[WSIS CS-Plenary] Community Media News Release-press point Friday

[gabi at bndjapan.org]

NEWS RELEASE

Geneva, 9 December 2003

Community media demand real “access for all”

The “access for all” slogan rings hollow for community and alternative
media groups at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
Together with other civil society organisations, gathering in Geneva, they
will reject the official Declaration and Action Plan to be negotiated at
the United Nations sponsored summit.

For two years leading up to the summit, civil society organisations have
been fighting for recognition and support. Community media groups such as
AMARC (World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters), ALER
(Asociación Latinoamericana de Educación Radiofonica) and Deep Dish
Community Access Satellite Network have put forward proposals for
governments to open up their airwaves and to allocate frequencies and
channels for civil society and community based organisations to provide an
alternative to mainstream public and private media.

New forms of community and alternative media are springing up in all
continents of the world. Their real life stories will be present
throughout the exhibitions, seminars and other events of the WSIS. Yet,
despite the official rhetoric of “access for all”, community media are not
to be found in the official WSIS texts.

This is why the community media working group, together with other civil
society groups at WSIS, will not endorse the official governmental
Declaration and Action Plan. Instead they have produced their own vision
for a world in which information and communication is increasingly
central. This “Civil Society Declaration” at the WSIS recognizes that
community media have “a particular role to play in enabling access to and
participation for all in the information society, especially the poorest
and most marginalized communities.”

“That we were suppressed from the official WSIS documents shows the lack
of real commitment to civil society by governments at the WSIS,” says
Steve Buckley, convenor of the Community Media Working Group and President
of AMARC. “We have been creating local content, promoting human rights,
building gender equality, and supporting sustainable development.
Community and alternative media have many success stories showing another
information society is possible. We will continue to fight, at local,
national and international, for removal of political, regulatory and
economic barriers to community media.”

-ends-

Press point:
Friday Dec 12, 13.00 at the Community Media Forum, Palexpo, Conference
Center, Room Salève

Contact/Spokespeople:
Steve Buckley  e. steve at commedia.org.uk   t.  +44 7801 945037
George Christensen (at the AMARC table at ICT4D, stand 537)+41-788-553-445

Further information and activities:
Community Media Forum, Friday 12 December, presentations of community
media from Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe and North America, Room
Salève, Palexpo Conference Centre. www.cameco.org

ICT for Development Platform, 9 – 13 December, Palexpo Hall 4 – AMARC /
CATIA / Building Digital Opportunities (stand 537) and the Africa Village
community radio station and telecentre (stand 137)

WSIS? We Seize!, 9 - 12 December, a side-/counter-event of alternatives to
the WSIS discourse, grass roots art/communication (look out for copyright
video projection on the WIPO tower!), www.geneva03.org