks. F e w individual countries have the population and the means that would justify and support the installation of such domestic satellite systems, but studies already made for the Arab States, Africaand South America show that technologically it would be possible to develop regional systems in which the participating countries shared the use, the control and the costs. A s this communication technology advances, the social and political questions become sharper. Are communication satellites to be used for the spreading of understanding and appreciation of other peoples, their cultures and ways of life, thereby bringing about better relations between peoples and countries and strengthening the possibility of peace and security? Or, are they to (1) For example, Arthur Clarke, in his address to a Unesco Space Communication Conference, Paris, 2-9 December 1969.

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be a new way of fomenting the conflict of ideologies, for the promotion of narrow nationalist policies and the achievement of narrow political objectives? Are theyto be so organized andadministered under multinational co-operative control that they can be used for constructiveinternational purposes, with their benefits shared between the rich and the poorer countries? O r are they t o remain exclusively under the national control of the few countries now economically strong enough t o afford them, and t o be used for national purposes only, commercial or political, or both? Would it be better to have a limitation rather than an extension of communication, if i t s dominating policies and purposes are the wrong ones? If it i s controlled by the State for the promotion of purely national or ideological aims with no right of dissent permitted, or by private or corporate interests for merely acquisitive ends, little good can continue to come from the satellite development. This need not happen. But it will depend on the policies of those in positions of responsibility and power, i n government and in business, including the com munications bu siness. Jean d ' A m y has spoken of the problem and i t s solution, when he wrotein 1970(1): The communications satellite w i l l not reach i t sf u l l development without an unprecedented degree of international CO- operation on the part of governments. Yet this development demands concessions in precisely that area of national sovereignty which governments have guarded most jealously, and which they have been charged by their peoples to protect and defend. Politically, the choice is between Statism and expansion, between the defence of apparently reasonable but soon-to-be-outmoded principles on the one hand and, on the other, a joint creative search by governments for such new principles and social structures as w i l l permit the communications instrument t o evolve for the good of a l l . Guiding principles on the use of satellite broadcasting A s the technological and economic conditions for this global flow of information,with all i t s potentialities, are achieved, even greater responsibility w i l l be required of those who control the services and produce the material diffused. The UnitedNations, the International Telecommunication Union, Unesco, governments and broadcasting organizations are studying the situation with the object of establishingprinciples and arriving at international agreements that w i l l enable the fullest use of satellite broadcasting in the service of a "true and genuine free and balanced flow of ideas,theexpansionof education, and the promotion of mutual understanding of peoples, with due and proper

respect for sovereignty of nations and diversity of cultures". A s early as 1962, the Unesco General Conference authorized the Director-General to study "the implications of the new techniques of communication by artificial satellite". The resulting programme activities included the convening of a conference of experts on international arrangements in the space communication field in December 1969, where the prospects as well as the threats of this new technology were discussed. (2) Among the principles formulated for the use of satellites were: they should make the flow of visual news in the world more balanced; their facilities should be made available to a l l countries with special regard to the smaller and developing countries; they should be available for communicators all over the world for the coverage, collection, transmission and dissemination of news; they should provide conditions enabling mass media all over the world to co-operate for the exchange of news and coverageof current events. Unesco's activities have demanded in this area continued Co-operation with the United Nations, in i t s space applications programme, and with ITU in connexion with assessment of needs for frequencies in the satellite broadcasting service, etc. The idea of a "Declaration of Principles" guiding the use of satellites was brought up and strongly supported, and Unesco was encouraged t o formulate such guidelines in collaborationwith broadcasters and their regional organizations. F r o m 1969 to 1972, Unesco held a series o f consultations with expert groups including the representatives of regional broadcasting and news organizations. These recommendations led to the submission of a draft text to the seventeenth session of the General Conference of Unesco in 1972, and "A Declaration of Guiding Principles on the Use of Satellite Broadcasting for the Free Flow of Information, the Spread of Education and Greater Cultural Exchange"( 3) was proclaimed. The debates revealed a conflict ofviews which could not at that time be easily reconciled. The deepest of these was the basic issue of freedom of expression. Another was the authority of organizations within the United Nations system to deal with these questions. O n the one hand were the fears of developing and other smaller nations of being exposed to unwanted programmes, over which they had little or no control. O n the other

(I) d'Arcy, Jean, "Challenge to Co-operation",

Saturday Review, 24 October 1970. (2) Unesco, Broadcasting from Space, Reports and Papers on Mass Communication No. 60, Paris 1970. (3) Unesco, COM-74/CONF. 616. 4 .
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hand, were the obvious benefits which individual countries and their people could gain from having access to programmes which would promote the exchange of ideas and knowledge. A l l these issues were and still are interrelated and, i n part, contradictory, which in itself explains the complexity of the problems and conflicts which emerged during the seventeenth session of the General Conference of Unesco. Fear of the unknown and the uncertainty surrounding a new powerful technology in the service of the few, prevailed in the debate. These considerations were in fact met by the principal Articles of the Declaration recognizing that developmentof direct satellite broadcasting shall be guided by the principles and rules of international law, in particular the Charter of the Unit&d Nations and the Outer Space Treaty; that it shall respect the sovereignty and equality of a l l States; and that States shall reach or promote prior agreements concerning direct satellite broadcasting to the population of countries other than the country of origin of the transmission. This, of course, would include transmissions of commercial advertising. There appeared to be little doubt that many States could reach mutual agreements on the content of satellite programmes in the fields of education, science, culture and information dealt with in the Declaration. There would, however, be other cases where such agreement could not be reached and where plans for satellite transmissions would have to be abandoned or revised considerably to avoid breach of the Declaration. Unlike short-wave radio broadcasts across frontiers, TV transmissions via broadcast satellitewill be extremelydifficultto jam. The Unesco Declaration, it should be noted, does not attempt to embrace traditional use of radio waves, nor does it touch the point-to-point communications that are carried over the I N T E L S A T systems or similar future satellite systems serviced by large ground stations, over which governments normally will have full control. But s t i l l two viewpoints are at loggerheads. One holds that there i s an infringement of the right of the individual t o have access to information, regardless of frontiers, and the other, that there is a violation of the rights of sovereign and independent States t o decide for themselves what programmes their people should be exposed t o . There are also those who, while supporting in principle the right of the individual to have access to information regardless of frontiers, maintain that as long as broadcasting by satellite remains a monopoly of a few countries this right is meaningless and even prejudicial t o countries without access to satellites. This Unesco Declaration i s as such, not binding for Member States, but it does state principles which are basedupon a genuine concern of developing 22

countries and others, that outer space should not be used for exploitative purposes which are undesirable for cultural, moral or other reasons in countries within the reach of direct broadcast systems proposed.

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES CONCERNING THE ROLE OF THE MASS MEDIA

Fundamental mincides In 1972, the seventeenth session of the General Conference of Unesco adopted a resolution,which requested "the Director-General to prepare and t o submit to the General Conference a t its eighteenth session a draft declaration concerning the fundamental principles governing the use of the mass information media with a view t o strengthening peace and internationalunderstanding and combating war propaganda, racialism and apartheid".(l) It was recognized at the start that there was an enormous difficulty in striking an appropriate balance between, on the one hand, freedom of information and, on the other, the need and moral obligation for the media to act responsibly, in order to prevent the many abuses of freedom. One of the aims of having a free flow of information i s to ensure a diversity of sources of news and opinions, but the problem for many countries is that their own economic resources are not sufficient t o support strong local competing media, particularly when faced with the massive importation of programmes from foreign sources. The principle of a free interchangeof information and opinion simply cannot operate when certain countries lack the production capacity to participate meaningfully in such exchange on an equal national basis. Where media are used to sow untruth, seeds of hatred and distrust, t o offend national feelings or customs, or where they fail t o make even an attempt to understand the legitimate cultures and aspirations of certain countries, the receiving countries are understandably greatly disturbed, with both a sense of concern and of helplessness. Media organizations must assume their responsibilities in this contribution to a more certain peace and to ever greater understanding. At the same time, there are difficulties inherent in drafting any set of fundamental principles intended t o be applicable to the world's mass media. There is at present no international organization in existence that can or would want to adjudicate the performance of the media, andthe (1) Unesco, Meeting of Experts on a Draft Declaration concerning the Rle of the Mass 74/CNF. 616/5, Paris, 25 April Media, COM1974.

most that such declarations can do is t o state a set of moral principles which the media would be encouraged but not required by law to follow. Constitutional protections of freedom of speech and of the press would preclude certain countries from enacting legislation requiring media within their jurisdiction to comply with any such declaration. In short, we have a long way to go before w e can establish acceptable international norms on media content. W e do not know enough about the deep realities of international communication systems the political, economic and cultural constraints on the achievement of a true and equitable flow of information. But international considerations are often paramount in the formulation of national plans. W e need more research, more enlightened policies based upon understanding of other people's lives before the multiplicity of international communicationproblems can begin t o be solved. This reality was evident in the debate on international communicationissues in the eighteenth session of the General Conference of Unesco where opinion was largely in favour of the concept of free flow of information but pointed also to the hypocrisy of this much publicized concept when questions of equality, of access to media and to information were considered. It was considered in some circles that the sole "free flow" concept was outdated and belongs to the ideas of nineteenth centuryliberalism and could no longer be applied to twentieth centurytechnology. A number of delegates to this General Conference observed that "free flow" had little meaning for those lacking the necessary infrastructures and means to communicate and concluded that practical action t o correct the present imbalance in the multi-way flow of information, especially between developed

and developing countries, should be accorded the highest priority. Concerning the question of content in international communication it was considered that there must exist both the right to be informed and the right to inform and that the latter right carries with it responsibility for objective reporting. The vast and growing importance of the mass media in ensuring the preservation of peace and mutual understanding between peoples was emphasized and misuse of the media in this respect was generally condemned. If the concept of free flow of information, especially the interpretationswhich have become attached to it over the years was questioned, however, a new concept was proposed to which Unesco should turn i t s attention. This introduced the possibilities for assimilation of a new human right the right to communicate. This was seen t o have meaning both at the national and international levels. The international considerations in the right to communicate relating t o the information gap between developed and developing countries, which should be studied and analysed, were stated t o be most important in the formulation of communication policies even at the national level. Such policies could assure access to and participation in the communication process; could reconcile the right to inform and the right to be informed; could proclaim the need for a balanced flow of information between developing and developed areas of the world and could encompass both the possibilities of newer technologies and the responsibilities of the media. Thus, at the mid-point of the communication decade w e come once again to a rethinking of what was appropriate to past events and what w i l l be necessary for the future.

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Chapter 3

Communication research Informing the policy-makers

In modern society, the mass media industries have developed into highly significant institutions. This significance a lies t o many different levels within society. ( 1 d P If something is socially significant, then it is self-evident that there is aneed to know something about it. In addition, decisions are being made daily throughout the world about media policies and programme output. But on what are these decisions based? Major relevant questions Many questions arise, as policy-makers and planners in every country are faced with a number of dilemmas often framed in the form of controversies between ideals and reality - which must be resolved for the good ofa l l . S o m e general examples of these questions would include:

What happens t o the individual in an era when technology i s increasingly able to provide an information overload to influence him and also is capable of invadine. recording. commterizinehis deevest privacy? How do you reconcile the right to free information with the right of the individual t o privacy? H o w do you further the declared right of freedom of opinion and expression of opinion? Although there now exists the technical possibility for the wider distribution of a greater variety of information than ever before and for themuch more rapid interchange of data, how can this be reconciled with the possibilities of mental pollution, the irrelevance of much of this mass of information t o many audiences;how can raw data be translated into understandable and usable terms? Ideally, the media should be bonds of society and open vehicles of culture, education, information and leisure-time entertainment. and vet:

The media can often be viewed mostly as commercial enterprises or as political tools? What can be done about the increasing lack of e m pathy between professional communicators and the real needs of the social groups they serve? D o the commercial or the authoritarian definitions of news and cultural values really make a positive contribution t o a true understanding of what i s going on in the world? In the modern world the economic and political tendency seems to be towards a concentration of ownership and a reduction of independent outlets; the present media structures have grown from systems which were designed t o effect a vertical information and persuasion flow from the top to the bottom of society, but what of the "horizontal" dialogue within and throughout society which is so surely lacking at the present time? One economic fact seems quite clear feeding the voracious appetite of the new communications media w i l l be a great deal more costly even than installing the hardware; how is it t o be paid for while providing the service indispensable to an informed citizen? O n the one hand it is contended that the mediawill reflect the values and the norms of society and

(1) Unesco, Mass Media in Society, The Need for Research. Revorts and PaDers on Mass Communication, No. 59, Paris 1970. (2) Unesco, Proposals for an International Prog r a m m e of Communication Research, op. c i t . page 4 . "By mass media it i s understood that all those industries and institutions which produce communication services or products are included. Typically, these w i l l include newspapers, periodicals, books, cinema, radio, television, records, tapes, tape cassettes, comic books, outdoor and mail advertising and the network structures of news agencies, micro-wave linkages, etc.

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on the other they are seen as imposing values and lowering thresholds of public sensitivitytowards such things as violence and permissiveness. Many believe that the mass media have played a vital rle in building the sense of national community
u

What happens when each group can tune in w h o m t s own particular ever it wants, including i prophets? H o w do you reconcile the rights of individuals to access t o a whole world culture with the rights of national cultures to resist dilution by alien influences? H o w do you achieve the right of equal access to information when media tend to be urbanoriented and the information gap between developed and developing countries tends t o grow ever wider? The communication satellite can provide free access to information and education on an international scale; it can also provide the base for a new communication colonialism and cultural imperialism, if one-way communicationtraffic is the rule. Finally, who really governs and controls the media, whose interests are served - in whatever way and what resources do they use?

