WACC's Congress 2008 on the theme 'Communication is peace: Building viable communities' took place in Cape Town, South Africa, 6-10 October. Attended by some 300 people from all over the world, the Congress keynote presentations and related materials are published here in English.

CONTENTS

Opening Address: Celebrating diversity, by Musimbi Kanyoro, WACC President

Peacemakers to all people, by Archbishop Emertus Desmond Tutu

Communication rights belong to everyone, by Doreen Spence, Cree Elder

Imagine media that promote gender justice, by Joanne Sandler, UNIFEM

Stories of women survivors of violent conflict, by Ruth Ojiambo Ochieng, Isis-WICCE

Gugulethu and Robben Island, by Philip Lee, WACC

Peace education and new technologies, by Marcelo Rezende Guimarães, Educators for Peace

Cartoonist in residence, Bob Haverluck

Congress 2008: Where to from here? by Kristine Greenaway, WACC

Communication for Peace Award: Interview with Amy Goodman

Closing Address: Celebrating WACC, by Randy Naylor, WACC General Secretary

Congress Declaration

Media coverage of scientific research and discovery, including questions of ownership and control, can promote democratic and ethical accountability. Five simple questions need to be addressed: Who needs it? Who will benefit from it? Who will pay the costs? What happens when it goes wrong? Who will regulate it, how, and on whose behalf? Articles explore science coverage in the media, technological fundamentalism, the relationship between communicating science and participatory education, and between scientific knowledge and empowerment.

'Catastrophe theory' by Robyn Williams

'Technological fundamentalism in media and culture' by Robert Jensen

'Challenges in communicating science to Canadians' by Stephen J. Ward and Eric Jandciu

'Comunicar ciencia en el horizonte de la comunicación educativa' by Daniel Prieto Castillo

'Periodismo de ciencia' por Miguel Ángel de Alba

'Information technologies and the life sciences' by Pradip N. Thomas

'The tyranny of science' by Frank Furedi

'From a mean world to a world with meaning' by Rose A. Dyson

+ PLUS

'Soul-searching at the crossroads of journalism education' by Kaarle Nordenstreng

'CBC's Little Mosque on the Prairie: Just a Little Masquerade?' by Aliaa Dakroury

'Blogs and female expression in the Middle East' by Basilio G. Monteiro and Middle Eastern students

A collection of articles examining the role of the press inside and outside Haiti in creating and maintaining the country current public image. Censorship and misinformation are discussed as well as journalists' self-censorship for economic or political reasons. Community radio and citizen's journalism are seen as two possibilities for greater transparency and rebuilding trust. This issue also includes pieces on Victor Jara, media reform, and media and social change in Venezuela.

Haiti: Creating and maintaining a ‘failed’ state by James Winter

Haiti’s media coup by Isabel Macdonald

Baboukèt la tonbe! – The muzzle has fallen! by Jane Regan

Haïti : quand l’impunité censure by Pierre-Négaud Dupénord et Ary Régis

Vers un journalisme citoyen en Haïti by Rachelle Élien et Frantz Délice

UN troops accused of human rights violations in Haiti by Maria Luisa Mendonça

Changing the educational landscape in Haiti by Tequila Minsky

Perfiles de la censura y la autocensura en República Dominicana by Espacio de Comunicación Insular

Victor Jara’s songs of struggle and hope by Anita Krajnc

Does media reform make a difference? by Mauri Elbel

Media and government in Venezuela: What price freedom? by Andrés Cañizález

Reality and peace by Frank Kürschner-Pelkmann

Communication is a basic human need as much as food, water and shelter. Adequate access to communication assets and fair representation in public communication processes need to be seen as a human right – one that is not fully enjoyed by people living in poverty. Broader recognition of a rights-based approach to communication to eradicate communication poverty and poverty in general is needed at this point in the search to find ways to make real changes by and for people living in poverty.

Challenging media: Poverty amidst abundance, by Roberto Verzola

Communication poverty: A rights-based approach, by Lavinia Mohr

Voice and poverty, by Jo Ann Tacchi

Bellagio Statement on 'Media, freedom and poverty'

The potential of dagu communication in north-eastern Ethiopia, by Gulilat Menbere and Terje S. Skerdal

Poverty, advertising and the Indian news media, by Keval J. Kumar

Indian media devote little space to poverty, by I. Arul Aram

Deconstructing media coverage of development, by Fackson Banda

Homo academicus: Quo vadis?, by Jan Servaes

Los diarios digitales: ¿Acabarán con los de papel?, por Lidia Baltra M.

'Unworthy' victims? Chinese suffering in Western media, by Leeshai Lemish

Nigeria's spiral of violence: Can the medias build a culture of peace?, by Kate Azuka Omenugha and Allen Nnanwuba Adum

There is no ‘general theory’ of terrorism, as there is of ‘relativity’. There is little consensus about how to define terrorism, although it is generally accepted that it is the intentional use of, or threat to use, violence against civilians for political aims.

