Development Communication - Development Communication Policy - Development Communication Policy Issues

Development Communication Policy Issues

At the close of the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (also known as Rio+20), 193 governments reiterated that the “people are at the center of sustainable development” and reaffirmed the pursuit of an equitable, inclusive and sustained growth that benefits all (The Future We Want, Paragraph 6). Integral to these imperatives of equity, inclusiveness and sustainable development are fundamental communicative aspects, such as freedom of expression, voices, worldviews, access and opportunities. It can thus be asserted that communication lies at the root of economic equity, social justice and human rights.

Communication policies determine the structures of the industries that can enable or encumber public access to information and communication resources which are essential means to the people’s ability to speak, be heard, and meaningfully participate in public determination. Despite this central role, communication policies are often excluded from socio-political policy processes.

Communication policy development covers formal and informal processes where interests are defined, expressed and politically negotiated by actors with different levels of power and with the goal of influencing policy decisions (Mansell, Raboy, 2011).

Development communication policy as a field has always been characterized by tension and conflict owed to a socially contextualized policy-making process and value-driven technologies (Williams 1974). From its nascent stages in the 1950s through to the 2000s, communication policy debates have been framed within the ruling discourses on development paradigms: autonomous vs. dependent in the 50s; unequal North-South communications flows in the 60s and 70s; the rise of the transnational corporations and the non-governmental actors in the 80s; the emergence of the global information society in the 90s along with the convergence of media and communication technologies and the rule of the market-based media structure in the 90s; and finally, the gathering of governments to formulate a global information society policy agenda during the World Summit on the Information Society with online media as a central focus in the 2000s.

The rapid prevalence of ICT and how it was breaking down boundaries of space and time for social interfaces have expanded the policy discussions and implications beyond national borders. Though the state, economy and civil society remain as key players, the policy making arena has extended to the global sphere. Policy makers have to contend with growing demands for content diversity, equal access, broader participation and transparency in policy development. With ICT access defining a new form of social underclass as demarcated by the digital divide between developed and developing countries, the central issue has become the need for ICT to serve economic, political and social justice.

This concern was amplified by a 1997 report of the United Nations which stated: “We are profoundly concerned at the deepening mal-distribution of access, resources and opportunities in the information and communication field. The information and communication technology gap and related inequities between industrialized and developing nations are widening: a new type of poverty – information poverty – looms.” (Paragraph 5)

To counter the historical dominance of the global North, calls were raised for multistakeholder participation in ICT governance and for a new “enlightenment” where the policy process includes both formal and informal mechanisms and enables state and non-state actors to shape the aspirations of the media and communication industries (Hamelink and Nordenstreng, 2007). In the context of the new digital communication resources, issues of distribution and dependence as they relate to political power, economic opportunities and social and cultural values need to be revisited.

Ultimately, communication and media resources (traditional and digital) are vital public interests, thus granting the public the right and legitimacy to take active part in their governance and policy development process.