The main problems lie in the fact that while communication has become a matter of public significance and concern, governmentsand their people usually do not know enough about the nature o f the communication process in society, its possibilities and limitations, and about the real communication needs of the public, nor do they have enough knowledge about the capacities and the orientation of the public and private communication systems to answer questions such as those posed above. Thus, too often, nations and peoples have not been able t o set up or contribute to the communication systems that best correspond t o their actual developmentandoverall needs of their society. Critical analysis and various types of research are vitally needed to examine continuously the issues raised by mass communication in society today. Communication research

- Dast and Dresent -

In a broad sense communication research has existed for centuries,although under different names. Aristotle defined the study of rhetoric which can be interpreted as a synonym for communication as the search for a l l the available means of persuasion. Although a speaker might have other purposes in mind than persuasion, Artistotle implied that the prime goal of communication was persuasion, an attempt to sway other m e n to the speaker's point of view. This view o f communication purpose remained popular until the end of

the eighteenth century, by which time the concepts of thought known as "faculty psychology" had invaded rhetoric. A clear distinction was made between the soul and the mind; this dualism was interpreted as a basis for two independent purposes o f communication. One purpose was intellectual or cognitive in nature, the other was emotional. Communication was then seen to perform three functions: inform (appeal to the mind), persuade (appeal t o the emotions), and to entertain. This fragmentation of consciousnesseasily led t o the conclusion that m a n had three isolated areas of consciousness which exist and operate independently. However, the basis for this distinction does not follow from reality and it is no longer supported by psychologists. (1) A n entirely different view of communication and the rle of consciousness is quickly developing among present-day communicationresearchers. During recent years communication research has been stimulated by the new development of society and the rise of mass communication, For the past 35 years especially, this research has been increasingly seeking its path and i t s proper field, with ever-growing necessity. When studying communicationbetween human beings, interest has been centred on both micro and macro levels, both on psychological characteristics of human beings as communicating animals and on the characteristics of society as a communicating entity. Scientific disciplines are usually divided either according t o their own methodology or to their own problem area. At the same time, there are those, such as medical science, which while having a very specific problem area,use methods of severalother disciplines. Ancient rhetoric formedan art in itself but modern communication science has borrowed both its methodology and definition of problems, oftentimes, from other disciplines and like medicine is interested in solving certain problems while using available research tools from other disciplines. The rise of communication research is not, however, only a result of scientific development, but of changes i n the social structure, In the early 1930s, Western social scientists became more and more interested in applied methods of social research t o improve the efficiency of the newly-developedmass media. The commerciallyoriented mass communication research which emerged in the United States was a consequence of the marketing orientation of a consumer society. European traditions have treated mass communication in a different manner than the empirical American orientation. In the twentieth century,
n Communication Re(1) Tapio Varis "Trends i search", Mass Media Research, Lutheran WorldFederation, Geneva, April 1974, p . 21.

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two main trends of Western sociology studying ideological problems have been pursued: the sociology of knowledge and mass communications sociology. They are seen to deal with similar problems although both came into existence in different historical conditions. The sociology of knowledge has European roots, while mass communication sociology was from the very beginning an American product. The difference is partly due to historical conditions and to methods of moulding public opinion in Europe and America. Western European countries are relatively homogenous nationally and philosophically. North America, in contrast, i s populated by various ethnic and religious groups with a variety of backgrounds. American sociology has sought for ways of selecting c o m m o n values andideologicalprecepts shared by different groups rather than focusing on a single, highly formulated doctrine. Nowadays, the original differences in orientation are disappearing, as the sociology of knowledge i s taught at several American universities and mass communication sociology is gaining more and more interest in Europe. Mass communication research was, until recently, another privilege of the more developed nations, and, quantitatively speaking, is s t i l l concentrated in the Unitedstates. It is now generally recognized that Western mass communications research, reflecting its commercial origin and its strong and continuing dependency on the corporate economy, has concentrated i t s attention on the consumer side of the message system. Innumerable studies have examined the behaviour of audiences and/or publics and consumers which messages stimulate them, which stimuli massage them. Content analysis,too, has been preoccupied with the question of whether the message was recognizable or blurred. In short, mass communications research, with some notable exceptions, continues to take for granted the existing structure of society and especially the structure of the message- creating and transmitting apparatus. It has focused on how effective that apparatus was and is in reaching audiences with messages that the power centres in the society wished to have disseminated. James Halloran and others have called attention to this condition and the character of the research that has flowed out of it. Halloran also has made some corrective proposals: It is necessary to study the productive side the media industries ... This means that we must study the history and development of media institutions(and their relationship to other institutions, including government). W e must ask questions about organization and structure, and about ownership, control, resources and technology as well as about the import o f media material from other countries . . . The question what interests are being served by

the media? needs t o be asked on the production side as well as on the use or consumption side. If the great power centres of developed societies are examined, inevitably the dominant productive and distributional units which constitute the engines of these industrial economies must be taken into account. These include, certainly more and more, the so-called multinational corporations, that is, the super-aggregations of private capital, corporately-organized,centrally managed and internationally dispersed, according to the overriding consideration of profitability and those factors which affect profitability namely, taxes, resources availabilities, labour costs, market size and ease of penetration, political stability, and related matters.(2) A central question for mass communications research then, becomes, t o what extent do communication systems,locally,nationally, regionally and internationally relate to these dominant power nuclei in matters of control, structure and incentive? Such research could contribute to a better understanding of the major control mechanisms at work in contemporary Western society and perhaps point the way to alternative and more humanistic courses of social organization and development. Recent symposia on communicationresearch show increasing contribution of European and Japanese studies and a growing interest among the developing countries towards the problems of mass communication and condciousness. Because there are not clear streams or schools which can be distinguished due t o the various levels of research needs and to historical factors of research practice it is difficult to classify the present patterns of communication research. That the classification of research trends is unsystematic is due t o the complexity of the field: Communication has not become an academic discipline like physics or economics, but it has become an extraordinarilylivelyarea of research and theory, says Wilbur Schramm. (3)

A new orientation
These and other developments led the General Conference of Unesco, a t its fifteenth session (1) James D. Halloran, Mass Media andsociety: The Challenge of Research, University of Leicester, 25 October 1973. Herbert I . Schiller, Mass Communication Research on the Power Structures of SocietyA Proposal,Mass Media Research,Lutheran World Federation, Geneva, April 1974. Wilbur Schramm, Communication Research in the United States.in The Science of Human Research, by Wilbur Schramm, Editor, New York, 1963,~. 1.

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(November 1968)to authorizethe Director-General t o undertake a long-term programme of research and to promote the study o f the rle and effects of the media of mass communication in society. The first specificmeeting for this new programme took place the following June 1969 in Montreal. (1) It recommended that Unesco "consider a major international study of the present and future effects of communication on the relations between changing societies and social groups, and on the individuals comprising them", so as "to identify the ways in which the mass media can best serve the needs of present and future society". This recommendation was ultimately approved by the sixteenth session of the General Conference of Unesco (November 1970), which i n turn authorized the Director-General "to promote research within the framework of an international programme on the effects of mass communication on society". InAprilof 1971, Unesco heldthe firstofficial meeting of i t s newly-formed InternationalAdvisory Panel on Communication Research(21, at which the lines were proposed along which such an international programme of communication research could proceed. This was followed by a second meeting (Paris, October 1973) which suggested further measures t o advance the main idea and concept of the proposals under the headings "communication and community" and l'international flow". Out o f these meetings a new philosophy of communication research crystallized. Obviously, the changes that occur in a society and in the lives of the people living in that society, following the advent of a new medium of communication like television and the rapid and recent extension of older ones like radio - w i l l be a function not only of the medium but also of other innovations and, above all, of the nature, structure and stage o f development of that society. Even within a given social system, the impact w i l l not be uniform, some areas w i l l be more receptive or more capable of adjustment than others. As far as individuals are concerned, it m a y be misleading to maintain that something is being caused solely by media stimuli. It has beenfound more useful t o approach the question in terms of different people, with different predispositions and experiences, and with different ethnic linguist i c or cultural backgrounds in different situations, as well as their different use of the material made available by the media. In this research the emphasis is not so much on direct causal relationships, but on the media exerting their influence i n and through the complex web of factors that make up society. The emphasis is more on the indirect, contributory and cumulative than on the causative. It is important to study the media within specific social structures, The media m a y exert

powerful influence in certain circumstances, but only as one amongst several forces. Extended family, religious, school, community and peer group, a l l play their parts in the S O cialization or developmental processes. The influence of the media is not confined to a direct medium-to-person impact, for they can work on the individual indirectly via the other agents. It is important to remember that the message from the medium is received into a frame of interpersonal relationships and communications that already exist. If we wish to know about the impact of a medium, w e must probe into existing networks as w e l l as into the medium itself. T h e m edia, particularlyradio and television, do, of course, have straightforward entertainment functions and one main form of influence has been on leisure-time behaviour patterns. Moreover, different media can exert influence in many other subtle and probably more significant ways than these: they can be the chief reporters of an environment beyond one's own senses; they can offer new models for identification; they can focus attention, widen horizons, show other ways of living; redefine problems; question traditional ways of doing things; suggest new answers; confer status on people and ideas, indicate approval and disapproval with regard to behaviour and attitudes; extend or l i m i t the dialogue and define what i s important, what is interesting, and what is dangerous; they can make understandable what has been hitherto strange, as well as create confusion and uncertainty. There are many speculations and preconceived answers about the nature and extent of the rle of mass communication. These often need to be challenged by research. One of the most important things that research can do is to make the implicit explicit, and to make people aware of the nature and the policy implications of those basic assumptions which underlie their activities. Such critical analysis i s often the first step in producing constructive change. In many countries communication research can provide a picture of the communication pattern of society. It can show how the media and the messages are distributed and used, which are the main influences in the flow of information and opinion, which are the restricting factors, what should be done to reachbroader layers of the population, how development agents should approach such sectors, and how communication m a y be used for an effective "two-way" flow of information. Communication research can also

Unesco, Mass Media in Society, Need for Research. Re1 .~orts and Papers, No. 59. '0Unes Co, gramme
~.

COM/MI
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play a vital rle in showing the ways i n which communication can be activated in those sectors of the society which are in the greatest need of the "developing impulse", but are preciselythose which barely participate in matters o f public interest. This, for example, is the case withrural people in so many countries. O n the one hand there i s thus a prerequisite to formulate a communication policy i n each country, and on the other, there is evidently the need for knowledge that only research can provide beforean adequate communicationpolicy could be devised. Ideally,such a union of communicationpolicy and communicationresearch should be basedupon total knowledgeofthe communicationprocess and on public needs rather than on partial knowledge and private needs,as i ss t i l l too often the case. ( Given the need for communication research, what kind of research is today needed? Communication research is essentially a field or "problem study area", which must rely on a wide variety of disciplines a truly "multidisciplinary" approach. Those who contribute the skills, concepts, theories and approaches of their own particular disciplines can no longer refer solely t o their ownlimited frames of reference. In the research approach needed here, psychologists, sociologists, educationalists, anthropologists, economists, literary critics, technologists and many others become members of teams concentrating attention into completelyrealizedproblem areas. Communication research should cover a 2 1 aspects of the communication process - as an integral total process not disembodying i t s essential elements and trying to study them disjointedly. Research approaches which compartmentalize the communicationprocess into separate segments are not only misleading, but lead to an imbalance throughout the whole research field. T o adopt this more comprehensive view is not to imply, for example, that psychologists serve no purpose in tackling questions which deal specifically with perception, language, cognitive development and so on. It does mean, however, that i n what is essentially an interdisciplinary science, the various contributors should work together in subordination to a common plan and purpose aimed at improving our complete awareness and fullest understanding of this vitally important social and human phenomenon. In summary, this modern communicationresearch approach should be motivated by two overriding considerations: t o research communication as a total process, and to study the media and the communication process in general within the wider social, political and economic setting. Only in this way i s it possible to avoid the fragmentation and imbalance of the past. Questions of control, ownership, support, resources, production, presentation, content, availability,

exposure, access, consumption, us e, influence and overall consequences of communication can a l l be incorporated within such a general research framework. Research proposals Having established the foundation of socially relevant research while continuing t o recognizethe essential and basic need for both theoretical sophistication and improved methodology Unesco shaped i t s proposals for an international programme of communication research into three main sections:(2) Communication and planned social change Here the relationship between communication and development, as well as between national policies an.d communication strategies, i s to be elaborated, mainly on a national basis, but including in-depth studies undertaken in specific priority areas. Such research, carried out nationally and co-ordinated a t the national level, should ensure the cross-national comparability of the research studies involved, and should also enable the experience o f one country to contribute to the better development planning and the communication strategy of another. The logical framework for this first research theme and programme i s the sequence of the planning process. In a changing society, communication policy formulation and communication planning must be a dynamic process, which takes account at a l l times of the changing needs for the best means of communication most appropriate to that society. Also taken into account are the realities possibilities and limitations of a l l the media of communication the economic, social and moral effects of their development and application. A s the implementation of plans and programmes takes place, there is the need for constant evaluation and assessment of operational processes and effects. The phasing of the overa l l development of communication systems is also t o be a continuous task, matching it to the needs as assumed under present and future national policy. Such national policy itself is necessarily t o be re-evaluated and reassessed by other researchers and planners. Mass media and man's view of society Here a multinational programme of communication research is proposed calling for multidisciplinary approach into a single, more universal problem area. This programme, calling for

(1) T o m o Martelanc, "Unesco Panel Charts 'Problem'Areas" Intermedia, International Broadcast Institute, No. 5, 1974, p . 8. (2) Unesco, International Programme of C o m munication Research, COM/MD/20.

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multidisciplinary study, would seek to encourage a "linkage" of communication research institutes t o co-ordinate and compare studies within the broad thematic framework of the "Mass media and man's view of society". It is readily seen that many of the research considerations here are intimately linked with the studies suggested as being desirable to assist in national policy formulation and planning. The "multinational quality" would be manifest in the CO-operation between nations and institutes in formulating the research, i n order to ensure the comparability of the results of long-term studies of the whole of a communication process in a n u m ber of different countries. Research into international communication structures Here some probing questions of the nature of international communication would be answered by international study in order to offer a broad framework into which national studies can logically fit. The whole prospect for international communication i s being decisively influenced by the spectacular developments in new and evolving communication technology. O n the one hand, for example, direct broadcasting through satellites opens immense possibilities for wider distribution of communication far beyond geographical, political, ideological and cultural boundaries, while on the other hand, through such developments as cassettes, discs, facsimiles, CATV, individuals in more and more countries can have their range of communication both the projection and the reception choice tremendously increased, through an international marketing system, which would operate almost independentlyof national production capacities. The implications and effects social, political, legal, cultural, moral, commercial, educational, etc., are of enormous importance in the formulation of national communication policies and planning.

