<amarc-3> Structure and some action points

[steve.buckley@commedia.org.uk (by way of Elvira Truglia <elv@alcor.concordia.ca>)]

Hello everyone

This is by way of an introduction and some suggestions for the Milan
Declaration. I am Steve Buckley, Director of the Community Media
Association, the national membership organisation for community radio and TV
in the UK. I am also currently President of AMARC-Europe and a member of
AMARC's international Board.

Being closely  involved in the setting up of this Virtual Forum I have been
very happy to watch it develop as people share their valuable thoughts and
ideas. Here are some suggestions for the structure of the declaration and
some action points.

First, I suggest the document should be in three sections:

A. It should begin by noting, recalling, or refering to existing
declarations of importance on communications and human rights starting with
Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that
everyone has the right to freedom of expression and information.

B. It should present an assessment of the context in which we operate -
social, political, technological and economic, as Kevin suggests, with the
emphasis on how these factors impact on our right to communicate. Elvira has
posed important questions we need to address and  John and others have
helped us towards some answers

C. It should conclude with a series of action points as Jose Antonio and
several others have suggested. These action points could be addressed to
international institutions inside and outside the UN system, to governments,
to transnational corporations, and to our own sector to re-invigorate our
collective efforts.

Recently, AMARC-Europe prepared a detailed response to a  European
Commission consultation on media convergence which has some action points I
would like to offer here. These have, of course, been written from a
European perspective and I make no claim that they are all appropriate for
an international declaration or that they are in any way exclusive. These
are the action points which AMARC-Europe proposed:

1.international recognition of the community broadcasting sector as an
essential form of public service broadcasting and a vital contributor to
media pluralism and freedom of expression and information; 

2. support for a development of the right to communicate as a fundamental
principle to underpin the regulation of the convergent sectors of
telecommunications, media and information technology; 

3. establishment of national, Community level and international standards,
norms and measures to enable and assist the current and future development
of independent community broadcasting services including: 

-rules to prevent the take-over and accumulation of community broadcasting
services by commercial companies 

- measures to assist adaptation to media convergence and new technology
including support for new forms of content 

- preservation of existing analogue frequencies used by community
broadcasters until such time as a digital replacement is available 

- assessment and monitoring of the impact of technological convergence and
regulatory change on the community media sector 

- support for the development of digital systems which are appropriate to
the current and future needs of community broadcasting services 

4. national and international measures to ensure new information and
communication technologies provide affordable access to citizens and
communities to establish new community media services 

5. establishment of a Community Media Fund to support adaptation of existing
community broadcasting services to new technology, to support research into
the impact of media convergence, to support pilot projects in new forms of
community media distribution and community media content.

I hope these suggestions are helpful and would be especially interested to
hear to what extent these action points have resonance in other regions. The
full document from which they are drawn is available at
http://www.amarc.org/europe/eugp where there is also a french translation,
or by e-mail from europe@amarc.org.

Best wishes to all.

Steve Buckley



 
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