Towards Equity in Global Communication?

This is a book about global communication and equity. It comes as the world of media and communication has drastically changed. The fundamental issues and structures behind digital communication remain basically the same as they have been over the past 50 years. Also the communication problems and policy questions raised since the 1970s at the United Nations have not lost their overall relevance, while new perspectives emerged in moving from the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

The main issue of the media world is to which extent the resources for communication—both material and mental—are distributed in a fair and equal way between nations and people. New technologies have brought along many new possibilities, but their potential has far from materialized due to social and economic structures. While “imbalance” as the overall theme since the 1970s has been replaced by “digital divide” in the 2010s, the fundamental question is still equity.

The book begins by offering a broad overview of communication by two eminent scholars. Johan Galtung’s presentation of the triangle State-Capital-Civil Society is a classic in the study of media and society. Majid Tehranian’s examination of communication and democracy suggests an exceptionally powerful historical and visionary perspective.

The rest of the chapters are either updated from the first edition or new chapters that provide up-to-the-moment appraisals of some of the most important socioeconomic and political issues that affect the world of communication currently.

The Appendix provides a complete record of the eleven MacBride Round Tables that were held between 1989 and 1999, a strategic move to carry on the idea of the NWICO in the ecumenical spirit of democratization of communication as advocated by the MacBride Report, Many Voices, One World (1980).

This book is meant for the students and scholars of international commuication and development, political economy, and international relations. It is also a resource for members of governments and NGOs, as well as advocates of human rights and grassroots communication.