''Many Voices One World'', also known as the MacBride report, was written in 1980 by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

), which reports to its International Commission for the Study of Communication Problems. The MacBride report was named after Irish Nobel laureate and peace and human rights activist,

Seán MacBride Seán MacBride (26 January 1904 – 15 January 1988) was an Irish Clann na Poblachta politician who served as Minister for External Affairs from 1948 to 1951, Leader of Clann na Poblachta from 1946 to 1965 and Chief of Staff of the IRA from 19 ...

, and was tasked with analysing communication problems in modern societies, particularly relating to mass media and news, considering the emergence of new technologies, and suggesting a form of communication order (

New World Information and Communication Order The New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO, also shortened to New World Information Order, NWIO or just, more generally, information order) is a term coined in a debate over media representations of the developing world in UNESCO in ...

) to reduce obstacles to further peace and human development. Among the problems the report identified were concentration of the media, commercialization of the media, and unequal access to information and communication. The commission called for democratization of communication and strengthening of national media to avoid dependence on external sources, among others. Subsequently, Internet-based technologies considered in the work of the Commission, served as a means for furthering MacBride's visions. In the 1970s and 1980s, major changes in media and communication were enacted thanks to the MacBride report. They promoted policies directed at the liberalization of the Telecommunication market, monopoly powers as well as the comparative advantage, or dominance, of broadcasting and newspaper companies. While the report had strong international support, it was condemned by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

as an attack on the freedom of the press, and both countries withdrew from UNESCO in protest in 1984 and 1985, respectively (and later rejoined in 2003 and 1997, respectively).

The MacBride Commission

The International Commission for the Study of Communication Problems was set up in 1977 by the director of UNESCO Ahmadou-Mahtar M’Bow, under suggestion by the USA delegation. Based in Paris, France and has over 50 offices around the world, it was agreed that the commission would be chaired by Seán MacBride from Ireland and representatives from 15 other countries, invited due to their roles in national and international communication activities and picked among media activists, journalists, scholars, and media executives. The members of the MacBride Commission were: *

Elie Abel Elie Abel (October 17, 1920 – July 22, 2004) was a Canadian- American journalist, author and academic. Early life Born in Montreal, Quebec, Abel received a Bachelor of Arts degree from McGill University in 1941 and a Master of Science in journ ...

(USA) *

Hubert Beuve-Méry Hubert Beuve-Méry (5 January 1902 in Paris – 6 August 1989 in Fontainebleau) was a French journalist and newspaper editor. Before the Second World War, he was associated with the Vichy regime until December 1942, when he joined the Resista ...

(France) * Elebe Ma Ekonzo (Zaire) *

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter, and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one ...

(Colombia) * Sergei Losev (Soviet Union) *

Mochtar Lubis Mochtar Lubis (; 7 March 1922 – 2 July 2004) was an Indonesian Batak journalist and novelist who co-founded ''Indonesia Raya'' and monthly literary magazine "Horison". His novel ''Senja di Jakarta'' (''Twilight in Jakarta'' in English) ...

(Indonesia) * Mustapha Masmoudi (Tunisia) * Michio Nagai (Japan) *

Fred Isaac Akporuaro Omu Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico R ...

(Nigeria) * Bogdan Osolnik (Yugoslavia) *

Gamal El Oteifi Gamal ( ar, جمال) is an Arabic surname and male given name. Notable people with this name إبراهيم ابومياله: Surname * Amr Gamal, (born 1991) Egyptian footballer * Mazen Gamal (born 1986), Egyptian squash player * Raghda Gamal, ...

(Egypt) * Johannes Pieter Pronk (Netherlands) *

Juan Somavía Juan Somavía Altamirano (born April 11, 1941) is the former Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO). He was elected to serve as the ninth Director-General of the ILO by the Governing Body on 23 March 1998. On 7 November 2 ...

(Chile) *

Boobli George Verghese Boobli George Verghese (21 June 1927 – 30 December 2014) was a senior Indian journalist. He was editor of leading newspapers the ''Hindustan Times'' (1969–75) and ''The Indian Express'' (1982–86). In 1975, he received the Ramon Magsay ...

(India) *

Betty Zimmerman Betty or Bettie is a name, a common diminutive for the names Bethany and Elizabeth. In Latin America, it is also a common diminutive for the given name Beatriz, the Spanish and Portuguese form of the Latin name Beatrix and the English name Bea ...

(Canada), in substitution of

Marshal McLuhan Herbert Marshall McLuhan (July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media theory. He studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of Cambridge. He began his ...

, then ill The commission presented a preliminary report in October 1978 at the 20th General Conference of UNESCO in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. The Commission's seminal session on new technologies to address the identified problems, was hosted by India at

New Delhi in March 1979 New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

. The final report was delivered to M’Bow in April 1980 and was approved by consensus in the 21st General Conference of UNESCO in Belgrade. The commission dissolved after presenting the report. Because of controversy surrounding the report and the withdrawal of support by the UNESCO leadership in the 1980s for its ideas, the book went out of print and was difficult to obtain. A book on the history of the United States and UNESCO was even threatened with legal action and forced to include a disclaimer that UNESCO was in no way involved with it. The MacBride report was eventually reprinted by Rowman and Littlefield in the US, and is also freely available online.

References

* * *

External links

* * {{cite web , url=http://www.privust.com/the-macbride-report-many-voices-one-world-unesco-1980/ , title=The UNESCO MacBride report as a searchable pdf UNESCO Communication studies

The MacBride Commission

See also

References

External links