Exchange and use of information on research The numbers and types o f institutions engaged in some aspect of communication research vary considerably in different countries and regions. Often the structural links between them are not well formed. Production and research departments of the media, university faculties of the social sciences,researchunits of ministries of economic development, information, communication, education, statisticaloffices, etc., need to co-ordinate and direct their efforts to a problem-oriented inquiry into the totality of the communicationprocess. This has shown that one of the more urgent tasks of communication research is t o collect, collate and compare studies already done, with a view to arriving at international understanding among researchers on c o m m o n denominators of

methodology, terminology, theory, etc. Also, to avoid redundant effort, it was and is needed t o know "who is doing what already", and t o be able to exchange data and research findings. T o this end a small number of regionaldocumentation and information centres have been established and co-ordinated by Unesco, t o promote and co-ordinate research and t o ensure the dissemination of research findings. In addition t o acting as vital links in the exchange of information at the national levels, these centres are also part of a world-wide network for wider international sharing of knowledge about mass communication. One of these years w e shall have computerized indices to this information, so that w e can tell the computer terminals what topics wewant to know about, and receive in return a printout saying what is available and where w e should look for it. W e shall also have micro-fiches readily available so that a user can order the reports he wants in a tiny f i l m that can be made for a f e w cents and shipped in a small envelope. These w i l l help. But the essence of the act of sharing and interpreting communication research is the training of persons to use and interpret it. "If w e solve that people problem, then w e are on the way toward solving the problem of making communication research useful. 'I( 1) A major world problem and c o m m o n toall research (not just communication research), which concerns every nation, every university, every development organization, every mass medium that would like t o see the resources of human knowledge used efficiently is that social research is not being put to as much practical use as it should and could. W e know more than w e use and as a result w e are inefficiently using r e s G c e s that are at least as valuable as financial capital or machine technology. It is estimated that 90 per cent of a l l thescientists who have ever lived and published a research report are alive today. Perhaps 95 per cent of all communication researchers who have ever published are alive today and even though that total number i s not overwhelming it is growing quickly. The amount of scientific research of a l l kinds in print approximately doubles every ten years, and a substantial proportion of this is social research. The great libraries of the world have been doubling in size about every fourteen years. Despite this enormous outpouring of findings, reports, and new researchers, s t i l l most of the output never enters into practice or noticeably affects the world of the nonscholar.

(1) Wilbur Schramm, "An open letter to MEDIA

ASIA readers", Media Asia, an Asian Mass Communication Quarterly, Vol. 1.

29

This is not to imply that direct and practical utility is the only reason for research, or that every research must promptly be reflected in action. A basic researcher often does not know if or where a piece of his research m a y be of practical use. Nevertheless, it i s a problem o f conscience among many researchers. They see great social problems unsolved, the world-wide movement of development going forward less rapidly than it might. They feel that some of the insights derived from intenseand systematic study of m a n and society should be of help. They see energy energy of a kind even more precious than petroleum or electricity - going so much t o waste. And they ask why and what can be done about it? One of the reasons for this problem, as applied to the field of communication, might be the possibility that there m a y be too much information at any given place for a given user. While the scholar m a y enjoy this, it is a problem for the policy-maker, the planner, the programmer, the newsman or the field man. The latter are unlikely to have access to more than a tiny fraction of it. A n even more important part of the problem i s the fact that social and psychological research i s harder to apply to a practical problem than is phykiicql gpd chemical research. In neither case is it possible to apply research findings without considering the conditions of use. Social and psychological research also has f e w universally applicable generalizations. When something is about human behaviour or human ideas or attitudes, this usually has to be qualified. Originally research findings have been found to apply to a certain kind of person, in a certain kind of situation when certain elements are present. Social research findings from one place at one timecannot automatically be applied in another place at another time. "Social research, however, has a considerable resource of intellectual energy, but has been able t o use only a small, sad proportion of it for the good of man. That is the key problem: wasting energy we badly need. I I Wilbur Schramm, in addition to the above, makes a suggestion concerning what to do about it. H e thinks effective communication is a people problem, not a thing problem. H e goes on to say that if w e are going to solve it, so far as it is possible to solve, it w i l l not be done by communication satellites or sunlight projectors or cheap printing processes or television or micro-fiche readers or even computers, although all of these m a y help. It is going t o be solved by preparing the necessary people. "Middlemen" or "mediators" are the appropriate terms, because w e are essentially trying to bridge the gap between researchers and users, and in a l l the varying possible ways for example, ''bybuilding up a family of middlemen

rles partly for carrying the findings and experience of natural science and partly for social information, by giving planners and programmers in development agencies (and elsewhere) some little acquaintance with the methods of social research and the findings of communicationresearch, working harder to share the findings of communication research than to share the methods of this research, and by collection and documentation centres and services". (1) It is difficult to talk i n terms of ideal research structures, but it can be recommended without hesitation that a l l those who are'ina position to influence research policy government, media councils, trusts, foundations,professional associations, etc. should at least ask the following question when deciding on their research policies: What is the best way t o allocate resources with a view to the solution of defined social problems? Within this programme three courses of action stand out: The collaborative linking of specialized communication research institutions which already have the capacity for such long-term, multidisciplinary, team-based inquiries, to undertake parallel programmes based upon a common design. At present, these sorts of institutionsare too scarce throughout the world and too little known to each other. Such inter-institutional CO- operation should be encouraged and fostered by internationalagencies and professional associations. Well worked-out CO-operative research programmes designed in this way could receive more ready support from funding agencies. More such specialized communication research institutionsare necessary both for national development and for international research. Having defined the research tasks, and the institutional ''gaps"which prevent the carrying out of these tasks, thought w i l l have to be given t o the creation of specialized institutions which can do the necessarywork. In s o m e cases,international or bilateral advice and technical assistance m a y be requestedto help in the settingup of appropriate institutional structures and training the necessary research manpower. In some cases, it m a y be necessary that such specialized communication research institutions assume a regional function, backing up national centres with additional specialized expertise not readily available locally, or substituting for them where they do not exist. For example, qualified communication planners and communication systems analysts are at present very rare people, as are creative research designers able to adapt methodologyandresearch techniques to cultural climates and local conditions.

(1) Wilbur Schramm, ibid.

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Regional research and planning centres could assist national policy and research councils by providing the assistance of these specialists to work with country teams to train counterparts within them. Regional meetings on communication policy

soon to be convened should urgently study the necessity for such regional communication research centres and propose appropriate action for their establishment.

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Chapter 4

Communication po I i c ies

Social structures evolve within the framework of the methods of communication available to society at any given time. Consequently, new and evolving social structures and technological developments make possible new and evolving individual and social opportunities and rights. The modern communications explosion demands a clearer and even new philosophy and approach to communication issues, that is, newer communicationpolicies for the reshaping of both national and international communication and social structures(l). Every society already has existing communicationpolicies, as no State can exist without them. C o m m u nication policies - either explicit in legislations, constitutions, codes of conduct, rules and procedures or implicit in accepted practices exist at the national, institutional and professional levels. They are, however, usually latent, fragmented and unco-ordinated,rather than clearly articulated and harmonized. Since such partial communication policies exist in every society, what is proposed is an explicit statement and deliberately prospective formulation of practices already, often, generally established in society. The elaboration o f communication policies proceeds, therefore, simultaneously,from the analysis and acknowledgement of existing practices, and the formulationof new principles and norms suited to the attainment of desirable future goals: the blending of pragmatic experience of the past and forward-looking.Recognizing the great differences in social and economic conditions as well as political systems throughout the world, one cannot conceive onlya single approach but rather hope to indicate key factors which should be considered applicable within the context of each country and region. Communication policies m a y be very general, in the nature of desirable goals and principles, or they m a y be more specific and practically binding. They m a y exist or be formulated at many levels. They m a y be incorporated in the constitution or

legislation of a country, in overall nationalpolicies, in the guidelines for individual administrations, professional codes o f ethics, as wellas in the constitution and operation of particular c o m munication systems, both governmental and nongovernmental. They m a y have world-wide, regional, national or sub-national dimensions. All national governments have at one time or another dealt with communication policies. Some have established permanent or ad hoc organs to advise on or deal with minor or major components of such policies. If they are, by chance, not part of the declared government objectives, they m a y yet implicitly exist in the established relationships between government and institutions, be they broadcasting companies, newspapers, publishing houses, professional bodies, etc. National communication policy measures are presently and typically drafted in a host o f differentministries and agencies. A telecommum a y handle policy and nications agency (PTT) plans for telephone and telegraph development (for example, the important subject o f radiofrequency allocation), while broadcasting itself is frequently the province of a completely autonomous organization, or o f a Ministry of Information and Broadcasting which m a y concern itself, in addition, with certain segments o f the publishing industry, such as the press. Ministries o f Education and Culture are concerned with a wide variety of audio-visual and publishing activities, while the judicial branch m a y involve itself with problems of copyright, slander and libel. The motion picture industry m a y come under varying degrees of control and local government scrutiny. Ministries of Science and Technology,as w e l l as those concerned with the development of commerce and industry, have policies and activities (1) Unesco, Meeting o f Experts on Communication Policies and Planning,C O M / M D / ~ ~ .

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which significantly influence the capacity and availability of the "hardware" which constitutes the technical basis of the media. Foreignministries m a y be involved in such international aspects o f communicationsas agreementon the establishment and operation o f facilities and the international exchange of news and programme materials. In many instances, the military branches of government,bythe sheer complexity and size of their communicationsrequirements, exert a significant influencepn national communications structures. At the same time, there are numerous nongovernmental communicationenterprises newspapers, motion picture companies, broadcasting organizations, etc. which have their own internal policies, although they might be operating, more or less, within the framework of official policies. It is all too often the case that each of these policy-making, planning, system-building and system-operating activities go on independently. Duplication of facilities and staffs can be the rule rather than the exception as agencies and organizations with similar needs proceed unwittingly, or occasionally intentionally, unmindful of the plethora of competing efforts. At the same time that communication activities and policy-making responsibilities are becoming more broadly dispersed in the government structure, the proportion of public funds which is invested in c o m m u nication is oftentimes also increasing, but the people's ability to effectivelymanage this investment is decreasing. A programme of publishing a series ofmonographs on communication policies of Member States was initiated by Unescoin1971(1). Its objective was to promote an awareness of the concept o f communicationpolicies at the governmental, institutional and professional levels through the analyses by Member States of policies as they exist within their countries. At the nationallevel, communication policies were here defined as the "sum total of the conscious and deliberate usages, action (or lack of action)in a society aimed at meeting certain communication needs through the optimum utilization of the ph sical and human resources available t o society''2). National policy involves decisions on the institutionalization of communicationmeaia and functions. It also entails controlto an extent which ensures that these institutions'operations are directed towards the public good. The agreed format for these studies specifies that after an outline of the concept o f communication policy and the description of the system of mass communication within the socio-economic and cultural structures of the country, the place of mass media in the national society should be analysed on three different levels the public one, which is based on existing legislation, an

analysis of the organization and functioning of the media institutions and their performance; and the place which those forming part of the media professionplayin society. It is important here to remember that these, and other, c o m m u nication policies studies examine their countries' policies as they existed at the time of the study. It is quite possible that countries, having c o m pleted this first step of analysis, w i l l see the need for muchmore critical studies in the future. Communication policies and concerns

- dimensions

"Communication policies are sets o f principles and norms established to guide the behaviour of communication systems."(3) Their orientation is fundamental and long-range, although they have operationalimplications o f short-range significance. They are shaped in the context o f society's general approach to communication. Emanating from political ideologies, the social and economic conditions of the country and the values on which they are based, they strive t o relate these to the real needs and prospective opportunities of "communication". One way of describing the dimensions which enclose the vast volume of what is involved in communication policies and planning would include the following: the communication system, its components and structures; the functions of the system; the "clients" or audience using the system, differentiated according to age groups, socioeconomic strata, sex, occupations, urban/ rural, persuasions, etc. ; the types of information carried by the system and its components,including news, entertainment, general information, education, music,

Unesco, CommunicationPolicies in Hungary, by Tamas Szecski and Gabor Fedor, Paris, 1974. Unesco, Communication Policies in Ireland, by John Stapleton, Paris, 1974. Unesco, Communication Policies in the Federal Republic o f Germany, by Walter Mahler and Rolf Richter, Paris, 1974. Unesco, CommunicationPolicies in Sweden, by Lars Furhoff, Lenart Jnsson and Lenard Nilsson, Paris, 1974. Unesco, Communication Policies in Yugoslavia, by Mirodrag Autamovic, Stevan Marjanovic and Prvoslav Ralic, Paris, 1975. Unesco, Working Notes for Meeting of Coordinators of Communication Policy Studies in EuroDe. . .Paris. 22 SeDtember 1971, P. 2. Unesco, Report of the Experts on Communication and Planning, C O M / M D / 2 4 . p. 8.
~

