|FREEDOM PAPERS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | Back
Freedom Paper No. 1

BUILDING FREE AND INDEPENDENT MEDIA
By David WebsterIntroductionRegulation of the MediaManagement and the MediaProfessionalism and the MediaConclusionThe Growth of the Newspaper Industry in South
KoreaGuidelines for Regulating BroadcastingA Draft Law on the Government's Regulation of
BroadcastingTraining for Media ProfessionalsGlossaryBibliographyContactsAbout the Author | BUILDING FREE AND INDEPENDENT MEDIA
By David WebsterIntroductionRegulation of the MediaManagement and the MediaProfessionalism and the MediaConclusionThe Growth of the Newspaper Industry in South
KoreaGuidelines for Regulating BroadcastingA Draft Law on the Government's Regulation of
BroadcastingTraining for Media ProfessionalsGlossaryBibliographyContactsAbout the Author
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|BUILDING FREE AND INDEPENDENT MEDIA
By David WebsterIntroductionRegulation of the MediaManagement and the MediaProfessionalism and the MediaConclusionThe Growth of the Newspaper Industry in South
KoreaGuidelines for Regulating BroadcastingA Draft Law on the Government's Regulation of
BroadcastingTraining for Media ProfessionalsGlossaryBibliographyContactsAbout the Author

Countries around the world that have recently emerged from
authoritarian and totalitarian rule are discovering that a free
political society cannot exist without free news media.  Because
democracy involves public debate and open decision-making, the
free exchange of ideas, opinions, and information is essential. 
Newspapers, magazines, radio, and television serve as both forums
for debate and sources of information on which decisions can be
based.

Building an open society is never easy.  If the world's new
democracies are to preserve and extend their newfound freedoms,
institutions that reflect and sustain free communication must be
developed in both the public and private sectors.  These new
institutions can impose a heavy burden of responsibility both on
journalists and on politicians.  A distinguished Polish editor
(who was formerly with an underground newspaper) bemoaned the
difficulties of the new liberalized system.  "What's the
problem?" he was asked.  "After years of repression you are now
free to publish."  "Yes," he responded, "but now we are supposed
to find out whether it's true or not."

Journalists, politicians, and officials must learn the
difficult lessons of how to interact in a free, open society. 
Even within long-established democracies this interaction is a
struggle.  In the emerging democracies, it is both more difficult
and more urgent.

The level of freedom and independence of the media depends
on three main factors.  The first is regulation; the second, the
presence of able managers and the ability to be economically
viable in the new market; and the third, the degree to which
professionalism and responsibility are exercised.

Regulation of the Media

In authoritarian societies, the media are largely controlled
by the state.  As countries around the world begin to liberalize
their political and economic systems, the task confronting them
is how to pry loose the print and electronic media from the grip
of the state.  Karol Jakubowicz, chairman of the Polish
Broadcasting Reform Committee, described the problem this way:
"This is not a question of deregulation.  We never had any
regulations, just a man in the back room who told us what to do. 
Now we have to create a structure of law and regulation in which
independent broadcasting, in both the public and the private
sector, can be developed."

For the print media, the issue of regulation is simple.  No
regulation beyond the commonly accepted laws protecting
copyrights and prohibiting libel and slander is necessary. 
Within these few guidelines, anyone who has the means to
reproduce printed material should be allowed to do so.  One
country that has begun to free its print media is South Korea,
described in a sidebar to this article.

For their part, radio and television broadcasting have
special technical constraints.  The potential number of radio and
television channels is limited by the size of the frequency
spectrum.  Someone must therefore decide who may broadcast over
which frequency.  The result is necessarily a degree of
regulation.

Although regulation of broadcasting is required, such
control should be as limited as possible if it is to support free
communication.  Broadcasting works best when it promotes, rather
than inhibits, the independence of public and private
broadcasters.  Requiring print or broadcast journalists to be
licensed, for example, gives the state too large a role.  The
First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States is the
beacon: "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom...of
the press."

A note issued by the Trans-Atlantic Dialogue on European
Broadcasting concerning broadcasting in Eastern and Central
Europe and the former Soviet Union is a good example of how to
approach the problem of regulation and is summarized in a sidebar
to this article.

Points drawn from a draft outline of an ideal regulatory
law, written by the Trans-Atlantic Dialogue on European
Broadcasting, also follow this paper.  This draft would have to
be adapted for specific countries, but it does give examples of
subjects to be addressed and suggests solutions.

