N.Z. delegate fears restrictions on press
. NZPA correspondent London U.N.E.S.C.O. should concentrate on practical measures instead of getting involved in ideological and theoretical matters, ’New Zealand told the or- ’ ganisatiori’s general conference in Belgrade. The New Zealand view was spelled out in the debate on the controversial new “world information order’’ based on the findings of a commission headed by a former Irish Foreign Minister, Mr Sean Macßride.
U.N.E.5.C.0., the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation, adopted a resolution setting- out some of the basic principles of the so-called new •world information order.
The proposals have been strongly supported by Third World countries and the Soviet Union. But a number of Western countries, including Britain and the United States, have voiced reservations. expressing concern that some of the principles in the new order would restrict press freedom and restrict the free flow of news.
They made it clear they disagreed with phrases in the resolution which Third World countries and the Soviet bloc are reported to interpret as giving U.N.E.S.C.O. the right to police news organisations.
New Zealand’s delegate, Mr A. H. Macey, deputy permanent delegate to U.N.E.S.C.O. in Paris, told the conference that New Zealand was in general agreement with many of the Mac-Bride commission’s recommendations aimed at improving communications and news distribution in ' developing countries, and welcomed the report as a whole.
But it had reservations on the final resolution which, he said, contained ambiguities, particularly on the freedom and responsibility of the hews media.
Some of these could bs interpreted differently by governments to stifle press freedom, Mt Macey said.
“It is clear that freedom of the press does carry with it ah obligation of responsibility . — and the press itself has acknowledged this by its various codes of ethics agreed on by media organisations,” he told the conference.
“But any attempt to define responsibility or to prescribe a code of conduct by member states, that is by governments, could only be counter-pro-ductive.
“The reason is yery clear.” Mr Macey said. “The way that some member states construe the term ‘responsibility* negates what others — New Zealand m thein. — understand by freegom. "We w||l to no: compromise and to ijs adi.biguity over this concept,” he declared.; New Zealand believed U.N.E.S.C.O,’'should concentrate on 'practical measures rather than on ideological and theoretical studies that did not have any practical application. Mr Macey said .New
Zealand was still facing some of the problems of developing countries, including a reliance on international news agencies and the cost of having its own correspondents overseas. He urged U.N.E.S.C.O. to consider the problems of smaller countries such as New Zealand as well as those of the developing countries.
Mr Macey told NZPA from Belgrade that support for this view had also come from the Scandinavian countries.
New Zealand also emphasised the need for U.N.E.S.C.O. to co-operate with existing agencies where possible.
There was a need to promote U.N.E.S.C.O'.’s programme attractively and to avoid ideological controversies. Mr Macey said. He told the conference New Zealand wanted to see improved communications in the South Pacific and it believed the U.N.E.S.C.O. programme was most effective if organised on a regional basis
Mr Macey told NZPA some Western countries would have liked to see a reference to the abolition of censorship in the final resolution but it had riot
been possible to reach a consensus on this. The New Zealand delegation at the Belgrade conference includes Mr Fred, Turnovsky, of Wellington, a member of U.N.E.S.C.O.’s executive board and former chairman of New Zealand’s national U.N.E.S.C.O. commission;
The information proposals approved in Belgrade will be administered by the 35-member council. New Zealand is not a member of the council.
The resolution adopted at the conference has been sharply criticised by several influential newspapers. T|fe London “Sunday Times’’ declared: “U.N.E.S.C.O. must be given firm notice that we intend to defend, not merely to excuse’ a free press, and that if it perdestroying that freedom in the name of whatever just cause, we will have to reconsider our participation in the organisation.” The “New York Times” said: “The undemocratic governments that pine for order in what their people read, hear, and think have won yet another ‘compromise’ to advance the cause of censorship."
Log in