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data, conversation, opinion, cultural forms, etc.; the values and qualities or"the content of that information,such as truth, objectivity, relevance, educational effectiveness, violence, humour, sex, libel, etc.; a variety o f considerations about the system, its functions, its audience, the types of information and its qualities, including political, legislative, social, ethical, technical, economic, management, constitutions, laws, by-laws, codes, norms and standards, researchfindings, national, local, institutional, professional levels. Compounding the elements of each of these dimensions produces a large and complex number of policy/planning areas, many of which are important in any particular country. T o formulate any new and integrated c o m m u nication policy, the various areas of concern in policy formulation must be seen in order that it m a y proceed as a systematic exercise. Formulation of communication policies requires consideration, identification and determination of the following: The scope of specific communicationsystems (geographiccoverage, target populations). Policies m a y have national scope, affect all countries or at least concern several countries o f a region. But within national policies, or side by side with them, they m a y equally be relevant to specific segments of the population (particulargeographic areas, or people sharing ethnic, linguistic, occupational and other characteristics). Hence the first task is to identify the characteristics of the people involved in a communication system, and especially the "audiences" it is aimed at. This area of concern m a y be taken for granted, for example, the entire nation is the audience, but frequently such a global approach w i l l prove illusory and detrimental to meeting the many communication needs o f different parts of the population. There m a y be a need to considervarious minorities or even majorities, which under prevailing conditions do not have adequate access to communication, for example, rural populations, the lower working classes, women. In this connexion, it is equally important to consider whois presently left outside existing communicationpolicies. The non-audiences or excluded audiences m a y be as significantfor policies as the presumed audiences themselves. The principles and norms, that is, the values which underlie the nature, functions and needs of society and guide or should guide the behaviour of the communication system. Comrnunicationsystems m a y be seen to imply value orientations in two different senses: One set of values involves the structure o f a communication system which inevitably has repercussionson its social functions

and the content of its messages; thesevalues become apparent in response to such questions as, is it a one-way or two-way system, does itpromote the possibilities o f feedback and of multilateral communication, which is its relative independence from political and economic strains and pressures, how responsive m a y it be to divergencies of interests and opinions in society? The second set of values concerns the flow of messages within a communication system, the normative criteria on which the selection and formulation of messages is based. Since there is growing awareness that communication systems are not merely channels from established power centres to the general public as a "target", it should be askedwhether the values governing the structures of c o m m u nication institutions make it possible for the general public to be equally a source o f communication, whether these values safeguard the right of the individual to communicate, permit general access to the system and allow for feedback. Another value criterion arises in the critical assessment of the control of communication systems and their potential service to the many minorities which make up the majority of opinion and interest o f the people. Much the same can be said about theprocess of "gate-keeping" that normally goes on in all communicationinstitutionsas they make decisions on what information is to be established, and what information is not to be published, as well as on how t o present that information. As to the values involved in the actual flow of communication content, it should be stressed that policy considerations m a y only touch upon those messages which are or should be designed for public consumption, as is normally characteristic o f the mass media and those kinds of data which are o f public origin, as in the exchange of information among data banks. Other messages, such as private correspondence and telephone calls, lie outside the scope o f communication policies, strictly speaking. A consideration of the value orientation of content does not imply or suggest detailed control of content. Attention is focused on the identification and determination of the values reflected in the long-term flow of messages. Values relevant to communication policies should arise from the basic values of humanlife, as expressed, for example, in the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights", focused by respective political ideologies, and concretizedin those values which determine the social, economic, educational and cultural life o f the country. Such values are not always fixed, but often evolve with the constant mutation of values in response t o changing social needs and public opinion. Value criteria m a y also be important in

34

formulating policies concerning the relationship between national and foreign communicationsystems. H o w many national values and cultures should be protected and find expression? What are the values which underlie the present flow of information t o and from the country? What other values should be pursued and in what manner? What values should guide programmes aimed towards other countries and internationalprogramme exchange and dissemination? In identifying and determining the values involved in communication, the social functions of communication w i l l have t o be faced, as one essential consideration in the determination of normative values is the impact which communication exercises on society and its individuals. Since social functions of communication imply needs for communication, the identification and determination of values for the communication system imply simultaneous consideration of social values, social functions and social needs. The manageable elements material and hum a n of communication systems, which constitute the essential components of communication strategies and planning. Within the total flow o f communication, those elements w i l l have t o be identified which seem best suited for the implementation of policies. A number of separate, though interrelated fields are suggested as a framework, it being understood that these fields need t o be related to the value criteria indicated above, and that they w i l l have repercussions on those aspects o f the communication process which are not directly manageable. Such a comprehensive view obviously is filled with a quantity and diversity of detail, the analysis of which requires a staggering amount of expertise, time and resources. In practice, it is notpossible to formulate and apply policies, unless major areas o f interest have been identified. The question might be asked in each instance: which are the significant and manageable "leverage points" where the application of communication policies is likely to have the widest impact and the greatest longrange effectiveness? The critical assessment of the control of c o m munication systems,as: has already been mentioned in another context, is an eminent structural concern of communication policies. This involves not only general constraints on the communication system political considerations,economic incentives, response to audience preferences, orientation towards social functions, but also an analysis of the values underlying decision-making in the communication institutions themselves. A second aspect of policy related to structures and management concerns the technical facilities by which messages are produced, disseminated and received; these resources are often referred to as the l'hardware''of communication systems.

Consideration of hardware is not limited to an identification and determination o f the technical means which fit into the scope of the communication system in question. "Technicalresources" m a y also imply the production, import and sale of the equipment. Furthermore, certain aspects of the broader communicationresources technical infrastructure of the country are involved, for example, electrification, transports, etc., as far as they are directly related t o the establishment and operation ofcommunication facilities. A third aspect is the administrative structures which govern individual communication systems and the overallCO- ordination and planning of c o m munication. It is vital to specify the type o f control involved in every part of the system, to determine what are the dominant management considerations, for example,public service or commercial, and to establish the rle ofgovernmental, parliamentary, administrative and other public institutions. It is to find out what are also significanttopolicy-makers the lines ofcommand and how responsive the system is to influenceand reactions from other fields o f interest for example, education, agriculture, cultural affairs and from the users or recipients themselves. Manpower and training for the communication institutions is equally a responsibility which cannot be left simply to independent initiative. Each country, as an integral part of its communication policy, has t o foresee what types o f professionals are to be trained, in what numbers and at what levels. Only in that manner can balance be secured between the real availability of suchprofessionals and the actual and potential requirements of the communication system they are to operate. Moreover, training should not be solely concentrated on production/distribution skills; it ought to give also proper consideration to the country's needs for researchers and trainers in communication skills. The economics governing communicationsystems are an evident preoccupation for policymakers. This includes in the first place the relative costs and benefits o f public expenditures on communication. But it goes beyond, because even where no public funds are involved, the economics o f communication enterprises have an impact on the economy of the country as a whole and a direct influence on the content and social function of the media. In fact, many of the purposes of communication policies m a y be attained through economic and financial measures. Closely linked are the legal conditions which govern communication enterprises and influence those who m a y have access to them or find expression through them. A n assessment and overt acknowledgement o f existing legal rights, obligations and restraintsis one basis for the elaborationof future communication policies. Beyond the general legal

35

framework are specific legalissues, such as copyright and performers' rights, international law, labour legislation, taxation, etc. The above list is not intendedto be exhaustive. It is an indication of different and important aspects which policy-makers must take into considerationwhen they focus their attention on communication systems. Participation in communication policy formulation who is involved? A verypertinentquestion is "Who is concernedwith communicationpolicies and their formulation?'l. Communication policies, because of their wide scope, require responsible participation at many different levels: Government executive. Since communication cuts across established administrations and is a political factor, experience in other fields indicates that the basic orientation of policies, and the co-ordination required for their concretization and translation into planning, calls for endorsement by the highest authorities of the State. Because many media are economical only when applied on a large scale and integrated into the total process of social communication, coordination needs to be reflected throughout the political and administrative hierarchy. This is rarely possible unless authorized from the top. At the same time, it is importantthat the concepts of communication policy and communication planning should not be equated with constraint and censorship, with "dirigism at the top". O n the contrary, both should be concerned with assuring individualfreedom of expression and communication within systems which are compatible with the needs for social dialogue. Legislativebodies play an importantrale both through the laws concerningcommunication matters they m a y adopt and through the allocationof budgetary resources. Unless there is understanding of the significance of communication among legislators and close co-operationwith others, there is l i t t l e prospect for achieving the desired coordination and assuring the constructive rale of communication in society. Sub-commissionson communicationpoliciesand planning m a y be a useful matter for legislative bodies to consider. Authorities in charge of social and economic planning. Co-ordination of communication systems, integration into the social and economic objectives of the country, and allocation of important resources required for a rational development of communication infrastructurescall for decisions by the planning authorities. Individual ministries and their planning boards refer not only to those ministries directly in charge of communication resources and their use, but also t o all other ministries whichareinvolved in s o m e form of communication and are potential users of the media education, agriculture, labour, health, etc., as well as the technical

and social services which depend on them or operate with relative independence in their domains. Experience has shown that the integration of media into substantive fields such as education or agriculture, is likely to remain marginal unless it is provided for in the specific planningof these fields. Since the Ministry o f Finance w i l l directly affect the development and use of media through the fiscal and customs policies,it m a y be equally concerned at the planning level. Communication enterprises. In the first place, the ''massmedia", but also telecommunications, data storage and retrieval, as well as the industries which produce the required hardware and can supply software, such as information and programmes to the media systems. Professional organizations, whose members are involved directly in the media professional associations, labour unions as well as the industries which include staff of academic, training and research institutions concerned with communication. They exist in all countries and the situations vary according to the structureof the different media. While most of these haveas a first aim the protection of their conditions o f work, many of them are also concerned with maintaining professional and technical standards. There also exist international federations of national associations, as well as of individuals, of professional and technical workers in the mass media intended to assist the members and topromote co-operation between them. Such professional organizations (at whatever level),and when they function well, play an important rale in improving technical efficiency and in cultivating among their members recognition o f the rale o f the mass media and of their own responsibilities. The citizen has a direct stake in communication policies. The values and choices whichguide communication affect his personal interest. He is a communicator in his own right and requires access to the media for participation and expression. H e should be able to benefit from thepotentia1 services of communication objective information, education, vocational orientation and training, satisfaction of leisure time and cultural identity. There are different ways in which the citizen m a y influence communication policies through representation, through voluntary organizations which.are directly concerned with the content and conduct of the media or represent social and cultural forces who seek access to communication, through forms of direct action and through public debate (including debate through the media). The methods for citizen participation w i l l vary among societies, but its importance cannot be emphasized enough. The social scientist can make an essential contribution to the formulation of communication policies by supplying both quantifiable and

36

non-quantifiableinformation on the structure of society as well as on the content and impact of the messages carried by the communicationsystem. The rale o f the economist is crucial though confined. H e sees himself as a rationalistin the multidisciplinary policy-making process and attempts to organize and bring consistency to i t . His effort entails continuous attempts to encourage de cision-makers to adopt organized approaches to decision-makingand to return to basic data for each decision. His job is, then, to develop improved techniques for collecting data and analysing the results in terms which can readilybeused by those who make policy decisions. The c o m m u nication economist should be capable not only of evaluating the alternatives presented to him by others, but of widening the range of alternative methods o f achieving a given objective. H e is also expected to define the cost and benefit implications o f various sets of objectives and to trace least-cost strategies for policy-makers and planners. H e cannot, however, be expected to make the final choices among policy objectives, or to formulate definitive plans. A useful beginning for governments to consider is the setting up o f a national policy council, as a national body among others for organization, co-ordination and control o f the communication research programme, and as machinery required for the effective implementation of c o m m u nication policies and for the translation of these into planning strategies. While not the only way to go about the taskof assuring public participation i n the formulationof policies, a communication policy council could certainly provide a forum for discussions and could identify priority areas and key positions, and could clear the way for eventual implementation. Such a council is likely to be the firstopportunity for a meeting of minds among all concerned and the gathering of information from the many fieldsinvolved. The council could assign research tasks, collate information and stimulate exploratory discussions at many levels; subsequently it m a y elaborate policies or advise thereon for government and the communication institutions. A communication policy council w i l l only be able tooperate effectively if it is given long-range status and the necessary finance and personnel. Since decisions in the communication fields are likely to condition development for many years to come, they need to be well prepared and considered. This requires that the communication council has considerable stability although its membership may, of course, be regularly refreshed. Since research and assembly of data is a costly process which requires specialists and appropriate facilities so that academic institutions, economic and statistical services and others m a y be commissioned to gather and

analyse the required information, special financial allocations are necessary, The council itself w i l l need staff, office space and funds. The constitution of the council requires therefore important policy decisions by the authorities, decisions which in themselves w i l l raise basic issues about the importance and rale of c o m m u nication policies. Whether these decisions w i l l be taken by the executive or the legislative, whether finance w i l l come only from public funds or also from interested communicationagencies and academic institutions, whether additional resources can be found with foundations and international agencies, is a matter to be explored from case to case. These councils m a y initially have an advisory character and be charged with regular reporting to decision-making bodies. They m a y also be given certain executive competence. In principle, they should consist o f leaders in the field ofpolitics, specialists in administration, media practitioners, communication research scientists and others. The principal functions of such a council would be:(l) to promote coherent, national and comprehensive analyses of existing policies and controls and o f national communication objectives; to identify the rights, interests, obligations and interdependence o f various communication institutions within society; to enhance greater efficiency in the application and expenditures of frequently limited economic and physical resources by setting priorities and reducing internal contradictions; to safeguard the rights and interests of various sectors involved in communication enterprises by providing a forum for continuous discussion and clarification; to provide the framework for anticipating changes in media technology, assessing their value for promoting national and internationalgoals, and revealing their harmful effects; to perform a look-out function to foresee technological innovations on the international scene which m a y be important as quantum jumps in national c o m munication planning; to identify important internationalcommunication policy issues which are constraints on national policy; to ensure national compatibility with international norms and standards; to enable the nation to speak consistently and coherently at international discussions of c o m m u nication matters, and to recommend appropriate diplomatic action on questions involving international communication.

(1)

Unesco, Meeting o f Experts on CommunicationPoliciesandPlannina. C O M / M D / 2 4 . u. 19.

37

Finland is an early example of one nation's attempt to establish a commission for future c o m munication policies. In the early 1970s, Finland set up a "committee to consider the initiatives which the State should take on problems of mass communication,and to draw up an administrative model for a State body handling communications policy matters in a centralized manner"(1). This committee reported that in the next few years, development in the mass media field would demand increasing initiative on the part of the State. In the proximate years ahead, both a qualitative and a structuralchange were anticipated i n the communications field, where presently Finland's biggest problems for the traditional media are linked with distribution, expense and slowness. Development was seen as heading for the most efficient and cheapest means of distribution, that is, electric transmissionby wire or tele-distribution, including not only television distribution but other uses such as facsimile, the transmission of data impulses from one computer to another, etc. The electronic and cable network envisioned was to be able to transmit mass information towide sections of the audience individual citizens with all their communications requirements, and both public institutions and private business. A n extremely heavy financial investment would be needed. A development with such wide implications for the whole field of communications assumed the production of an overallplan by the State authority. In accordance with the facts established by

this study committee, the Finnish Council of State decided on 28 June 1972 to set up a Commission for Communication Policy, to m a p out the problems which surround mass communicationoperations and the initiative-taking they required from the State, and to draw up plans to resolve them. The task of this Commission was: to study the structure and economic state of the Finnish press, and draft a proposal on the organizations of press support, to study to which measures the State should resort so that a news agency with a sufficientstandard of service for all the media can be maintained, and to analyse what administrative adjustments could be seen as promoting State support, to elucidate the development of communications techniques and to draw up a proposal for State measures towards this end, to analyse questions of copyrightand international law surrounding the new forms of masscommunication, to study the need for centralization in handling communications policy matters in the State administration, and the making of proposals to which this would give rise; in examining the need for this centralization and in drawing up policy proposals, the Committee was also to take account of those forms o f communication which were not included in i t s assignments. (1) Government of Finland, Memorandum, Office o f the Council of State, Helsinki, June 1972.