Political control of the content of programming not only
stifles liberty, but can also create farce.  For example, when
the German government was pressing for the diplomatic recognition
of Croatia, Croatian television authorities banned films about
the First and Second World Wars in which Germany was shown in a
bad light.

It is not easy to escape old biases favoring state control. 
Although Albania is attempting to liberalize its media, the 1991
debates surrounding a media law were based on the assumption that
all media need to be regulated and that freedom of speech is
something bestowed by the state to those who deserve it.  The
resulting draft law attempted to regulate everything, including
magazines and books.  It also required all activities to be
licensed by the state, even though that license would be freely
given.  This draft has now been set aside, and new ones are being
discussed.  It is not yet clear, however, whether the final law
will recognize that in an open democratic society, freedom of
speech and press is a birthright, not something that comes with a
permit issued by a ministry.

Management and the Media

The freedom to report and to express an opinion is only one
link in the chain of communication in the written press and in
the broadcast media.  The other vital links are printing and
distribution in regard to the print media and the acquisition of
transmission facilities in regard to the broadcast media.  These
constraints involve economic more than political issues.

In some countries, printing plants are controlled by the
state.  The government can easily kill a publication through
arbitrary pricing, claims of insufficient printing capacity, or
scheduling difficulties.  State management of the supply of
newsprint can also create problems.  In Uruguay, for instance,
policies designed to protect domestic paper companies
significantly raised the price of paper, making it difficult for
small newspapers to survive.  Mexico's state paper company, on
the other hand, no longer has monopoly status.  It is now trying
to compete in the market by improving quality and adjusting
prices.

In addition, the state often has a monopoly on distribution
through the post office and through control of newsstands.  Here,
inefficiency, lack of capacity, or a straightforward refusal to
distribute can also destroy the right to communicate, and thus
effectively act as indirect censorship.

Once these restraints are removed, an even bigger problem
looms for the print media, born not of state control but of the
free market.  There are more publications than the new markets
can sustain, and there are too few managers with the skills to
run profitable newspapers and magazines.  Many publications are
accustomed to operating with state or party subsidies.  They may
be unable to compete effectively in a new market system, even
though they embrace democratic values.  Some publications will
survive by using sensationalism and other unattractive techniques
used in the West.  Others will adapt to the market.  Still
others, such as those in Hungary and Poland, will attempt to
survive by engaging foreign partners.  Inevitably, however, many
will fail.

For broadcasting, the problems of independence are much
greater than for the print media, and the political impact of
broadcasting is likely to be even more important.  As we have
seen, there is a justifiable initial government involvement in
broadcasting because of the need to manage a frequency spectrum. 
This can leave open the door for continued government
interference.  Almost all governments and politicians would like
to control television, and some succeed in doing so.  Television
is a powerful medium, especially in countries where only a couple
of channels exist and serve as the main means of communication
with people in rural areas.

How then can one wrench the broadcasting system out of the
hands of the state and create economically viable systems of
independent private- and public-sector broadcasting?  The first
step of course is to end the state monopoly on broadcasting.  One
way to begin the process of diversifying the broadcasting media
is to proclaim the right to free communication, such as appears
in Article 10 of the European Declaration of Human Rights.  Then
a law, such as that outlined by the Trans-Atlantic Dialogue on
European Broadcasting, may be passed with the objective of
protecting the independence of broadcasting in both the public
and the private sectors.

Some form of private commercial broadcasting, introduced as
quickly as possible, can facilitate the expression of a variety
of voices and opinions.  The easiest way to create diversity is
through small radio stations, which have small capital
requirements.  In fact, all over Eastern Europe new broadcasters
are receiving licenses.  Large-scale commercial television, by
contrast, requires time to develop, for it needs a thriving
market economy to sustain it, since it relies on substantial
advertising for income.

Foreign investment can help fund new radio and television
broadcasters, but these broadcasters must eventually become
profitable in their own right.  They must not be dependent on
never-ending injections of cash from foreign investors.  Even the
most noble-minded and courageous foreign investor will lose
enthusiasm at the prospect of providing a permanent subsidy to a
money-losing enterprise.

At the same time private commercial broadcasting is being
introduced, the state broadcasting system must also be reformed.
Some argue that all broadcasting should be private and that the
marketplace alone should decide who will survive.  This argument
is not yet relevant for the newly emerging democracies, because
their economies are not strong enough to sustain much commercial
television broadcasting in the near future.

