Summary

Workshop 1: The Information Gap and the Role of the Media: Asymmetry of Information Flows

1. Issues and problems addressed

In the contexts and experiences discussed, a substantial range of problems that sustain and amplify different information gaps were mentioned. In order to bring them together, they may be grouped as follows, while clearly bearing in mind the linkages and overlaps between these issues.

Political economy of the Media

• The apparent re-legitimation of media as a target in conflicts and political struggles raises very human questions about the nature of news gathering and dissemination.

• In Pakistan and in many African examples, state interference and control was cited as an ongoing barrier to media independence and the desired functions of media in these societies.

• Nevertheless, deregulation, privatization, transnationalisation and the extent of commercial competition were seen to create the same kinds of issues as elsewhere. For example, the global centrality of five news agencies and three providers of images was cited in many contexts as resulting in agenda setting and the commodification of news. This has implications for the issues covered, the nature of that coverage and the global priorities that this reflects.

• In many contexts, with the particular example of the Czech Republic cited, the implications of concentrated ownership and control was felt to be worrying. The trend towards merging content carriers and providers was mentioned several times in relation to this.

• Despite the increasing importance of competent and wide-ranging international news coverage, the prohibitive costs involved in these operations may result in an increasingly narrow range of news providers, and affect the scope of the news provided.

• Generally, public service was seen to be under threat from a variety of factors, including state abuse, survival in market-driven, competitive environments, and lack of government support.

Media Content

• Commercial competition and market-driven programming imperatives were explicitly linked with decreased educational programming, homogenized global products (often predominantly from the USA) and a lack of services that cater to unprofitable needs. It was also felt that the dynamics of this competition influences inclusions and exclusions in coverage.

• While 'quality' is not a self-evident or agreed concept, it was argued that quality has suffered because of commercial imperatives.

• The open nature of internet content means that the reliability of information may often be suspect.

Media audiences and social impact

• In both Minority and Majority World contexts, the audience was characterized as fragmented by a range of factors. New media creates interactivity and diversifies the audience in time and space, media channels now try and address target audiences fragmented by interest and lifestyle choices, while in impoverished contexts, location, education and access fragment the audience still further.

• The impact and supposed effects of transnational media penetration has been a controversial area for a long time, but it was argued that the significant presence of US media products globally poses a cultural challenge.

• Access and use of the internet is compounding and increasing economic, social and political inequality. (At the same time, it has facilitated the creation of global networks and interconnections that enhance the work and possibilities of civil society and allow for new channels and sources of information and opinion).

2. Addressing Information Gaps

Clearly, there are many dimensions to the information gaps in the different realities discussed. With this diversity in mind, it was felt that information gaps affect:

• basic human needs (agriculture and health issues)

• democratic participation, on local and national levels.

• The possibility to understand processes of globalization and how they impact on one's life.

It was agreed that we universally need meaningful access to information, the possibility to turn it into knowledge, and relatedly, the access to communicate and have a voice.

The right to accessing information has many crucial dimensions:

* In many contexts, right is based on crucial needs, on health issues for example.

* Citizens need to access information of local, national and international significance.

* It must be accessed through channels that people have, understand and value.

* This is particularly important given gaps in coverage and perceptions of nations, regional imperatives and cultural factors.

3. How can this be delivered?

Firstly, a free media is fundamental and non-negotiable. Freedoms which exist are hard won, may in different circumstances be eroded and challenged, and do not exist in some of the areas discussed. It is also clear that free media is not necessarily a plural media, and that freedom is multi-faceted. It is built on freedom of expression and is not a translation of market freedom.

To have media that approach people as citizens with social, political and cultural needs means that we cannot see them merely as consumers, recipients of choices that are measured only in terms of commercial viability.

To work for plurality we need some version of public service that can employ strategies tailored to their contexts. A public service is not necessarily a state service, as that depends on the state. Yet particularly in 'developing' contexts public service can provide a crucial service in times of market flux or when a range of channels is absent. With regard to the issues in this conference, public service can consistently address issues that need competent and thorough explanation and a spectrum of opinions. In fragmented societies, it can attempt to address not just social diversity but the commonality and shared frameworks necessary for social interaction and participation.

4. Strategies and Measures for the Future

An important question for the participants of the workshop was to identify the audience for these ideas. Post-UNESCO and the NWICO debates of the past, there is not a clear global forum for these discussions. Relatedly, strategies can be implemented and can interact on local, national and international levels and between media actors, civil society, and states.