Such a definition must logically apply as much to state-sponsored terror as it does to non-governmental groups or individuals. How do the mass media treat this topic?

What are the responsibilities of communicators when reporting 'terror'?

In the Middle East the impact of new information and communication technologies is leading towards what has been described as 'the death of media'. The Internet, web sites, digital cameras, podcasts, blogging, cell phones and low power radio stations are turning the traditional media scene on its head. Media activists are becoming citizen reporters, practising the Indymedia movement's mantra of 'being the media'. How might mass and community media in the Middle East and outside the Middle East break the mould of stereotypical categorizations and present a plurality of identities and a diversity of balanced opinion?

WACC and the University of Colorado at Boulder, USA, recently organized a conference on 'Fundamentalism and the Media'. It was an opportunity for media professionals and academics to meet on common ground and to explore questions about the ways fundamentalisms use the media and whether fundamentalisms can exist without the media. This issue of Media Development publishes presentations from the conference and related material.

Increasing the capacity of poor and marginalised people to use communication in order to improve their lives is recognised by many NGOs as vital to a more just future for all. South and North, information and knowledge are essential for people to respond adequately and successfully to the opportunities of political, social, economic and cultural change. But to be useful, knowledge and information has to be available, accessible, and communicated effectively among people. This issue brings together a spectrum of thought on theory, practice and policy in the area of communication for development and empowerment.

Increasing the capacity of poor and marginalised people to use communication in order to improve their lives is recognised by many NGOs as vital to a more just future for all. South and North, information and knowledge are essential for people to respond adequately and successfully to the opportunities of political, social, economic and cultural change. But to be useful, knowledge and information has to be available, accessible, and communicated effectively among people. This issue brings together a spectrum of thought on theory, practice and policy in the area of communication for development and empowerment.

In the past, communication by signs and symbols converged with materials when language was first expressed in writing. Symbolic technologies converged with electronic technologies to launch the information society. Computing and communication technologies converged on the basis of digital information. And now, digital technologies are converging with the organic world, including the human body. As one writer in this issue points out, “Whatever position one may have in relation to converging technologies, there can be little doubt that humankind is in the process of developing new tools that have far-reaching implications for its future.” New technologies have enormous potential, but they also have the capacity to change us as human beings. For that reason alone, communicators and society must engage in a wide-ranging debate about the broad social and ethical issues raised by the convergence of digital technologies with other technologies.

On 20 October 2005 UNESCO finally approved its Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. One hundred and fifty-one nations voted in favour of the text, including the 25 members of the European Union and Brazil. Two years of heated negotiations resulted in a document that is ‘clear, carefully balanced, and consistent with the principles of international law and fundamental human rights’ or, depending on your point of view, ‘a charter for unscrupulous governments to erect trade barriers, suppress minority cultures and block the free flow of information.’ WACC endorses the call for governments to ratify the new Convention, for civil society to use it both to monitor future bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations and as a means to transform international and national policies on culture, media and communication.

An alien being visits Earth. It has evolved in a world totally different from ours. Its environment is totally different. Its ways of existing, its cultures and cosmology are equally ‘alien’ to ours. Yet, paradoxically, it has far greater understanding of a universe that we have come to believe is ours and ours alone. How will it communicate? What kind of language or system of signs and symbols will it use? Will it have music, dance, and poetry? For what purposes will it ‘communicate’? Conversely, are some of our terrestrial forms of communication equally ‘alien’ to such an ‘outsider’ and perhaps even to ourselves? How do we communicate communication?

Gender justice is an urgent concern. Millions of women throughout the world are deprived of their fundamental human rights for no other reason than that they are female. And as an intrinsic part of this scenario, there is still a long way to go before gender equality in media is achieved. The articles in this issue of Media Development explore how gender activists are tackling questions of power and control, definitions and values, access and exclusion in relation to communications and the mass media.

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Christian fundamentalism and the media: Fundamentalism may be religious or secular, but when fundamentalism imposes its views on society, it threatens both human rights and communication rights. And when religious fundamentalism can offer distorted opinions and fanatical misinformation via the mass media, it threatens the political and social stability of entire nations. This issue of Media Development begins to explore the way Christian fundamentalists use the mass media in an effort to promote communication rights, inclusiveness and diversity in a multicultural world.

Celebrating Cinema. With this issue we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Protestant film organisation Interfilm. Founded in Paris in 1955, its first President was Henri de Tienda, a minister in the navy and General Secretary of the Service cinématographique d’évangelisation of the Reformed Church of France. One of Interfilm’s main activities was – and remains – its involvement in juries at national and international film festivals. In the early days, the Protestant and Roman Catholic churches had separate juries. However, in 1973 in co-operation with the Organisation Catholique Internationale pour le Cinéma et l’Audiovisuel (OCIC), today known as Signis, the very first Ecumenical Jury met at the Locarno Film Festival, where it is still held in high regard.