Others argue that the state broadcasting system should be
left to collapse naturally.  Such a collapse, however, could
create a vacuum, and the only people likely to exploit it are
foreign entrepreneurs.  Foreign investors present no particular
danger except when they are the only players.  Broadcasting
should reflect the society in which it operates.  Therefore
networks dominated by imported programming, where foreign or 
domestically owned, warrant some concern, particularly if they
are the only networks.

The goal then is to transform the state broadcasting system,
which is controlled both financially and editorially by the
state, into an independent public-sector broadcasting system that
receives some financial support from the government but is
insulated as much as possible from political pressure.  Yet more
is required.  Public-sector broadcasting, as experienced in
authoritarian societies, is typically run by an inefficient and
overmanned bureaucracy.  It will not survive without radical
changes that enable it to become economically viable and to use
limited resources in the most efficient way.  It must be
restructured and reduced in size in order to survive under new
economic conditions.  The managerial skills required to make this
transition, however, are in short supply in the new market
economies.  A great deal of training and experience involving
trial and error will be required to develop the necessary skills.
It may even require a new generation of managers.

One way to create viable private-sector broadcasting in
small and underdeveloped markets involves greater regional
cooperation.  Together, small countries can use economies of
scale.  By pursuing joint activities, they can acquire more
"muscle" in the marketplace.  Satellite technology offers the
possibility of regional distribution in various languages.  For
instance, a satellite can send a network signal that would
include one picture and audio tracks in several languages to
hundreds of private local television stations.  The local station
can choose the language it wishes to use and rebroadcast the
program on its local over-the-air frequency.  These stations
would otherwise have a difficult time providing a full schedule
on the limited revenues available to them.  Of course, for such a
system to work, countries must have the political will to
cooperate and must forgo the pursuit of some short-term national
interests.

Models for cooperative arrangements exist in both the United
States and the United Kingdom.  The U.K. commercial television
system, for example, uses a joint scheduling arrangement, in
which 15 separate companies negotiate to develop a national
television schedule.  In the United States, each of the
television networks is affiliated with hundreds of local stations
to which it offers programming.

Another political imperative is to ensure that ethnic and
linguistic minorities are fully served.  Lithuania recently took
a step in this direction when it granted approval for the
operation of a commercial radio station targeted at the
Polish-speaking audience living in and around the capital of
Vilnius.  Potentially explosive issues related to minorities can
only be exacerbated by their omission from the structure of
broadcasting.  Addressing these minority audiences is easier to
do on a regional basis than on a national basis.

One step toward useful cooperation is a bilateral agreement
such as that adopted by Poland and Belarus.  In July 1992, Polish
Television and Belarus Television signed an agreement concerning
an exchange and coproduction of programming.  According to the
agreement, information and current-affairs programs, films, and
entertainment programs will be exchanged free of charge.  In
Poland, some of the programming will be broadcast in Belarusian
for the Belarusian national minority there, and in Belarus, some
of the programming will be broadcast in Polish for the Polish
ethnic minority in that country.

Among the most important issues to address in a new, more
diverse broadcasting system are the problems of frequencies and
of transmission.  In most countries frequency management is
regarded as a professional mystery, and many professionals would
like to keep it that way.  In the communist world, frequency
management often was, in fact, a state secret.

New democracies can enhance freedom of communication by
making the management of frequencies a transparent process, so
that any citizen can challenge the process and the resulting
decision.  The regulatory body can begin by reassessing the
overall capacity given to the country under international
agreements and the allocation of that capacity within the
country.  For instance, has too much capacity been given to the
military with too little remaining for civil and commercial
broadcasting purposes?  Next, regulators must consider how
efficiently the spectrum has been managed.  Can more stations be
squeezed in?  The answer is usually "yes."

Transmission can be an equally important issue.  In many
countries, a ministry of communications controls all radio and
television transmitting equipment and conducts all transmissions,
charging broadcasters for the service.  This arrangement has two
major disadvantages: the broadcaster is subject to arbitrary
pricing, and transmission can be cut off at the whim of the
ministry.  With the collapse of the totalitarian state, many
ministries have tried to maximize their own revenues by
arbitrarily raising transmission charges to broadcasters.  This
price rise has put an additional strain on existing broadcasters
and made it more difficult for entrepreneurs to enter the media
market.