• Feedback and local rights to reply need to be facilitated by transnationalised media. While this is not an unproblematic practice, actors that now address globally diverse audiences and that represent global issues need to provide spaces for questions and answering back.

• Regulation is a controversial word in media debates, and the panel agreed that restrictions on content were to be opposed, but regulation of media ownership and practices already exist in many contexts. However, it was also felt that ways of developing interactive discussions on responsibility and voluntary codes in and between media and social actors can be compounded and developed, nationally and in international bodies such as the Council of Europe.

• A crucial need is to support and develop wherever possible local and community media. Many channels and networks exist that can be supported, and that international media can cooperate with and source. That may be one way of addressing the asymmetry of flows and concentration of sources.

• Relatedly, the reduced cost of new technologies and information production on the internet is creating new sources and networks of news production and dissemination. Local and international media need to develop strategies for sourcing and sharing.

• The digital divide did not prove to be as central to the workshops discussions as initially thought. Even in developing situations there are different ways of using these new possibilities, and the speed of change makes generalizations difficult. But clearly, huge and hugely complex gaps exist. The workshop concurred that current international programs need to be highlighted and that they need to communicate their evaluations and ideas of best practice. Allowing more diverse linguistic access needs to be worked on within these initiatives.

• Finally, Free-to-air services need to be preserved by all relevant means. Debates on national cultures under globalisation are complex, but there was agreement that certain events constitute heritage that cannot be commodified. The example of soccer and being able to watch a national team in the World Cup was given. European governments currently exempt a range of events, and it was argued that this practice needs to be extended to the developing world, although political economic realities make this difficult very often.

Workshop 2: Gap in the Rules: Double standards in international trade and finance

Goals agreed upon

The current system of global economic governance needs to be fundamentally reformed in order to achieve the following goals:

• Double standards in international trade and finance must be eradicated and a fair playing field for all must be ensured. At the same time special measures must be instituted to facilitate and promote development in the poor countries. Particular attention should be given to policy space, capacity building, strengthening of domestic and regional industries and agriculture for such countries. At the same time, greater market access for such countries must be assured for them. Regional integration must be promoted in order to achieve a better balance of power in the international system. Multilateral agreements and rules should be reviewed, where necessary, to achieve these goals.

• The existing multilateral institutions need to be made more democratic and inclusive, transparent and accountable. In this regard, increased representation for developing countries on governing boards and meaningful interaction with accredited NGOs is necessary.

• Communication, coordination and coherence between the various multilateral institutions need to be improved. Such institutions and particularly the United Nations must be sufficiently empowered to ensure compliance by all countries, rich and poor, with international agreements, rules and minimum requirements aimed at sustainability. Mechanisms to settle any disputes arising in this regard must be created.

• There is a need to effectively monitor the activities of transnational corporations (particularly with regard to human rights and environmental issues) and the causes of excessive volatility in financial markets. Relevant existing multilateral institutions must be given the means and mandate to do this and where the capacity does not exist, new institutions should be established.

The Way Forward

It is of fundamental importance to obtain the cooperation of especially the leading and prosperous countries of the world in the promotion of the proposed goals and reforms.

Consequently, it is proposed that Forum 2000 appoint a Committee, representative of the main interest groups who participated in the conference, with the following mandate:

• to meet with political leaders and other relevant decision-makers with a view to obtain their support for the proposals of the conference

• and to report back to a follow-up conference in October 2003.

Workshop 3: Is There A Gap Between Public Interest and Private Profit? Ethics, Accountability and Sustainability in the World of Transnational Corporations

Introduction

• The first session opened with introductions - with four participants clearly representing civil society, four representing corporations and four living in both worlds - and then a discussion of problems and causes, as well as of shared visions. Workshop participants come from a diversity of perspectives and backgrounds, but it was agreed that corporations have acquired a considerable degree of power beyond the moderating power of national sovereignty, and that this required new approaches to the problems of accountability, transparency and environmental and social issues that this has created.

Shared Values

• Participants identified certain shared common values:

• Transparency

• Accountability

• Honesty

• Trust

• Fidelity in contract

• Respect for people

• Democracy

• In addition to identifying the shared values, the group passionately thought that it is very important to translate these values in the behaviours that will be required by corporations, governments, civil society organisations, inter-governmental organisations, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders in the process of evolving the global economy.

Proposed Strategies

• Proposed strategies to move towards achieving the goals identified above. Number 1 through 6 below were approved by the group with eight members in support, one abstention (Ricardo Navarro, who requested that his abstention be publicly noted) and one against:

1. This option received the strongest degree of support within the workshop group. A concentrated strategy to implement the goals of accountability, transparency and environmental protection, that would involve corporations, civil society, and NGOs under the same umbrella in a UN-structured framework to establish benchmarks to independently monitor compliance from industry to industry.