38

Chapter 5

From policies to planning

Communication planning can only take place within the context of communication policies(1). It comprises action required for the establishment and operation of integrated and functional communication systems in society. Ideally, it would relate the process of communication t o social and economic planning, to political and cultural options, to the application of communication in many fields which need it, but are generally not directly engaged i n the operation of communication media. It would relate mediated communication to interpersonal communication, and it would incorporate the latter where it i s directly related to the media, for example, group discussion, feedback, research. It would co-ordinate and project the mediated communication process as a whole to make the most effective and economical use of all available channels. It would project and might determine the operation of individual media both through action at the governmental level, for example, the introduction of television or satellite communication, and more specifically through promotion of action at the level of the individual institutions, for example, broadcasting organizations, press . services, cinema enterprises, etc. Communication planning, i ni t s wide sense, embraces: the development of an infrastructure for the dissemination of information; the legal and administrative framework for communication systems; the establishment and utilization of the media of communication and the means o f public participation and feedback; the creation of professional institutions; and the training of personnel. Plans should respond to the needs for users and be based on research. The telecommunications infrastructure w i l l be designed to meet the projected demands, among others, o f the mass media in their various forms and of the network for data transmission between documentation centres and scientific institutions. The planning of integrated communication systems i s also a multidisciplinary exercise.

It involves authorities concerned with information, broadcasting, education, culture, economic planning, telecommunications, agricultural development and health education as well as media enterprises and communication professionals. While the development of communication systems has normally involved planning, the evidence of a plan m a y not always be obvious, nor m a y long-range objectives always be clear to those responsible for early planning. With the multiplication of communication systems, a statement of overall objectives for the use o f media m a y often become a necessity, particularly for those societies which expect a great deal from the application of the new technologies. A major feature of communication activities in most parts of the world is the poverty of mechanisms for co-ordinating and planning diverse components, or for taking into account complex interdependencies between communication and other fields of activity. Given the rapid development and spread of new technological means of communication which m a y make it possible to reconfigure the flow of ideas and influence in our societies, the feeling i s that the increased benefits of treating communications as a coherent field of concern would more than offset the considerable cost of analysis.

Strategic and operational planning Planning usually begins with a statement of goals. Where do w e intend to go? Why? Only then can it be determined by what possible routes can w e get there. The answers w i l l depend on where w e are now which i s our starting point? The latter in turn i s approached or answered by communication research.

(1) Unesco. Reuort of the Meetinn on Manaeement and Planning of N e w Communication Systems,C O M / M D / 2 9 , Paris, 28 March 1974.
I

39

Beyond policies and within communication planning, both strategic(l1 and operational planning processes have been identified(2). Strategic planning determines the alternative ways to achieve long-range goals and sets the frame of reference for shorter-range operational planning; it translates into qualified targets and systematic approaches the general objectives of communication policies. Since decisions concerning the implementation and structures of communication technologies are bound to have effects for many years to come, it i s important that they be made within the framework of a long-term strategic plan. For example, the introduction of television into a country; the step-by-step establishment of a ground-based communication network; the eventual use of satellite communication; the setting-up of paper, printing or electronic industries all these, and others, help to determine the long-range future of communication in a country. Similarly, decisions taken about the legal structure, the finance and the public responsibilities of communication media are equally likely to condition future practices to such a degree that they should be decided upon not only in the light of general policies, but also withinthe framework of strategic planning, which seeks to direct the development of communication towards the desirable goals of society and at the s a m e time to avoid undue overlapping and economic wastage. Because of the varying traditions, philosophies and aspirations of different societies, it is not thought possible, at this stage, to develop any generalized models for the elaboration of strategic plans in the Communication Sector, although it can be suggested that future research work should be concentrated towards such a possibility. Generally, two diametric positions between which individual countries would choose intermediary positions are noted: the intrusions of planning on communication services exclusively when the emergence of new technologies requires regulation and definition, or when broad new communication services are required which w i l l not be provided by a market economy; the integrated, centralized planning of the C o m munication Sector in all its dimensions as an essential part of the political and state-building process. In reality, strategic planning of communication takes place under certain constraints which operate to a greater or lesser degree in all societies. One difficulty encountered in longterm strategic plans is due to the rapid changes in technology and consumer attitudes. Another difficulty is that the goals, objectives and social functions for communication m a y require modificationwith changing economic and socialconditions.

A further difficulty arises from the fact that c o m munication inevitably involves a blending of publ i c and personal initiatives. Very often multiple objectives are being presented. The communication media are not simply providing a specific service or product; they w i l l have to accept a variety of demands from economic, social, political and creative points of view. Planning procedures therefore have to be devised to accommodate this variety of objectives and to consider future technological developments. At the s a m e time, it is emphasized that such constraints should not be an argument to the point where governments and media enterprises neglect or reject the importance of strategic n which planning, otherwise a situation arises i long-term commitments are made without due consideration of their implications. These are decisions which require public acknowledgement and deliberate choice; they cannot be left exclusively to the initiative of engineers, lawyers or other concerned specialists. There are vital strategic planning decisions which directly affect operational planning. Some of these are: short-range projects of longrange significance, such as those concerning training and research and the integration of communication into education; the establishment of professional training centres; the setting up of communication faculties in academic institutions; provisions not only for the use of technology in education, but also for conveying a better understanding of communication and the ability to express oneself through modern technology. All of these require basic commitments which w i l l be effective for years to come. Operational planning translates policies and strategic plans into the commitment of material and human resources; into administrative and operational structures; into categories of prog r a m m e output and ways of involvementbeyond the production/distributionprocess itself (co-ordination with other agencies, reception, feedback). It covers recruitment and training of manpower and COoperation with specialists or institutions which m a y contribute essential services technical

(1) The term "strategic planning" carries, particularly in the context of communication planning, a certain connotation of manipulation, or at least the potential for manipulation. Since, however, the possibility of manipulation cannot be denied, it i s thought preferable to retain this term in spite of this connotation, in order more fully to reflect the real situation. (2) Unesco, Meeting of Experts on Communica/24. tion Policies and Plannina. COM/MD , -. Paris, 1973.
U.
~

40

institutes, industry, statistical and research services, etc. Strategic and operational planning are one continuous process, not merely the drafting of plans which are presumed to be definitive. While one plan is being applied, the next one is in preparation, and there is continual feedback from this preparation to actual operation in the light of changing needs and technologies. This is, of course, a primary responsibility of "management", but management w i l l need the advice and guidance of professional communication planners. Conceptually, it would be most satisfactory if action could go successively through the stages of policies, strategies, operational planning and budgeting. In reality, however, planning and operational application can precede the formulation of policies. The emergence of new technologies particularly striking in the communication field, the initiatives of powerful enterprises, either publicly or privately owned and externally generated, and the immediate needs of communication networks to extend their range and improve their quality lead to action wherein the long-range effects have never been considered. Engineers and regulatory agencies often are not aware of the fact that their decisions, made within a limited context to achieve immediate ends, m a y determine the future of communication for decades to come. If operational planning and policies are not co-ordinated, considerable wastage and conflict m a y result. In this involved relationship between the differentaspects of policy and planning at the central and operational levels, as well as the constraints which communication policies and planning would have to respect in different societies, there i sa constant danger oftoo much compartmentalization. Rational administration does require division of labour and responsibilities, but not to the detriment of effective and innovative action. Innovation requires breaking through traditional, intellectual,administrative compartmentalization. This is particularly important in the field of communication. It i s necessary to step forward (when necessary cautiously), from present practices to future policies and decisions for practical implementation. In this process, there is need for continuous feedback between the different elements i n the policy-planning-implementationchain. If policy-makers, strategists and operational planners are separated from each other in any important respect, results are likelyto be contradictory and m a y be counter-productive. Communication policies are largely a matter which must be dealt with at the central level of a country, while planning, especially operational planning, should be much closer to the operation of individual media enterprises, and thus has to

be far more decentralized. Operational planning can only be undertaken by those who hold direct responsibility for the operation of communication media. While not denying the importance of centrally adopted communication policies, at the same time such division should do justice to the complexity of the communication process and the need to incorporate policies into the operation of each individual sub-system. Basic parameters, difficulties, constraints, problem areas and institutional issues w i l l be encountered in the communication planning process. Planning assumes different characteristics according to the political, social and organizational environment in which it is executed. In centrally-planned societies, the planning process tends to adopt different forms in different sectors (including communication)for different geographic areas and for different spans of time long-, medium- and short-term planning. In countries where multiple ownership/control patterns prevail, different points of interrelation are very likely to exist between strategic and operational planning approaches. The features of both patterns, combined with the specific problems of a particular country, can also be found. In the end, each country, whether developed or developing, must work out its own best strategy and planning. A s stated previously, strategic plans for the media m a y be made at various levels in the structure controlling and directing the media, whether it i s a government or a private agency. Operational planning, on the other hand, is typically carried out by the media workers themselves usually in response to audience needs and recommendations while functioning within the existing political and legal parameters. Thus, in the communication planning process, at both the strategic and operational levels, a good deal of adaptability is required, which acknowledges and reconciles a number of practical constraints. Communication systems for educational purposes, for example, include the following specific needs and objectives: planning and control; production and presentation; transmission, replication or distribution; administration and administrative co-ordination; tutorial guidance and leadership; the determination of observable responses and active learning; feedback channels and continuous evaluation; and, maintenance and regeneration of the whole system. At both the planning and implementation stages, channels, institutions, agencies and facilities have to be provided to answer all these functions. At the same time, this description of an educational communication system m a y also be relevant when defining the essential concepts and considerations in the strategic planning process related to the wider globalview of communication.

41

The elements included within planning for communication are mostly similar to those included in other contexts of planning mechanisms and management approaches, such as w i l l be found in any development planning context. More importantly, it depends upon the precision with which objectives are formulated at the strategic planning stage, where the contradictions and inconsistencies are recognized and, if appropriate, eliminated. In this situation, a number of tensions m a y often be produced. There m a y be a tension between the economic objective to be selfsupporting or to make a profit, and the social objective to encourage certain changes in attitude or behaviour. There m a y equally be a tension between the financial and administrative objectives to operate efficiently with an economy of resources, and the psychological and artistic demand of the writer or producer to be as free as possible of external pressures and constraints. Differences in orientation and background, as between different units and personnel involved in different parts of the communication process, m a y also produce tensions or misunderstanding. Certain disciplines, for example, those involved in feedback and evaluation, have an academic derivation, which i s often very different from that of the producer or distributor. This can lead not only to a breakdown in communication between different parts of the system, but also to inappropriate design procedures being adopted within sub-systems. The political factor too must not be forgotten in approaching planning and implementation. Decisions are frequently taken by political and legislative agencies which are not directly involved in the planning chain. Any model of the planning process must take account of such rand o m inputs. It has also to be realized that more precise and cogent communication planning has a radical effect on societies, and on all the sectors of which they are a part. A call upon communication m e dia to promote national development and integration m a y trigger off a later demand actually to remodel the development process. The ability of audiences to feed back reactions through an improved communication technology m a y generate a demand for revision of the political system itself.

The planning process: the need for data One logical and realistic framework for a national communication research programme is the sequence ofthe planning process. A s it was stressed in the previous chapters, communicationresearch. can provide a picture of the communication pattern of society not yet generally available and,
42

once a government possesses such data, it can refine very considerably i t s national policies and adjust its development plans and operations far more closely than it can possibly do today. The processes of planning of communication i l l involve the following('): within a nation w The collection of basic data and a systematic analysis of the country upon such bases as population densities, geographic limitations to communication, variety of social structures, ecology and agriculture, transportation, physical communications, mobility of population, electrification. industrial capacity, manpower, capacity, etc. The production of an inventory of the present communication resources, including modern and traditional media and analyses of the variety of present communication structures. Such an inventory should also include the study of the audience, its communication consumption patterns, etc. The critical analysis of present communication policies or lack of policies including such considerations as ownership, structures, decision-making, etc. The critical analysis of the communication needs of each society, especially in relationship with the existing social and communication structures and the uses to which communication is put. The analysis of the communication components in all aspects of the national development plans and programmes, in order to ascertain the c o m munication requirements of the programmes the communication capacity which is essential to the execution of the plan. These needs must then be reconciled with the means and capacity available. A n analysis of the constraints on communication developments and structures. The definition of aims, objectives of future c o m munication policies. The study of future needs and the projection of possible strategies and the structures to support them and the design of alternative approaches including their requirements for personnel, hardware, finance, research, training, commensurate with the values and goals of the society. The analysis of the economic, social, cultural, educational relevance of the alternative communication strategies and structures and upon the basis of ail these various scales of rele, ' vance making the choices which are necessary to implement plans and programmes. The phasing of overall development of communication systems in a logical sequence matching the

(1) Unesco, COM/MD/ZO, and Unesco, Revised midelines for the economic evaluation of national communication systems, C o ~ / w S / 3 6 6 , Paris, February 1974.

needs as assumed under present and future conditions as part of national development policy and planning. In most countries, it can be assumed, first of all, that a great amount of basic data about the nation w i l l already be available through consensus offices, bureaux of statistics, geographic and geological surveys, government departments of education, agriculture, health, etc. However, the selection from these sources and the collation of data appropriate to communication planning and the secondary analysis of that data in communication terms w i l l be another important function of communication research. Data on the communication system w i l l only have true meaning when related to the basic demographic and physical structures of the particular country. The production of an inventory of the present communication resources within the country in order to build a complete picture of the communication lines in society is the starting point to all future studies on the various factors governing the processes of communication. The inventory provides the background for investigations into the dynamics of the system. Without such an overall map, individual pieces of research w i l l lose their perspectives and policy decisions w i l l be based on inadequate evaluation of past achievements, present capabilities, and future possibilities. The communication inventory w i l l need to be qualitative as well as quantitative. It is important that all of the following aspects should be covered by empirical data, in both statistical and descriptive terms: Institutions of production and distribution measured in money, personnel, equipment, circulation and coverage, and divided according to the media (radio, TV, press, etc. ) , form of control (public/private, etc. ) , and form of income (licence,advertising, etc. ) . The production of the institutions measured in spaeeltime and divided according to broad categories of content (news, entertainment, education, advertising, etc. )(l). The consumption measured in time devoted to the media and divided according to the demographic background variables of the society. Many of these aspects of the communication structure w i l l already have been documented in most countries, but rarely w i l l they have been collected together to give a full picture of the total communication resources of the c o m k y . A n example in some countries would be where press circulation statistics are readily available, but the economic structure of the media has not been fully discovered this latter economic information is most important in the process of critical analysis of communication policies, as they presently exist.