Creating a free market for these services would not only
increase efficiency but also encourage freedom from political
interference.  Within certain technical parameters, anyone,
including broadcasters themselves, should be allowed to build
transmitters and offer services.  At the very least, those
services offered by the state should be subject to rate review,
as are public utilities such as water and electricity in the
West.  Under this system, the regulatory body would set rates for
transmitting based on what it decides is a reasonable profit for
the transmitter.  The best solution, however, would be a free
market in transmission services.

In programming, as in transmission, the basic aims are
independence and diversity.  Of course, given a limited frequency
spectrum, not everyone can be a broadcaster.  Even with the most
efficient and enlightened management of the frequency spectrum,
there is a limit.  But there are other ways to encourage
diversity.  Many would-be television broadcasters, for instance,
really want to be producers--that is, they want to make the
programs to be broadcast--and they need easy access to a
broadcast market.  One way to encourage diversity, therefore, is
to ensure that broadcasters transmit not only programs that they
themselves have made but also those made by independent
producers.

In the United Kingdom, for instance, 25 percent of the
programming on all television networks must be independently
produced.  In fact, one channel (Channel 4) produces nothing of
its own but relies solely on independent production companies for
its programming.

The advantages of a healthy independent production industry
are enormous.  Not only does it provide diversity, but it also
offers many entrepreneurial opportunities at comparatively low
start-up costs.  For example, after allowing a network to
broadcast a program once or twice initially, producers can sell
the rights to that program elsewhere, such as in foreign markets,
on videocassette, and on airlines.

This independent entrepreneurial activity is an important
part of free communication.  It allows different voices to be
heard and helps to protect broadcasting from political
interference and assaults upon its independence, because it makes
such assaults more complicated.

Professionalism and the Media

Many of the problems that confront freedom of communication
in newly emerging democracies have little to do with the
shortcomings of government and much to do with the inadequacy of
journalists themselves.  It would be unrealistic to expect
journalists in newly free societies to have impeccable
professional judgment.  Societies that emerge from repression to
the shock of the market typically have few accepted ethical
standards.  The legal foundation of civil society is weak; the
opportunities for corruption are many.  The notion of conflict of
interest is unfamiliar and poorly understood, and in the struggle
for survival, public assets are often used for improper private
gain.  Some newspapers in Mexico, for instance, are starting to
move away from a system in which reporters also sell advertising,
an arrangement that creates serious conflict-of-interest
problems.  A law regulating the media cannot address all these
issues.  The enactment of general laws concerning, for instance,
property rights, bankruptcy, and contracts is also essential.

In both print and broadcast journalism in the new
democracies, freedom can be a heavy burden, for it involves
responsibility.  Inevitably, people will say, write, and
broadcast ideas that are irresponsible and threaten to increase
social and political problems.  Efforts to address this problem
should not rely upon repressive restrictions but rather focus on
developing professional skills and sound judgment in journalists.

One example of an overly restrictive broadcast law comes
from Romania.  According to summaries, Article 2 states:



- Freedom of audiovisual expression cannot prejudice a
person's dignity, honor, and private life or a person's right to
his or her own image.
- Defamation of the country and of the nation; incitement
to war or to national, racial, class, or religious hatred;
incitement to discrimination, territorial separation, or public
violence; as well as obscene attitudes contrary to good morals
are forbidden by law.
- Broadcast of information which according to the law is
secret in nature or may prejudice national security is forbidden.
- Civil responsibility for the contents of information
broadcast by audiovisual means of communication through which
material or moral damages have been caused rests, in the
conditions of the law, with the owner of the broadcast license or
with the owner of the station that broadcast the information.

These rules might be acceptable simply as a code of conduct,
but the draft of Article 39, dealing with criminal penalties,
states:



- Programming and broadcasting of products violating
provisions of Article 2 are an offense and punishable by six
months to five years imprisonment.
- If provisions of Article 2 (2) and Article 2 (3) are
violated by programming and broadcasting of products, punishment
is provided for by the penal law, increased by two years.

The fears of the Romanians are understandable.  Ultimately,
however, people cannot learn to be responsible unless
responsibility is given to them.  The poor decisions made by some
imprudent journalists may infuriate, but they must be dealt with
not by criminal penalties, which extinguish freedom in the name
of responsibility, but by exhortation, example, and training.
(Many organizations now offer training for journalists in new
democracies; a few of them are listed under "Contacts" at the end
of this paper; others are described in a sidebar.)