As part of this effort, develop legal requirements that corporations publish as part of their disclosure requirements the scale and extent of their externality costs, and that they be legally liable for disclosure, but not costs, in order to ensure a more accurate, forthright reporting.

In addition, the group recommended greater involvement of institutional investors in corporate decision-making, and greater accountability on their part to their investors. Every trustee board should include representatives of those who money they manage, so there be some sense of 'citizenship' and participation in investment decisions.

2. The exclusion of corporations from politics, by making it illegal to try to influence an election, and introducing public finance of elections.

3. International binding agreements on corporate accountability, with corporations being made liable for damage generated, including individuals in posts of responsibility.

4. Re-educating economists and accountants and changing costs assessments to include externalised costs and to provide for quality of life accounting.

5. Enhance tele-working and other energy-saving practices using IT networks, with particular reference to the use of broadband.

6. Constructive use of tax policy to influence behaviour, by shifting the tax burden towards generators of unwanted waste - "ecological tax shifting" - and removing tax subsidies on corporation ads which create artificial product demand, while putting money saved into publicity directed at the wastes and costs incurred by the unwanted activity.

The following strategy was questioned strongly by one member of the group on the grounds of practicability, due to his comments that there is currently no practical or environmentally acceptable alternative to the hydrocarbon fuel that is necessary to fuel the airplanes on which we flew here and the automobiles that will ultimately carry us home (e.g. environmental problems with dams and hydro-electrics, and scale problems with solar, wind and biomass.)

7. Phrasing out fossil fuels and providing alternative sources as a matter of urgency as part of an overall policy shift towards sustainability which by addressing the environmental problem will also address the issues of poverty, transparency and accountability identified so far.

Areas of Disagreement Needing Further Discussion

• There was a significant discussion ongoing regarding the degree of degradation to the environment and to communities around the world as a result of the process of globalisation. Some members felt that though daunting, progress was being made on the part of the corporate community. Others felt that progress was more minimal. Two members felt that corporate behaviour had become worse rather than improved.

• Still others felt that the scope and scale of the degradation required a significantly more intense effort on the part of corporations to respond.

• Overall, the group generally felt that the rate of change and improvement needed to increase, and to include corporate, NGO and other stakeholder participation.

• There was also considerable discussion and disagreement regarding the future scale and structure of business operations. Some thought that business operations should be recast in a local and regional approach to "small is beautiful". Others felt that large corporate institutions would be a continuing part of the global business reality, and therefore needed to be worked with in the most constructive manner possible. Everybody agreed that more local empowerment and decision-making, even with large corporations, would be an immediate improvement.

• There were also multiple references to rethink the overall nature of our global economy, with many references to the need to address the increasing gap between the rich and the poor. However, even with this level of agreement, we could not agree on the terms and references to hold this conversation in the time-frame we had.

The Terms of Engagement - Conducting the Dialogue in a Manner to Reconcile Private Profit and Public Interest:

Our dialogue was spirited, vigorous, thoughtful and passionate. We employed facilitation techniques that:

1. Enabled each person to comment without interruption on their views of one or another of the issues - to develop a pulse or view of the whole.

2. Challenges to individual participants, whether corporate or civil society, to find ways to bridge the gaps and agree on points, sometimes small and sometimes large.

3. In the absence of total consensus, voting was used with clear reasons being given for and against.

4. Extensive efforts to ensure that the authenticity of people's intent would be represented in the report

5. There was a strong sense of progress (nine out of eleven felt this) and at the same time a recognition that to make further progress in a workshop setting or in the global reality there would have to be more agreement on values, behaviours and world views.

Workshop 4: A Gap Between North and South: Beyond External Debt

Definition of the Problem and Desired End State

At the first session delegates expressed their views and positions in a very diverging manner. However, all agreed that there is a need for bigger solidarity. Some were, however, only appraising what has been already achieved. The diverging opinions and perspectives caused by different personal backgrounds and past experiences of the delegates evolved later into a more focused discussion on the possible resolution of the problems confronting us today.

There was a general agreement that the situation in the third world (i.e. developing, highly indebted countries) could be unsustainable under present scenarios. And that the programs that have been implemented so far have not addressed this issue very effectively for a number of reasons both predictable and unpredictable.