Within the collection of data and planning, the communication research programme inquiring into the economic aspects of present communication policies should probably include at least these areas of concern represented by the following questions: W h o are the owners ofthe mass media institutions nationals, foreigners; are they individual family or group enterprises; are there variations with different media? What is the ownership pattern is there dispersion or concentration; are there interlocking multi-media ownership circumstances; are the enterprises organized on an anonymous or a nominative basis ? What is the sponsorship pattern is it mostly commercial, mostly official, or both, and, if the latter, in which proportions; is it only through advertising or are there present other mechanisms such as subventions, preferential tax treatments, etc. ? H o w is the funding of the sponsorship national, foreign; is there any predominant source of funds? Who, in the media, decide what w i l l be communicated and how i.e., owners, managers, practitioners? What are the values and the attitudes in relation to development of media owners, managers and practitioners? W h o takes the "in-or-out" and l'play up or play down" decisions which rules or criteria are these decisions based upon? H o w are media professionals and practitioners paid - in comparison with other professional and practitioner activities and work? What i s the method of recruitment and the nature of training (formal and informal) of media practitioners how do these factors seem to affect, in whatever way, their daily communication activity work and behaviour? Once information has been accumulated on such factors as ownership, sponsorship, operation and the policy decisions which are made daily at different levels within the media, a next important move for research within the collection of data for planning would be an analysis of the content of the messages produced by the institutions. Regularities in content orientation w i l l assist in identifying the realities of communication policies. Content analysis should be able to disclose opinion and information trends in the media which can then be compared with the stated policies and with the aims of national development.

Unesco, Report of Meeting on

Typologies of the Content of Radio and Television Material, Budapest, 1973, and Unesco, Meeting on Statistics for Radio and Television, Paris, April 1974.
43

Within the critical study of the content of the media to provide a fuller indication of the relationship between the statement and the reality of communication policy, the following areas of content analysis would appear to be most important(1): Developmental versus non-developmental (significant versus trivial material) content nature and proportions. Socialization functions what kind of norms and values do the media teach (reinforce or challenge) the people and to what extent are they functional or not, for development; how do media encourage or discourage certain behaviour in the public? Integration do media actually contribute to social cohesiveness and national unity or not? Innovativeness do media instil in their audience activity and innovativeness or passivity and conformity? . Compatibility are media providing people with messages that fit their culture and tradition or do they prefer alien orientation (values, no matter how subtly conveyed, in TV and comics, news, etc. ) ? Mercantilism are media, through advertisements, news, and other materials, inducing people to engage in over-necessary consumption behaviours, and, if so, what are the probable consequencesof it in relation to development? Before a national communication strategy can be defined, before a national communication plan can be developed, there is a further series of questions which w i l l have to be answered by research, and the necessary data collected and inventories prepared. These can be s u m m e d up under the broad heading of the constraints - both internal and external to the country and region which w i l l influence the policy and plans, and which w i l l affect any alternative paths proposed for the development of communication. Some of the less complex but fundamental considerations which should be studied at the national level include: The economic constraints on media development including such things as the level of investment in the communication sector which is possible within the national economic plan; trained manpower and human resources availability; import/export policies on media equipment and materials, such as paper, etc. Infrastructural "interface" problems, such as telecommunication networks and capacities; electrification; maintenance services; national industrial capacity for the production of media equipment such as TV and radio sets, etc. Social/political constraints such as linguistic groupings; literacy levels; religious and ethnic conflicts, etc. There are other powerful constraints which

w i l l influence national policies and planning, from outside, so to speak. These could be broadly labelled "international constraints'I, and although they should be realized at the national level, they demand to be studied by communication research at the internationallevel (cf. Chapter II). Such problem areas here would be: engineering standards; investment monopoly power; copyright and performing rights; frequency allocations; wire services and international news agencies; international telecommunication traffic patterns; external broadcasting, etc. The compilation of a descriptive inventory of the various aspects of mass communication should not be a single isolated exercise, but ought to be brought up to date at regular intervals in order to indicate trends and changes. Trends should be reported together with new data, and such trends should be registered whenever appropriate. The collection of data in this inventory would necessarily take place mainly at the national level, but it w i l l certainly serve as a fruitful basis for the compilation of basic data for the research at the international level as well. In this respect, it is probable that an organized compilation of the collected national data, in order to create a comparable internationalstocktaking of basic facts in mass communication, would have to be carried out by international bodies, such as Unesco(2).
The economics and finance of communication services economic evaluation of communication svstems

A s w e know, good communication policy and planning research, to be sound, has to take account of all variables that enter into a decision. No one finding is decisive. For this reasonpolicy(1) Content analysis by itself is too limited to

detect all the factors and should be carried out in association with a verification of the audience's media and messages preferences, in addition, research which compares the value systems of the audience with those values found communicated by the media would be an important parallel line of study. (2) Unesco, International Programme of C o m munication Research, COM/MD/20, 1971, Annex I, pages 1-3 for the presentation o f an inventory of major general suggestions, "list of indicators", organized into three parts: (I)Production and distribution systems, (II) Contents of the products, (III)Consumption and use, each part divided into a proposal for quantitative basic statistics on the one hand, and for supplementary sections of new quantitative description and suggestions for complementary research on the other.

44

and planning research, as w e have said, i s inherently multidisciplinary. Fundamental decisions about the nature of the communications system depend upon findings in psychology, sociology, economics, political science, organization theory, engineering and physical science, as well as upon social value judgements. It i s true that values and social philosophy play a bigger rale in communication policy and planning research than in the past. It is also and equally true that economics and engineeringltechnical studies must also play a larger rale. Economics is the science of the allocation of scarce resources, and any planning approach or effort is an allocation of scarce resources over competing goals. What is, or w i l l be, technically possible is also an essential input for good communications planning approaches. Since 1971, Unesco has systematically developed guidelines and initiallytested them in several selected countries for the purpose of the economic evaluation and planning of national communication The overriding working hypothesis systems .1'( has been, here as elsewhere, that no government can today disregard the functioning of i t s communication system. In a simplified manner, the economist's job can be viewed as a transformation process task in which (a)data and (b)value judgements enter as inputs to achieve results (outputs)which consist of (c)economically measurable and (d)other societal goals: (a)data

y
/

(c)economically measurable

(b)value

\ (d)other societal
goals

judgements

The simplest task is economic evaluation based on data to achieve results in the economic sphere (a c ) . In the communication policy and planning context, however, the most complex transformatiod task: (a + b)(c + d) prevails. The lack of a conventional body of theory to tackle this task creates a challenging opportunity. The economist cannot, by himself, choose among the various objectives that can be assigned to communications. His work is framed by a given priority listing of objectives. Yet, he can assist in the selection process by identifying the repercussions of a suggested course of action. Often the objectives do not stand out as signposts for future orientation, but they are internalized operational guides which derive from previous activity. For example, in the s a m e case of communication services, objectives m a y be expressed in terms of increasing the diversity of information

sources; of more flexible and cost-saving broadcast transmission; of a broadening of choice for the user; or of more opportunities for participation among users. In hard economic terms, the evaluation of communication media does not constitute a particular problem if and when the total income earned is sufficient to cover total cost, including an appropriate return to capital. In this case, a c o m munication project qualifies if its rate of return is above a cut-off level set by the planning authority. In many cases, however, there is a gap between total cost and the income earned from sales, licence fees or advertising, because prices or fees are set at a level that deviates from the one arrived at by the use of the market mechanism. This is so because governments are often interested in the widest possible access to media because of their public service componenti however, the dominant element in most communication media is the consumption, or entertainment, component. If now the presumed public service component justifies a deviation of rates from the market or equilibrium level, and thereby a subsidy from the budget equal to the consequent income gap, the direct income of m e dia m a y be considered as the equivalent in value of their consumption, or entertainment, component. The economic evaluation of media becomes then essentially a comparison of the economic and social benefits of their public service element, on the one hand, with the size of the public subsidy element on the other. The following classification is proposed: Economic effectsthat can lead to direct increases in national income, for example, agricultural extension services these are in principle measurable, either by measuring the income effect or alternative costs saved. Economic effects that lead to improvement of factors of production, for example, education and health programmes these are measurable only if a clear-cut concept of alternative costs saved can be worked out; on the output side, the problem is identical to evaluating other health or education investments; methods have been developed, but have not yet found universal recognition. There are finally economic and social effects the measurement of which is not only hampered by the paucity of relevant data, which is a general problem, but by the complete lack of a methodology for measuring these effects in terms that can be used in economic reasoning; and possibly improvements in public administration, national integration, quality of urban

(1) Unesco, Economic evaluation of national communicationsystems, COM/WS/S66, 1974.

45

life, etc. ; these are the residual social values of communication that must be pitched against the subsidy, not of any measurable economic effect. It should be stressed that the limits of economic analysis, as outlined above, are not fixed, but can be extended, by developing new methods of determining benefits in meaningful economic terms, on the one hand, and by improving the data input from other sectors, on the other. In fact, lack of relevant data to determine the value of crucial parameters i s the main impediment for a larger rale of the economist in the economic evaluation of communication projects. Given the present lack of comprehensive and firm knowledge in this area combined with the difficulty of measuring the output of communication the analyst w i l l have to adopt the very best working methods and attain the very best data and information available. Likely data sources for questions concerning environmental, social or macro-economic conditions are national statistical offices, plan organizations, and the relevant ministries for the more specific information required on education, literacy rates, or infrastructures. Macro-economic data on national production and income, as well as income distribution, m a y often be obtained from reports of international agencies, such as Unesco, the World Bank, or one of the regional institutions. The most likely sources for data concerning the history, status and evolution of various media are the ministry of information, media administrations, professional and trade organizations, as well as university or private research institutions. Advertising agencies can also be an important data source, especially on information concerning media use, income distribution and spending habits. Where the media are privately owned and organized, problems m a y arise from the multitude of firms, One possible approach for this i s to inquire whether the media are subject by law to some form of public reporting, and to follow the search up by contacting media associations, research institutes, and scanning professional journals. A s a general rule, conflicting data from different sources tend to be less damaging than unchecked data from any single source which later on turn out to be false. O f the inputs the economist needs from other sectors in order to be able to make his contribution, three sorts m a y be singled out: In the first place the economist needs clear objectives and an indication of their hierarchy; the better the policy-maker'sobjectives in different sectors are spelled out and the more they are formalized, the larger is the possible contribution of the economist (or the systems analyst) . Secondly - the economist needs a wide range of

data in order to assess the requirements for communication and the feasibility of alternative propositions; since communication cuts across all sectors of society, the range of data required is correspondingly v a s t ( ' ) Finally particular emphasis i s placed on data that express the effectiveness of different communication media in achieving their public service objectives in various fields under varying conditions; these coefficients of effectiveness are the crucial parameters for the translation of communication effects into economically relevant sources; the derivation of such coefficients i s an urgent task for communication research, and, until results w i l l be forthcoming, the bottleneck for an adequate economic evaluation of communication projects.

Bases of decision-makina Decisions which involve fundamental changes in f the attitudes and behaviour of a large number o people, the acquisition of complex specialized skills, and investment in expensive equipment and plant often require courses of action which have l i t t l e inherent flexibility. In such cases it is important that adequate time and resources be applied to analysis, and that a comprehensive array of alternatives be generated and evaluated against carefully specified goals. One way of defining the problem-solving process can be expressed as follows(2): Within such a framework, which includes the characteristics, the constraints, the resources and the requirements of a system, it is possible to explore problems and structures in many different ways functional, geographical, operational, maintenance, growth, decision-making flows, etc. There are a number of analytical techniques, which can be used to determine optimum or near optimum configurations for each of the major alternatives. At issue i s usually either an output m a x i m u m for a fixed set of resources or minimum use of resources for a given output from the system. Most often, it i s the latter, and the analysis takes the form of cost minimization under constraints. Some of the constraints that must be considered in such an analysis include: the existing infrastructure both mass media and telecommunication, so that duplication and overlapping services and facilities m a y be avoided;

(1) A comprehensive list of relevant data has been drawn up in Unesco's Revised midelines for the economic evaluation o f national communication systems, COM/WS/366. (2) Unesco, COM/WS/369, op. cit., p.7.
Y

46

problem

I
Analyse current operations (2) Determine goals(') and ob~ectives(~) Analyse environment

I
Analyse inventory of resources and capabilities

I strategies(4

Determine,. .
J

I
Determine constraints (internal and Analyse system requirements (5) Conduct feasibility studies

I
Determine whether (a)to go with existing systems (b)to modify t h e m (c)to design n e w ones

(1 ) Goals as self-imposed performance/growth targets. i t h indications of expected time (2) Objectives as desired states of affairs w
path for attainment.