In some new democracies, years of repression and underground
pamphleteering can lead to a reliance on opinion rather than
objective reporting.  Moreover, some readers will miss being told
what to think.  Freedom brings new and different problems and
should bring new standards.  Objective reporting will call upon
readers to examine the evidence and make up their minds.

In broadcasting, the confusion of liberty with license is
even more likely.  In television, whose powerful images can shape
the opinions of vast numbers of people, lack of judgment,
fairness, or balance can be particularly dangerous.  If
journalists and broadcasters do not make sound, defensible
professional judgments, the clamor for restraint in the name of
responsibility may become irresistible.  Because broadcasters use
a limited public resource and are, or should be, licensed to
serve the public interest, sound editorial judgment is vital to
sustain editorial freedom.

Of course, freedom must include the freedom to make
mistakes.  It will take years of training and repeated errors to
bring about responsible, objective journalism.  During this
process journalists must be educated about the demands and
expectations of politicians and officials, and politicians and
officials must try to appreciate the professional demands of
journalists.  One promising approach is the use of small seminars
using role-playing techniques with hypothetical situations to
explore issues of public policy for journalists, government
officials, and politicians.

The line between a proper complaint about the content of a
newspaper or television program and improper pressure on
publishers and broadcasters is a fine one.  The ability to
identify this line is crucial, and since it cannot be defined by
law, it can probably be learned only by experience.  There are
many ways in which groups within a society can influence the
media and in which those in the media can learn to be more
responsive to public concerns.  For example, media organizations
can accept letters to the editor.  In addition, a number of
newspapers (and occasionally television stations) in the United
States, Canada, Italy, Sweden, Brazil, and elsewhere have hired
ombudsmen to make their organizations more accountable to the
public.  Sometimes called "reader advocates," ombudsmen
investigate complaints from readers and news sources about
accuracy and fairness, commonly publishing the results of their
research.  Their writings are generally free from internal
editorial review, allowing them to act as independent in-house
critics.

Conclusion

Even if the independence of the media has been established,
the press has adapted to the free market, and journalists are
upholding standards of responsibility, the battle has not been
won.  People must learn to live with a free press and
broadcasting on a day-to-day basis.  They must learn how to
resolve their differences without placing the acceptance of the
idea of free editorial judgment under too great a strain.

It is not easy to live with this free exchange of ideas,
especially where this tradition is absent.  The rewards of this
freedom, however, are great.  Only with freedom of communication
is a democratic society possible.  Without freedom of
communication, the state is deaf and so are the people.



THE GROWTH OF THE NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY IN SOUTH KOREA

In the past several years, South Korea has developed a
burgeoning, competitive newspaper industry.  Until 1987,
newspaper publishers were required to be licensed by the
government.  With the new Periodical Registration Law passed that
year, publishers may issue newspapers after simply informing the
government that they plan to do so.  Government "guidance" to
news organizations is also disappearing.

Since the new law has been on the books, the number of
newspapers in Korea has grown dramatically.  Between 1987 and
1990, the number of daily newspapers in Seoul grew from six to
seventeen.  Dozens more have sprung up outside of the capital. 
The new newspapers include pro-government and opposition papers,
business- and sports-oriented papers, and church-owned papers. 
As a result of this extraordinary expansion, the newspaper
business now displays a new competitiveness, with many papers
fighting to be first to print important stories.

Still, it is not clear that the growth in the number of
newspapers has substantially increased the amount or kind of
information that Koreans are getting.  The government still
requires newspaper publishers to own their own printing presses,
thus placing severe obstacles in the way of small, narrowly
focused newspapers.  In addition, many readers distrust
newspapers because of the influence of advertisers.

Obtaining advertising revenue in the thriving Korean economy
has not been difficult, but it may become so with the large
number of new publications and new growth in the broadcasting
sector.  Some of the new papers may not survive in this highly
competitive atmosphere.

Nonetheless, this important learning period for Korean
publishers, journalists, politicians, and readers has the
potential to leave South Korea with a diverse, competitive,
economically sound newspaper industry and a level of journalistic
professionalism it has not seen before.