The need to establish an environment of economic and social justice thus at least partially eradicating the poverty was raised most frequently. A balanced and fair, thus just, treatment of creditors and debtors, who are in effect sovereign countries that have to provide for the basic human rights and social needs of their inhabitants, was viewed as one of the desirable end states by all of the panelists as well as the establishment of functioning, democratic institutional background in the developing world. The call for accountability and greater responsibility on the creditor side was also quite frequent.

Possible Ways of Solving the Problem

Trade barriers

There was a strong consensus on the need of eliminating the trade barriers and the level of subsidies in the agricultural sector in the developed world. All the delegates see that such a behavior is hindering the prospect of development. There was also an agreement that the awareness of such need has to be raised among the public and the responsible institutions now that the WTO negotiations on the Doha Development Agenda are going on intensely. The panelists unequivocally embraced the necessity of increasing diversified developing country exports. The debt sustainability is linked directly to improved market access. And the call for the elimination of trade barriers is viewed as one important step in the drive for eradicating the poverty.

Independent assessment and arbitration

Calls for bigger transparency, responsibility and accountability evolved into a debate on the possible creation of an independent institution that could take the assessor, arbitrator role. While there was agreement that an independent assessment of debt sustainability from as many sources as possible - coming from both sides - could be beneficial there were concerns that such a definition of the level that is sustainable can not be binding in any way to the creditors. The issue of debt sustainability was viewed largely as a political issue by some panelists. It was agreed that the functioning of democratic, transparent, accountable institutions in the developing countries could largely affect the level of sustainability. However, ways to make definitions of sustainability binding need to be explored further.

There was a disagreement on the issue of an independent and generally binding arbitration body. Apart from the technical and legal problems of creating it and implementing it into the system of international law, there were serious doubts about its acceptability to the creditors. It was accepted that such a body would not in effect limit the sovereignty of the debtor countries. Nevertheless, not all the points of this complex issue were addressed. The debate on this point was not carried further as an inside opinion on the profound legal issues of this concept was not represented at the table. The debate of the point was very lively and the SDRM initiative of the IMF that is moving in a similar direction shows that there is room and willingness to explore further the possibilities and viabilities of such concepts in the future.

The IMF reported that they are in a process of disseminating this new idea and that it will come back with a proposal in April. The SDRM as it stands however is still not acceptable to the NGO sector, which insisted on true impartiality as explained in FTAP proposal. Particularly they called for the role of the IMF to be redefined as one of a lender. All the sides that were represented at the table are moving in similar directions and the obstacles can be at least partially overcome in time. In the long term a debate on a legal international system that would allow arbitration is welcomed.

Grants

Another proposal for the resolution of the situation in the developing world is solidarity. An idea of replacing loans with grants has been raised and defended passionately. Indeed debt cancellation is a grant in itself. To achieve the Millennium Summit Development Goals, significantly increased level of development assistance is needed, as recognized by the Monterrey Summit on Financing for Development. After a decade of continuously falling aid levels we now have a concrete, time bound promises of increases in aid volumes from the EU, United States and other donors. These promises are welcomed by all the panelists and have to be delivered as soon as possible.

All participants welcomed an increased use of grants, in particular for the purposes of education, fighting HIV/AIDS and preventing conflict. This will help reducing the debt burden. An increased level of funding will help expand the use of grants.

The representatives coming from the southern countries warned that the question of who is going to distribute aid is of fundamental nature. On the proposal for distributing the help through civil societies and NGOs they answered that people in the south do not want to see the power of their governments undermined, nor its roles taken over by multinational NGOs and development agencies. One cannot have a civil society with a weak government. Therefore it was called for the support of locally devised and run regional development plans and thus the promotion of democracy in the developing countries.

The delegates' hope that the movement towards replacing loans with aid is going to gain impetus and that the ratio of aid to loans will be rising significantly. However the NGOs present at the table do not view this process as an alternative to debt cancellation, rather they support is as a parallel concept.

Repaying in local currency

The concrete proposal that might alleviate the debt burden of some countries was to give the indebted countries the chance to repay that debt in the local currency or denominate some of the new loans going into non-commercial sector in local currencies. The delegates agreed that it is an important issue that could help solving some of the problems of debt burden. Even though there was no time to elaborate more on the proposal it was agreed that it should be a topic for further negotiations.

Conclusion

The delegates would like to express that due to the limited time not all of the aspects of the debated issues were brought forward and discussed profoundly. Furthermore not all the parties that do have interest in these issues were present at the table. However the will to continue such debates and enhance the recent trend leading to a better communication and cooperation among all the differing views, ideas and proposals was present during the workshops.