(3) Current operations involve a detailed description of flows of money,

materials, services, ideas, products, and information through the organization and the types of processing involved. (4) Strategies visualize the future and work back to the present. (5) Requirements as demands on the organization if aspirations are to be fulfilled.

time preferences for both output and expenditure streams resulting from the projected alternatives, most often handled by using either bank or social discount rates which weigh the sequence of net outlays or returns in a single figure called the net present value or net worth of the suggested alternatives; risk aversion or preference on the part of the decision-makers or project sponsors, as some of the alternatives confronting them m a y carry higher degrees of uncertainty of eventual outcome or alternatively appear particularly attractive on other than economic grounds. These calculations make use of a probability model that selects the course of action yielding the greatest expected value for output (or least expected cost), taking into account the potential reluctance of those responsible to incur a large loss (o,r a dramatic deviation from the intended result), no matter how small the probability of occurrence. It is a method for building into a

project insurance against disasters, it increases awareness to the decision-maker of not achieving the desired ends, and it m a y identify potential beneficiaries and victims of deviations from the predicted path of events; use of shadow or accounting prices based on opportunity cost or alternative potential use and benefit calculations, by assigning a value to resources that is held more representative than market price. A businessman would use market prices to estimate the relative merit of various options. Costs and benefits from a macro-economic, national or developmental viewpoint may, however, not coincide with the growth and profitability assessment for the project in isolation. F r o m the central policy angle, labour-intensive occupations m a y be preferred over capital-intensive ventures or domesticallyproduced over imported materials. A second type of adjustmentthrough opportunity costing i s required when a project, because of its size and impact, changes the prevailing structure of market prices. A third type of adjustment results from the fact that some alternatives w i l l affect the efficiency of other economic activities in the society in the beneficial or detrimental sense (externalities). Additional techniques to be dealt with through economic analysis include: demand projections for various services and outputs from the system under study, technical forecasting (theanticipated rate of technical progress and its impact on utilization, cost and system flexibility), capital budgeting and cash flow management (to determine financial viability on the basis of self-imposed rates of return and liquidity requirements). The comprehensivesystem approach assumes that the analyst can proceed in orderly fashion through the various phases of operation. Often, however, precise goals are absent (plurality of partially conflicting goals, ultimate clientele to be served not yet known), or it is impossible to trace out completely alternative courses of action for analytical comparison (inaccurate or missing data, imprecise or distorted measures for some types of outcome). Also, the large number of alternatives which must be analysed coupled with the difficulty o f obtaining consensus on specified goals makes this type of synoptic analysis described above unduly complex, costly and time-consuming. Nevertheless, decisions of some consequence w i l l still have to be made even under difficult circumstances. T o tackle such situations, a body of analytical techniques referred to as decision analysis has been developed, mainly in business. The focus of the technique is the decision itself, and it proves most useful in situations where "action forcing events" place the decision and range of alternatives outside the control of

47

the analyst. The methodology is incremental or sequential in i t s application, and it sacrifices efficiency in order to gain flexibility in avoiding t s most powerful tool i s risk of serious loss. I the "Bayesian" formulation of mathematical probability, enabling to take explicit account of the uncertainties associated with the outcome of a given course of action. A further refinement of the technique, known as "utility theory", makes it possible for the analyst to incorporate the value judgements of a decision-maker, that is, what any given outcome is worth to him, into the probabilistic decision analysis. Finally, when the decision-making process is likely to overtake the process o f analysis in the communication policy planning field, the following short-cut approach m a y prove useful: establish the comparative economic weight of the communication sector in the economy and of the media within the sector; adjust this raw weighting by a differentiated scaling according to the social impact, the public service function, the contribution to the development goals, or the educational service provided by the media under consideration; sketch the comparative growth history as well as the intentions/demand /supply extrapolations or forecasts; a check on the current capacity situation for each medium is required in this context; determine the comparative contribution in terms of value added within the national economy and in terms of international exchange for each medium; adjust this calculation by a corrective scaling according to socio-political,cultural and educational criteria; compare efficiency (output-relatedproductivity check) and effectiveness (goal-relatedoutput check) both within the operational and broader societal framework; list, group (that is, interrelate), phase, and cost policy measures including incentives/disincentives, regulations, direct action, etc., most likelyto improve on performance and goal attainment within the prevailing political and socioeconomic setting. Planning integrated media systems The distinction between media "relations" and "interrelations" is more than just an academic exercise, for it implies a change in philosophy and in attitude. Throughout their development, media have been related in some way technically, economically, managerially, operationally, in terms of content format and cross-reference, etc. By a relationship,l i t t l e more than a connexion or association i s inferred, which need not involve

any systematic or functional correlation. More recently and for a variety of good reasons, closer correspondence of media have been and are being planned, in order better to achieve particular results, for example, efficiency, economy, a closer matching and meeting of objectives. This can be said to imply an interrelationship, that is, a functional and systematic interdependence both planned and explicit. A change in attitude towards the planning and utilization of media i s taking place, and there is a definite movement towards greater self-consciousness and specifics, Links between media can here be viewed i n two ways. They m a y provide general constraints to be taken into account in the formulationof communication policies and in communicationplanning or, they m a y be part of a planned strategy. In both cases, media can no longer be seen in isolation; they must be viewed in the context of their utilization, relations and interrelations. The manner of introduction and the nature of growth of the media in different societies have a significant bearing upon the media relationships. When there are similarities c o m m o n to most societies, these normally arise from the technologies which have created the media. The technology of printing is c o m m o n to newspapers, periodicals and books, while that o f electronics is c o m m o n to radio-television,sound and picture recording, data systems, computers and carriage by telecommunication systems and space technology. While this i s obvious, it has a bearing upon operational techniques and skills, and therefore upon technical and management relationships. In those industrial societies which first saw the growth of the media technologies, there has been a continued concentration of interests leading to strong inter-media relationships. Although this would appear to have accelerated useful technical developments, it also has been done at the expense of the use to which the media have been put. Many examples can be given to illustrate the extent of technical and management relationships: the growth of radio broadcasting networks inevitably resulted in close relationships with linesystem operators; the development of sound-onf i l mrecording stimulated research into microphone design and manufacture, helpful also to radio broadcasting, but resulting in investment by electronics manufacturers i nf i l m and broadcasting, sometimes to the point of outright owneri l m production ship; the higher cost of sound f i l m industry on heightened the dependence of the f the banking system, and led to interlocking relationships between electronics manufacturers, the f i l m industry, radio, banking and the development of the computer: the development of television inevitably thrust the f i l mindustry into television to protect its investments; the rise of television

48

changed the nature of radio programming - increasingits dependence on the recording industry of f i l m and movies, and of the press, all leading to more and more interlocking directorates, especially of communication and of financial (in those countries where this applies) and of political interests. These relationships have too often resulted in networks of self-interest of a few rather than networks of genuine better information and communication for all. Even in those societies in which the historical relationships have been less complex, other factors have shaped development, such as the early movement of f i l m media specialists into television, with a subsequent misdirection and misemphasis of television, the significance o f which is now realized. The fact that these relationships exist m a y tend to restrict the best deployment of the new media and l i m i t their utility. At most levels, it is accepted that each of the media acknowledges the existence of other media in i t s day-to-day operations. A radio service takes account of the composition and viewing patterns of a television audience in drawing up i t s programmes; newspapers make reference to and draw material from radio and television programming, and vice versa. This must, therefore, be taken into consideration in any planned and integrated approach. Communication planning is also, and oftentimes more so, concerned with media interrelations which deliberately group the media to help achieve specific objectives. In this, various dimensions have to be treated economic advantage, increased administrative efficiency, suitabilityand relevance in meeting stated development objectives. For example, it m a y be that there is an economic advantage in combining radio and television news services, to allow them to share a c o m m o n pool of reporters and news sources; or, it m a y be that the printing of newspapers, magazines and periodicals can be handled more efficiently using shared presses. O n the administrative front, it m a y be that radio and television services can reduce costs by sharing a c o m m o n administration. This can apply also to postal services and telecommunication facilities. The same analysis naturally requires a consideration of disadvantages and dangers inherent in media interrelations. C o m m o n ownership or management can hinder the development of genuine alternative information channels. A sharing of technical services can also produce similarities of editorial policy. Much of the planning process for media, therefore, comprises the weighing of pros and cons which derive from closer working relationships. This i s likelyto be a more difficultexercise when issues of content, editorial policy, format and presentation are involved.

It i s now suggested that when media are used together i n systematic combinations the resulting product should be even stronger, more convincing, more forceful. This arises because different media have different strengths and weaknesses and depend upon appeals to different senses or groups of senses. It i s to their advantage, in reaching out to audiences, to capitalize upon strengths and diminish weaknesses. Moreover, the audiences for different media are not compartmentalized and do not exist in isolation, for example, people who watch television also listen to the radio and read newspapers and magazines, and media presentations w i l l be stronger if they acknowledge this fact. Systems management One of the keys and part of the essence of planning and forward-lookinganalyses o f alternative approaches in order to produce functional systems for the new society of the future - is management. A working description of management, in relation to planning, is that management is "like driving an automobile", whereas planning i s "concerned with i t s design". A s management itself can be described as communication or at least that all management problems are basically c o m munication problems w e are concerned here with the management of media institutions. Since management often implies business management (where the main criterion is efficiency) and no attempti s here made to rationalize the profit element as an objective, media institutions can be described by the kind of business or work which they are in. Within the framework of generally accepted and understood business categories, communication can be realistically seen as a "service" business a large and unique part of the service industry. The service which communication provides (how well or how c o m pletely being heavily dependent on environmental factors outside the control of management) is dualistic and perhaps can be best described by its major components, namely as a service to the individual language, awareness of rights and obligations, cultural links, regular supply of information and entertainment, policies of government, structured information which enhances formal and recurrent education, norms and values, a framework for viewing society (at home and abroad); to society propagation and conservation of shared values, control on the dynamics of human interaction, a description of the society's character, building and growth of ' balancing institutions, relationship between institutions, relationship between individuals and institutions, employment. All of these are "time" services, and the form in which these servicesare delivered varies according to the technology employed, and can

49

be relatively stable in quality. The major variable is content, and the management of content can focus its attention on the two aspects of production and consumption. Both organizational research and management have in recent years paid increased attention to the Organization's ability to deal with change and increased complexity i d its environment. T o a certain extent this has always been a preoccupation of successful organizations, but it has come more and more into focus since the rate of change in economic, social, political and technologicalfactors has increased and continues to increase. Change in the above factors has led to the start of new organizations and to more complex relations between components in the organizational environment. The implications o f this development for management i s that it must face more complex decisions in most policy areas more frequently than before. A s it has been said, "management w i l l never be simple again". There is now a need for the development of new decision-making tools and procedures to assist managers to handle the new situations they are regularly facing. Planning should be making a vast and continuing contribution to more effective management, but too often the necessary planning has been a "resounding and expensive failure". A survey of any representative group of companies or organizations w i l l document the conclusion that in most of them planning falls short of making an important contribution to group accomplishment. What w e know least about and what continually vexes those who are vitally concerned with the effective utilization of knowledge is implementation(l). And one of the continuous threats to successful project implementation is that what had been conceptualized at one level, tends to become modified by further needs assessment and additional views on project goals at other levels. Whenever funding depends on multiple sources, these centrifugal tendencies m a y cause delays that have to be dealt with. The management required to satisfy the multilevel kind of participation likely to be attracted, for example, to satellite projects (federal, regional, local government, social groups and their administrative representations) has to be politically sensitive and yet dedicated to the respect of certain operational rules, such as: balance of total effort, short-term impact of venture, room for flexibility, to see the project through to generally accepted implementation. Consequently, management has a strong interest in assuring continuing research and development as a basis for planning more elaborate project operations, including concern with the structure of rales and powers and their redefinition as the project grows. The point at which the media institution be-

comes involved to a significant extent i n research and development w i l l be largely influenced by environmental and size conditions. The technological options available both in the acquisition of the technical systems and the move to research and development w i l l be a direct result of management's development and use of i t s external and internal information systems. Keeping abreast of the technology requires a long-range planning optique and relatively orthodox management practice. The pace of change and the predictability factor are readily manageable. Furthermore, the purpose of introducing new technology in any organization is ultimately to improve organizational effectiveness. There are many alternative routes to improved effectiveness. Each w i l l involve the introduction of change in a particular subsystem and process. The basic problems perceived in the management process of new communication ventures include the following(2): H o w to realisticallyinvolve users and maintain an open system, while at the same time assuring operational efficiency and economic use of technology? H o w to foresee, and if possible monitor, the social and economic consequences of project activity dictated by user expectations? H o w to orchestrate the various, and possibly contradictory, needs as they become expressed? The need to be well aware and keep abreast of the social dynamics of the local scene, where the project is to make its contribution. The need to remain aware of the limits on experimentation in both the social and technological areas, and of the danger for the whole if the social and technological efforts are not in harmony. In cases where projects are controlled from the centre, yet designed for foremost local use, and on the broader organizational or administrative plane, the principal concerns are: the need to assure technical quality of service; continual collaboration of ministries and governmentdepartments concerned; arrangements for the training of personnel; and co-ordination through current budgeting procedures. As to the merits of centralized versus decentralized systems, the more efficient control of resources for given projects within the context of the broader needs of the communication system and of the society i s one of the likely advantages of centralized operations, against the risk of inappropriate programming from ignorance of (1) Unesco, O n the implementation o f models and systems, by Anders EdstrBm. (2) Unesco, Report of the Meeting on Management and Planning of N e w Communication Systems, COM/MD/29, Paris, 28 March 1974.