GUIDELINES FOR REGULATING BROADCASTING



1. The main reason for government involvement in broadcasting is
that broadcasters use a limited national resource, the frequency
spectrum.
2. Any law to regulate broadcasting should begin by stating that
the purpose of the law is to guarantee free and independent
broadcasting, in both the public and the private sectors.
3. A law to regulate broadcasting should establish a regulatory
body and give it general instruction on its job.  Ideally, such a
law will leave the details of regulation to the regulatory body,
so that an act of the legislature is not necessary whenever there
is a need to modify some regulation.
4. The job of the regulatory body is to protect the public
interest in broadcasting and the independence of broadcasting. 
It should not become involved in program content or undertake any
form of censorship.
5. If laws prohibiting burglary or slander already exist, there
is no point in saying that broadcasters should not commit these
crimes.
6. Not all Western models or practices are good.  Some are
extremely bad and good programs sometimes get on the air despite
them.
7. Freedom of the press means that people will be free to print
and broadcast unwise, uncivil, nasty, untrue, dangerous, and
inflammatory information.  This is the price of liberty. 
Enacting laws against errors and sins incapable of
definition--such as support for separatism or violation of
national honor, public order, and respect for the
environment--endangers that freedom.



A DRAFT LAW ON THE GOVERNMENT'S REGULATION OF BROADCASTING

The following are some of the most important points that should
be included in any law to regulate broadcasting:



- The purpose of this law is to ensure the provision of free
and
editorially independent broadcasting both in the public and in
the private sectors and to guarantee freedom of information for
the people, as stated in the European Declaration of Human
Rights, Article 10.
- Broadcast services should serve public needs in information,
culture, education, and entertainment and reflect diversity of
opinion.  Program content should respect the diversity of
cultures.  There is a basic right to communicate in conditions of
pluralism and equality of opportunity among democratic groups and
political parties.
- Broadcasters are guaranteed independence from the state. 
They are licensed and regulated by, and answerable to, an
Independent Council for Television, Radio, and Cable (ICTRC).
- The ICTRC shall be the sole broadcast licensing agency.  It
shall license both public and private broadcast services, and
will set the terms and conditions of such licenses.  It will have
the power to penalize the broadcaster, and in extreme cases to
revoke a license.
- Licensees shall comply with the relevant international
agreements and the national laws on matters such as copyright,
obscenity, privacy, and human rights.
- The ICTRC shall regulate the level of independent production
carried by each television licensee so as to encourage diversity
of sources of production and a strong independent production
sector.  The ICTRC should seek actively to promote domestic
television programming.
- The ICTRC shall arrange a degree of access time for the
public and of balanced access for political parties.
- The ICTRC may set limits to a public licensee's advertising
revenues in order to ensure the appropriate balance between the
public sector and the private sector.
- The following entities may not be licensed to broadcast:
political parties, local or national governments, advertising
agencies, and entities controlled by noncitizens.
- The ICTRC shall establish a Complaints Committee to deal with
individuals who believe they have been unfairly treated in a
broadcast and who are not satisfied by the response of the
licensee.
- The ICTRC shall assign to a licensee the appropriate
frequency or frequencies reserved for broadcasting according to
the Frequency Management Agency (FMA).  This agency shall be
charged with the fair allocation of the spectrum given under
international agreement.  The ICTRC shall be given full access to
the planning process of the FMA, and the two organizations shall
cooperate in developing the most fair and efficient use of the
spectrum.  The process will be open and public.



TRAINING FOR MEDIA PROFESSIONALS

For journalists, publishers, and broadcasters who are learning to
operate within a system of free media, training and educational
opportunities are available from many sources.

The Center for Foreign Journalists, for example, based in
the United States, offers training workshops and seminars for
journalists around the world.  Recently, it conducted a training
program consisting of two parts for Nigerian journalists.  First,
specialists from the Center traveled to Nigeria and led workshops
on basic techniques in political and economic reporting for
writers and reporters in three Nigerian cities.  Next, 10
participants were selected to attend a six-week training session
in the United States.  The first week of the program, in
Washington, D.C., consisted of an orientation to the U.S. media
and U.S. government institutions.  Participants were then paired
up and sent to news organizations around the country, including
the Kansas City Star (Missouri), the Fort Worth Star
Telegram (Texas), and WJFB-TV in Augusta, Georgia, for a
four-week internship.  During the program's final week,
participants gathered in New York City to compare notes on their
experiences.

Many other types of training programs are available as well:



- The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) brings East
European journalists to its headquarters for training.  It also
offers training in East European countries, including a workshop
on regional television in Poland.
- The International Press Institute provides in-depth training
to African journalists and broadcasters at its centers at the
University of Nairobi in Kenya and Lagos University in Nigeria. 
It also trains and advises media professionals in Asia and Latin
America.
- The Thomson Foundation offers long-term training programs for
radio and television services in Romania and Bulgaria, courses in
the United Kingdom for journalists from Poland, and many other
programs and advisory services in Africa, Asia, the Middle East,
and the South Pacific.