WORKSHOP OUTCOMES

Workshop 1:

The Information Gap and the Role of the Media: Asymmetry of Information Flows

Participants of this workshop including media scholars, practicians, activists and representatives of multilateral financial institutions expressed numerous concerns, and tried to identify the best practices of dealing with gaps in the information society. This workshop, while defending the freedom of expression as a fundamental and non-negotiable right, jointly stated that information and media must not be left solely in the hands of the free market forces:

• Deregulation, privatization, transnationalization and the extent of commercial competition were seen as a barrier to media independence. For example, the global centrality of five news agencies and three providers of images is resulting in agenda setting and the commodification of news.

• Free media is fundamental and non-negotiable. They are built on freedom of expression and may not be considered a translation of market freedom.

• Public service was seen to be under threat from a variety of factors, including state abuse, survival in market-driven, competitive environments, and lack of government support.

• Feedback and local rights to reply need to be facilitated by transnationalized media.

• Interactive discussions on responsibility and voluntary codes in and between media and social actors can be compounded and developed, nationally and in international bodies such as the Council of Europe.

• A crucial need is to support and develop wherever possible local and community media. Many channels and networks exist that can be supported, and that international media can cooperate with and source. That may be one way of addressing the asymmetry of flows and concentration of sources.

• Free-to-air services need to be preserved by all relevant means.

Workshop 2:

Gap in the Rules: Double Standards in International Trade and Finance?

All participants, representing multilateral financial institutions, civil society groups, academia and the government sector, acknowledged that double standards, supported by powerful vested interests, govern in many areas of the world economy. In a joint declaration of common goals they called for a fundamental reform of the existing system of global economic governance:

• Double standards must be eradicated and a fair playing field for all must be ensured.

• The existing multilateral institutions need to be democratized and the voice of the developing countries as well as non-governmental organizations needs to be strengthened.

• The United Nations must be empowered to ensure compliance by all countries, rich and poor, with international rules.

• Activities of transnational corporations must be effectively monitored.

Workshop 3:

Is There a Gap Between Public Interest and Private Profit? Ethics, Accountability and Sustainability in the World of Transnational Corporations.

This workshop included four participants clearly representing civil society, four representing corporations and four living in both worlds. The final outcome strongly supported the need for establishing a new set of binding legal standards for transnational corporations within a UN structured framework, in which civil society, NGOs and corporations would all participate. The workshop participants came up with a statement, highlighting, among others, the following points:

• A concentrated strategy to implement the goals of accountability, transparency and environmental protection, that would involve corporations, civil society, and NGOs under the same umbrella in a UN-structured framework needs to be established.

• International binding agreements on corporate accountability, with corporations being made liable for damage generated, including individuals in posts of responsibility.

• Constructive use of tax policy to influence behaviour, by shifting the tax burden towards generators of unwanted waste - “ecological tax shifting”.

• Developing legal requirements that corporations publish the scale and extent of their externality costs, and that they be legally liable for disclosure.

• Re-educating economists and accountants and changing costs assessments to include externalized costs and to provide for quality of life accounting.

Workshop 4:

A Gap Between North and South: Beyond the External Debt.

At this workshop, representatives of the international financial institutions, governments, civil society and NGOs participated. The final outcome summarized the current debates revolving around the current proposals on debt restructuring mechanisms and highlighted the areas of agreement as well as those of conflict. While there was a general agreement that the situation in the third world (i.e. developing, heavily indebted countries) is unsustainable under present scenarios, there was a strong consensus on the need to eliminate the trade barriers and current level of subsidies in the agricultural sector in the developed world. There were, however, several viable alternatives mentioned and thoroughly discussed.

• The debt sustainability is linked directly to improved market access. And the call for the elimination of trade barriers is viewed as one important step in the drive for eradicating poverty.

• To achieve the Millennium Summit Development Goals, significantly increased level of development assistance is needed, as recognized by the Monterrey Summit on Financing for Development. After a decade of continuously falling aid levels we now have a concrete, time bound promises of increase in aid volumes from the EU, United States and other donors. These promises are welcomed by all the panellists and have to be delivered as soon as possible.

• Calls for bigger transparency, responsibility and accountability evolved into a debate on the possible creation of an independent institution that could take the assessor, arbitrator role.

• An idea of replacing loans with grants has been raised and defended passionately. All participants welcomed an increased use of grants, in particular for the purposes of education, fighting HIV/AIDS and conflict prevention. This will help reducing the debt burden. An increased level of funding will help to expand the use of grants.