50

local realities and desires. O n the other hand, the advantage of the decentralized or dispersed systems, even despite the presumably lower rate of technical efficiency in reaching given objectives, is the very possibility of ease with which multiple objectives or additional applications can develop within the system. One of the most frequently cited issues in the discussion on management is funding. Depending on the scale, sponsorship and location of various projects, funding approaches range from direct cover of all project or programme costs by a central authority to intricate multi-fund c o m bined with multi-purpose systems. There is no clear-cut evidence that multiple funding leads to divergencies. One of the major policy problems here is how to justify transfers from the public budgets (that is, tax receipts), in order to stimulate a single project beyond the level of support it could expect from the market. It is, of course, to be recognized that dire needs m a y not be able to express themselves via effective demand, for lack of sufficient income. The problem is thus thrown back into the political and policy sphere, beyond project management confines. Planning of a project for the communication sector as a whole, as a user of resources and as a producer of services is a daily reality. Nevertheless as to the present situation in communication planning, there i s no general model incorporating a large number of relevant factors which can be manipulated to accommodate widely different configurations. A general and working model would comprehend a number of partial approaches,! and would, if ever, grow out of and be tested by them. The practice of planning, whatever the subJect matter and context, does however have some generalstructure. There are formalsets of interconnected operations such as objectives and goal formulation, resource allocation, process designs, evaluation procedures and so forth. The emphasis and explications assigned to each part of this framework vary from one undertaking to another. Much depends, among other factors, on: the magnitude of the commitments being made; the uncertainties and riskiness of the venture; and the degree to which the shared values and working relationships of those involved have been long accepted or recently established. These shifts of emphasis, changes of nuance and modifications of approach, in response to the interplay of economic, technicaland socialforces are the essence of translating an abstract scheme into an authentic programme. Among the more practical issues on which those concerned with operations can more easily agree than the researchers, are such themes as: project goal definition; project balance; need and use determination; resource mobilization; and evaluation

of efforts with a view to improvements. Experimentation is also significant, as an integrated approach in i t s own right. In social reality, and more precisely in communication-project reality, the laboratory approach is hardly applicable. Stimulation exercises are limited, except for specific project components of a technological nature. Communication experiments are conducted in real time with real people. The scene changes as the experimentationproceeds, as needs are assessed and the pressure forneed fulfilment increases. All the needs of experimentationgive a new meaning to the term "externalities", widen it to embrace the socio-politicalprocess, representing spill-overfrom the project that often upsets established structures grounded in tradition. The experimental project often turns out to be a sort of anti-plan in an environment where planning connotes an activity aiming at a wellcontrolled, and as far as manageable, at a surprise-free world. The internal mechanics of the experimentation do follow orderly patterns, employ planning devices, attempt to resolve conflicts through arbitration and trade-offs, and apply management strategies. There w i l l be progressive commitment as more time, effort and money are invested in the preliminary surveys, as individuals become involved, take positions and make commitments. The key quality of an experimental project is its ability to remain flexible, to absorb and integrate learning from negative experience as useful information for further orientation. The continuous flow of corrective information becomes the spinal cord of the outreaching project. Internal and external communications tend to functionwell where the people involved witness that corrective information is speedily noticed, processed and translated into decisions. There are better chances forthis to happen if decision patterns locate responsibility closer to the problem. The elements suggested here present some c o m m o n ground for technically inventive, socially progressive, and, in their management approach, integrative and experimental projects for improved communications in various parts of the world. Manpower planning the need for professional mediators

As part of communication policy, there must be

provision within a national communication plan for both academic and professional training of communication personnel. Training is an integral part of helping to generate the necessary communication infrastructures,manpower, technical skills and services, and assisting to integrate them into the totalnational development plan. Without training, no real programme can proceed. "How best can w e train people for work in the media of communication"? This question,
51

which confronts decision-makers and media m e n in every country, is like most such questions, in that it can be answered only after w e have asked a number of other questions. What kind of society are w e talking about? What i s the present status of the mass media? What is the educational system ofthe country? And, what kinds of things do w e expect the media to accomplish for society? It i s the mediator/communicator who designs and creates the message, selects the means, arranges the communication. If he is not properly trained and educated, the programme in which he is working m a y well be valueless, if not counterproductive. Without a competent engineer, a broadcast message m a y not be properly heard or seen; without a competent producer, it m a y not be well enough conceived or executed to appeal to or be understood by even the primary target audience. At all levels, up-to-dateprofessional skills are needed.' Training implies the following. It is "a process of instruction, planned and executed within a well-conceived methodology, designed to impart both particular and general skills, techniques and knowledge. It is intended to develop the talents of an individual to his own best advantage and to the advantage of the institution which sponsors him; as such it should promote his own satisfaction, enrich and improve the efficiency of his working base, and help realize the educational and social objectives set by the wider c o m munity to which he belongs''('). Any viable communication plan should ensure that academic institutions can feed to the potential market manpower with an educational background relevant to market needs, while professional institutions should be available to upgrade and update the skills and professional attributes employed in various fields of communication. Professional training institutions m a y be defined and structured either in terms of the various disciplines of communication, such as television, radio, press, film, individualized modern media, traditional media, etc., or as a single communicationtraining institution encompassing the whole range. The choice w i l l depend on the total communication system in a particular country. In the context of long-range development of mass communication and the demands such development w i l l impose on its manpower requirements, it is obvious that realistic manpower projections must relate to the goals, objectives and targets enunciated by the national development plan. In most countries, training at all levels i s not yet related to any precise manpower investigation of the communication sector. Mass media recruitment simply lacks the infrastructures which are present in, for example, education or the civil service. A disciplined approach to the field i s still required.
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Technology transfer, external assistance and mutual Co-oDeration N e w communications technology portends enormous advances in the potential for information processing and distribution by making information accessible in kinds and quantities not dreamed o f heretofore. The expansion of communication and information processing capacities m a y have consequences of enormous social benefit on the one hand, or be detrimental to different groups in a society, depending on the particular direction of application of the technology, the institutional structure of controls over the technology, and the particular environment in which it is introduced. This makes the dual tasks of planning the direction of application of communications technology and devising an institutional structure in which i t s development w i l l be responsive to the public's interests crucially important. In most fields, new technology is conceived primarily in terms of its consequences for economic efficiency in expanded production. But the direct economic effects of communications technology, although substantial, m a y be one of the less significant areas of impact on society. W e have learned only belatedly that an ever-expanding gross nationalproduct m a y bring with it enormous social costs. In communications, the "externalities" the consequences that occur outside the narrow analytical framework of the private decision-maker are likely to dwarf the effects considered in making specific economic decisions. Hence, effective planning in communications must go beyond the aggregative and basic forecasting of direct and quantifiable economic effects. It must also address the fundamental issues relating to the particular structure of technological applications and evaluate the consequences for society as a total system(2). But the purpose of economic planning here is to obtain the maximum benefit from technology in the least possible time. One way to define development is the degree to which the population understands the nature of technology. The problem of transferring technology to developing countries is not only a question of moving hardware for whatever the reason or reasons but also of the developing and receiving countries adjusting to the technology and compromise. The compromise is an internal matter. Each country has the duty and right to decide what risks it w i l ltake in introducing

(1) Unesco, The training perspective, by Alan Hancock, National Broadcasting Training Centre, Kuala Lumpur, 25-29 June 1973,p. 5 . (2) Unesco, The economics of media systems, by William H . Melody, COM-73/CONF/605/3b/2, Paris, October 1973.

technology and incurring the socialconsequences. The technology of communication is at once a typical and special case. Television has been introduced in many countries which lack the financial means and skills required to use the medium either widely in the geographical sense or deeply, in the social sense. The technology itself the hardware systems is generally the least of the problems associated with the introduction and development of communication media. Experience has shown that the real difficulties lie in what m a y be described as the socialintegration of technology. The technology itself has limited adaptability. Adaptation must also take place in the traditional socio-economic and political structures of the country concerned. The problems of steering and preparing the existing structures for the needed change are also, basically, problems of communication. Before undertaking any investment in technology and before finalizing external assistance programmes, the donor and the recipient society need to determine what problems they are trying i l l have to to solve. The receiving countries w gear their development plans to accommodate the aid and technology they receive, while the donating countries also need to spell out their purpose in aiding and need to give more attention to the best ways of solving the particular problems of the recipients.

Planning the integration and development of communication systems, which are secured through bilateral or intermediary institutions and which can help to produce a workable plan for orderly and positive development, is essentially part of the total communication planning task. There is today a growing body of economic planners and systems analysts with wide experience in the development process. However, too many developing and receiving countries are deficient in the knowledge and experience related to communicationplanning, and this is often the major impasse in the total picture in which technology transfer and external assistance and mutual co-operation is but a part. In dealing with the relationships between donor and recipient countries and institutions, as far as external assistance is concerned, it seems that there are four main areas of need on the part of the recipient which makes external assistance essential: the lack of available human resources in determining communication needs and planning; in implementing; in staffing communication institutions and facilities; and, scarce capital resources. I t seems that, i n general, receiving countries too often suffer from a combination of all four areas of need, while in some cases greater emphasis is placed on one or more of these four problem areas.

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Chapter 6

Conclusion: Communication policies and Unesco's programme

The importance of a planned approach to c o m m u nication in society and the need for nationalcommunication policies were central to deliberations at the sixteenth session of Unesco'sGeneral Conference, which authorized the Director-General to "help Member States in the formul-ationof their mass communicationpolicies". It was at this Conference that Unesco's programme in this regard was first designed. In the introduction to Unesco's programme for 1973-1974, Director-General Ren6 Maheu wrote, 'I. . . the espousal of the idea of anational communication policy . . . . . completes the process which, beginning with educationalplanning twelve years ago, has progressively geared the various parts of the programme to the task of systematically directing national efforts in the field ofUnesco's competence in pursuit of specific objectives in a word, in furtherance of apolicy which is itself an integral part o f comprehensive planning for that development. Thus thelast area which has not yet been touched by what I have called technical assistance in regard to policy is henceforth open for action in depth by the Organization comparable to that which is being undertaken by the other sectors, in some cases in the most intimate and direct associationwith the policy-making process, in others less so. The present Draft Programme assuredly constitutes ho more than a first step in this direction and progress w i l l be slow and difficult. But the very fact that this first step has been taken deserves mention because it represents an innovation which m a y have farreaching consequences"(1). Only thirty years separated the emergence of mass media from Article 19 of the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights, which unanimouslyproclaimed on 11 December 1948, "the right of freed o m of opinion and the expression of opinionas a c o m m o n right for all mankind". The United Nations Conference on Freedom of Informationheld in that same year stated that this freedom was

"the touchstone of all the freedoms to which the United Nations is dedicated". This Conference adopted a series of measures to help make that fundamental human right a reality. Since 1948, the United Nations and Unesco have co-operated actively in promoting full enjoyment of information as a part of their efforts in the field of human rights. The very preamble of the constitution of Unesco states explicitly the belief of the signatory powers in the "unrestricted pursuit of objective truth and in the free exchange of ideas and knowledge", based upon which they are "agreed and determined t o develop and increase the means of communication between their people and to employ these means for the mutual understanding, and a truer and more perfect knowledge of each other's lives". Unesco's programme is a reflection of the world's present communication reality. Its progress of thoughts, ideas and action conditioned by technology, politics, economics, etc. over the relatively short span of a dozen years shows Unesco's progress and development i n these matters. To realize its purpose, which is "to contribute t o peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science and culture" one of Unesco's main functions, under its Constitution, is to "maintain, increase and diffuse knowledge". Unesco has always recognized-the value of the advance of human h o w l edge and creativity both in themselves and as indirect contributors to international understanding and peace. Helping the development of the international communities of scientists, scholars and artists has been at the centre of Unesco's purposes. Much of its work has been embodied in contributions to "pure" knowledge and creative activity in our time, while its efforts aimed at fostering

- -

(1) Unesco, 17 C/5, 1972, paragraph 31.

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the progress of ideas in education, the natural sciences, communication, the social sciences and culture have been based to a large extent on study and research carried out within the Organization or directly promoted by it. Knowledge, however, today advances at unprecedented speed, on many fronts and all over the world. M a n has athis disposal meansof acquiring, processing, storing and transmitting knowledge whose enormous power and potentialities he does not always fully control, just as he cannot always fully grasp their sheer size. These are powers easily abused, and often confined withinnarrow domestic walls. They do not always fertilizehuman creativity,nor is creativity brought sufficientlyto bear on the potentialities of presentday knowledge. Unesco's responsibilities in the advancement of knowledge and the creative spirit are therefore as great today as they were when the Organizationcame into being, if not more so. The investigation o f the nature and rale o f communicationin contemporary society is a basic and crucial element. This area derives from the massive growth in knowledge and data,published and unpublished, in documentary form and statistics an exponential growth which,when coupled with enlarged and sophisticated means for transmission and presentation, results in what i s sometimes called "information overload". It is directly concerned with the exchange and the means of making this informationconvenientlyavailableto users the "information services". The increase involume of information is a global phenomenon, although the distribution o f the growthis very muchuneven, and there is a general demand for the development of informationsystems and "delivery" services. The techniques being studied and applied call for an international integrated effort, whether from the point of equity, the need for rapid development in underprivileged countries, efficiency o f applied research and experimentation or the basic requirement of mankind that the information so systematized be susceptible of easy distribution and exchange. Historically,mass communicationmedia have been implanted and developed in the different countries and regions o f the world under highly varying legal and organizational provisions and to serve very different purposes; only invery rare cases has there been a concerted approach to the problem o f communicationin itself. Similarly,

individual disciplines have, from individual institutional bases, improvised systems to meet their requirements in information and documentation without regard to the broader problem. It is only in recent years, largely due to the sudden advance in communication and information technology, that the need for explicit policies and conscious planning, co-ordinated with overall development planning, has begun to be recognized. It was this thinking which led Unesco's General Conference, at i t s eighteenth session at the end of 1974, to include as one of the four "problem areas'' around which Unesco's six-year, medium-term programme for 1977-1982 should be concentrated, that of "Communicationbetween people and the exchange o f information". The Conferenceinvited the Director-Generalto ensure that particular importance be given in the prog r a m m e to the "promotion of research . .. on the application of the right . , . to information" and t o the "development o f information systems and services, includingpolicies, infrastructures, training, information transfer and exchange and tools for systems interconnexion". In addition, the Conference suggested that the programme should include "the rale o f mass media as a means of social cohesion, including the influence o f modern transmissiontechniques on contemporary behaviour patterns"(l). In a related decision, the General Conference authorized the Director-General "to study ways and means by which active participation in the communication process m a y become possible and analyse the right to communicate . . . and to report . . . on further steps which should be taken" (2). The consideration of the right to communicate m a y soon be seen as a key issue in the formulation o f national and international communication policies. It is a concept which demands careful study both from students o f the communication process, planners of communication systems and policy-makers dealing with communication issues. It m a y well be that in the latter half of the communication decade this new human right m a y become a key issue in the move towards balanced economic, social and cultural development and it m a y well set the form for the c o m munication media of the future.

(1) Resolution 18 C/10.1 (2) Resolution 18 C/4.121

56

Bibliography and documentation

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59

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