GLOSSARY

broadcast frequency spectrum -- the total number of
broadcast frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum that can be
assigned to individual broadcasters.

conflict of interest -- a conflict between the private
interests and the official responsibilities of a person in a
position of trust (such as a government official, businessperson,
or journalist).

copyright protection -- protection of the exclusive legal
right to reproduce, publish, and sell a literary, musical, or
artistic work.

joint scheduling -- a system used in the United Kingdom
whereby various commercial broadcasters cooperatively agree on a
programming schedule for the country.

network affiliates -- local independent commercial
stations that rely on a network signal for much of their
programming.

public-sector broadcasting -- broadcasting funded directly
or indirectly by the state, but over which the state does not
have tight editorial control

state broadcasting -- broadcasting controlled financially
and editorially by the state.



BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books and Pamphlets

Annenberg Washington Program.  Building Democracy: New
Broadcasting Laws in East and Central Europe.  A Joint
Project of the Annenberg Washington Program in Communications
Policy Studies of Northwestern University and the Trans-Atlantic
Dialogue on European Broadcasting.  Washington, D.C.: Annenberg
Washington Program, 1992.

Blumenthal, Howard J., and Oliver R. Goodenough.  The Business
of Television.  New York: Billboard Books (imprint of
Watson-Guptill Publications), 1991.

Dennis, Everette E., and Jon Vanden Heuvel, with the assistance
of Jeremy King.  Emerging Voices: East European Media in
Transition.  A Report of the Gannett Foundation Task Force on
Press Freedom in Eastern Europe. Arlington, Virginia: Gannett
Foundation, 1991.

Sussman, Leonard R.  Power, the Press, and the Technology of
Freedom: The Coming Age of ISDN.  New York: Freedom House,
1989.

Periodicals

Columbia Journalism Review.  Published six times a year by
the Graduate School of Journalism, Journalism Building, Columbia
University, New York, New York 10027, USA.  Telephone: (212) 854-
1881.  Fax: (212) 854-8580.

Fund for Free Expression.  Published irregularly by Human
Rights Watch, 485 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10017-6104,
USA. Telephone: (212) 972-8400.  Fax: (212) 972-0905.

Index on Censorship.  Published ten times a year by
Writers and Scholars International Ltd., 39c Highbury Place,
London H510P, UK.  Telephone: (071) 359-0161.  Fax: (071)
354-8665.

IPI Report.  Published monthly by the International Press
Institute, Dilke House, 1 Malet Street, London WC1E 7JA, UK.
Telephone: (071) 636-0703.  Fax: (071) 580-8349.  Includes an
annual review of world press freedom.



CONTACTS

United States

American Press Institute
11690 Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston, Virginia 22091
Telephone: (703) 620-3611
Fax: (703) 620-5814

The American Press Institute (API), a private, non-profit
organization, administers training programs primarily for U.S.
and Canadian newspaper journalists and management personnel, but
participants from other nations do attend its programs. 
Approximately 60 percent of its programs are for reporters and
editors, and 40 percent are for those concerned with the business
side of newspaper publishing.

Center for Foreign Journalists
11690-A Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston, Virginia 22091
Telephone: (703) 620-5984
Fax: (703) 620-6790

This center was established to share professional know-how and
information among journalists and their news organizations around
the world.  It offers training workshops, consulting services,
and fellowship and exchange programs, and publishes an
international directory of training and educational opportunities
for journalists.

Committee to Protect Journalists
16 East 42nd Street
3rd floor
New York, New York 10017
Telephone: (212) 983-5355
Fax: (212) 867-1830

The Committee to Protect Journalists monitors and protests
attacks on journalists and media organizations.  It also
publishes reports on freedom of the press and threats to
journalists.

The Freedom Forum
1101 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, Virginia 22209
Telephone: (703) 528-0800
Fax: (703) 528-7766

The Freedom Forum supports journalism education, professional
development of journalists, and the rights of free press and free
speech through projects, programs, and publications and by
funding grant and program proposals.  It also operates the
Freedom Forum Media Studies Center and the Freedom Forum First
Amendment Center.

Freedom House
48 East 21st Street
New York, New York 10010
Telephone: (212) 473-9691
Fax: (212) 477-4126

Freedom House is an international human rights organization that
tracks and protests violations of press freedom, publishes
reports on press freedom issues, and maintains an archive of
materials concerning press freedom issues.

Inter-American Press Association
2911 NW 39th Street
Miami, Florida 33242
Telephone: (305) 634-2465
Fax: (305) 635-2272

The IAPA, an organization of Western Hemisphere newspapers and
publications, monitors freedom of the press, offers scholarships
to journalists, and provides technical and management assistance
to members.

International Media Fund
1350 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
Telephone: (202) 296-9787
Fax: (202) 296-9835

The International Media Fund (IMF) is a private, non-profit
organization that receives funding from the U.S. government.  
The IMF supports independent print, radio, and television media
in Central and Eastern Europe with training courses, workshops,
and purchases of equipment.

Magazine Publishers of America
575 Lexington Avenue
New York, New York 10022
Telephone: (212) 752-0055
Fax: (212) 888-4217

The Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) is the industry
association for consumer magazines, representing 800 titles in
the United States and more than 450 internationally.  MPA
administers a number of advertising, circulation, marketing, and
general education programs.

National Association of Broadcasters
1771 N Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036-2891
Telephone: (202) 429-5300
Fax: (202) 429-5343

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) represents U.S.
radio and television stations and networks, providing
information, seminars, and publications on management, sales,
marketing, engineering, and research at broadcast stations.  NAB
has hundreds of International Associate Members in countries
around the world.  NAB's annual convention in Las Vegas, Nevada,
in April draws more than 52,000 broadcasters and other
professionals, including 10,000 from foreign countries.  Its
Radio Show, held in a different city each September, attracts
7,000 participants annually.

Trans-Atlantic Dialogue on European Broadcasting
3000 Woodland Drive, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008
Telephone: (202) 298-6373
Fax: (202) 298-6374

An informal group of some 50 executives from Europe and the
United States, the Trans-Atlantic Dialogue has as a prime mission
helping free and independent broadcasting in Central and Eastern
Europe and the former Soviet Union.  It has been particularly
active in drafting more liberal broadcasting laws.

World Press Freedom Committee
11600 Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston, Virginia 22091
Telephone: (703) 648-1000
Fax: (703) 620-4557

The WPFC, a coordination group of national and international news
media organizations, has programs to combat censorship and offer
assistance to media organizations and journalism schools around
the world.

United Kingdom

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
World Service Training
P.O. Box 76
Bush House
Strand
London WC28 4PH
United Kingdom
Telephone: (071) 257-2024
Fax: (071) 497-0288

BBC World Service Training offers training for East European
journalists both in the United Kingdom and in individual
countries.  It also offers consulting services to media
organizations on financial and management issues.

International Press Institute
Dilke House
1 Malet Street
London WC1E 7JA
United Kingdom
Telephone: (071) 636-0703
Fax: (071) 580-8349

Made up of international media organizations, the IPI aims to
safeguard freedom of the press, ensure the safety of journalists
and their ability to report freely, and improve the practice of
journalism through seminars around the world.  It also conducts
research on the mass media and publishes a wide range of books.

Thomson Foundation
68 Park Place
Cardiff CF1 3AS
United Kingdom
Telephone: (0222) 874-873
Fax: (0222) 225-194

The Thomson Foundation offers training and development programs
designed to raise professional standards in the media of
developing countries.  Its programs include in-country training
courses and consultancies for both print and broadcasting and
intensive training in Britain.

_________________

About the Author:  David Webster is Chairman of the
Trans-Atlantic Dialogue on European Broadcasting.  He is also
President of Radiosat International.  For eight years he was a
member of the Board of Management of the British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC).

Project management and editing by the Institute for Contemporary
Studies (ICS)
Vice President -- Kenneth L. Adelman
Editor -- Heidi Fritschel
ICS is a nonpartisan, nonprofit public policy research
organization based in San Francisco, California.  The mission of
ICS is to promote the self-governing and entrepreneurial way of
life.  Through its imprint, ICS Press, ICS publishes a wide range
of books on public issues.  For a catalog or more information,
write: ICS, 243 Kearny Street, San Francisco, California 94108
USA

Freedom Papers Series:
Editor: Wayne Hall
Associate Editors: Stephen Burant, Susan O'Sullivan
Design: Sylvia Scott

August 1992

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