Communication Today: Old Challenges and New Realities. The development of the Internet challenges traditional conceptions of information rights. The discourse surrounding these rights and the Internet typically deals with each right in isolation and attempt to adapt long established understandings of each right to the new technological environment. We content there is a need to address information rights within a comprehensive human rights framework, specifically, a right to communicate. This paper examines the development of a right to communicate and how it can be defined and implemented.

Communication Rights: an Unfinished Agenda. The opening up of the Chinese media sphere to the outside world has profound implications for the international flow of media and cultural products. Aware of China’s potential, transnational media and communications corporations have adopted an array of strategies to strengthen their positions in what may emerge as the world’s largest media market. What China has common with the other Asian giant, India, is that its media market has been consistently targeted and tamed by a particular company. What China has common with the other Asian giant, India, is that its media market has been consistently targeted and tamed by a particular company.

Citizenship, Identity, Media. Slavko Splichal asks "Why are the rights of media owners considered superior to the personal right to communicate?", Greg Simons examines "Media, identity and the Russian Orthodox Church", and Clemencia Rodriguez takes a look at "The renaissance of citizens’ media". Alfonso Gumucio -Dagron gives a Latin American perspective on "Media, freedom and poverty", and José Marques de Melo reflectson the impact of globalisation in Latin America with "De la sociedad mediática a la sociedad del conocimiento: escenarios latinoamericanos". Larbi Chouikha looks at the New World Information Order in Tunisia. Ignacio Ramonet examines "Le cinquième pouvoir".

Media Reform. Ashish Sen writes on "Media reform in India: Legitimising community media", Larry Hollon shows how "Under corporate control, there is no guarantee of free of speech". Regina dos Santos gives us her "Reflections upon racism in the context of Brazilian mass media reform", and Robert A. Hackett and William K. Carroll analyse "Critical social movements and media reform". Aliza Dichter looks at U.S. Media activism and the search for constituency and asks "Where are the people in the ‘public interest’?". Cheon Young-Cheol examines "Internet newspapers as Alternative Media" by looking closely at the case of OhmyNews in South Korea. Sally Burch writes on "Global media governance: Reflections from the WSIS experience" and Philip Lee leads with "Jingoism and the old lie - ‘Dulce et decorum est…’"

Indymedia. Graham Meikle leads with "Indymedia and the new net news" and Dorothy Kidd looks at Indymedia as it rolls out across the world in "The Independent Media Center: A new model". DeeDee Halleck shows how this dynamic worldwide movement is being constructed in "Indymedia: Building an international activist internet network" and Aliza Dichter asks "Is this what media democracy looks like?".

China, Media Industries and the Market. In this issue David Banisar examines "The Great Firewall of China: Cyber-policing dissent", Yuezhi Zhao writes about "Skimming cream off the Chinese market: Transnational capital and tensions in Chinese communication", and Colin Sparks shows us Murdoch at work in China. Dan Schiller offers thoughts on "International Communications and Political-Economic Power: Interpreting China’s Emerging Role" and Yik-chan Chin writes on "The nation-state in a globalising media environment: China’s regulatory policies on transnational television drama flow". Other articles take on communication as an advocacy tool for refugees, story-telling on screen and film documentaries promoting rural theology and media ministry.

Science, IT and Society. Keith Suter writes on "Balibo and the murder of journalists: The story won’t go away", Peter Horsfield considers "The ethics of virtual reality: the digital and its predecessors" and Gergana Doncheva writes on "Antiheroes in films about Vietnam, Chechnya, Afghanistan, and former Yugoslavia". Albert van den Heuvel writes on "Grace and the Information Society" while Paula Tompkins examines "Truth and trust in cyberspace". Pradip Thomas defines features of the knowledge economy with "Digital Cohabitations: The Social Consequences of Convergent Technologies". "Pushing informationalized capitalism into science and information technology" comes from Dan Schiller and Kim Yong-Bock offers us "Faith and Science for Life on Earth"

Intellectual Property Rights and Communication. This issue comes with a glossary of terms as well as a set of online links and resources to help guide you through this huge subject. Perspectives for Free Software and the Open Source movement worldwide are considered by Camilo Zamora. "Copyright and the commodification of culture" is analysed by Ronald V. Bettig, "The ‘folkloric copyright tax’ problem in Ghana" is examined by John Collins. Christine Morris takes on "Intellectual Property and traditional law", Ravi Srinivas Krishna looks at "Innovations and creativity: Open Source, Bio Linux and Seeds" and Lawrence Liang covers "Global commons, public space and contemporary IPR"

The Campaign for Communication Rights in the Information Society. Five CRIS issue papers lead into a series of articles on the subject. 1: Is the ‘information society’ a useful concept for civil society? 2: Why should intellectual property rights matter to civil society? 3: What is the special significance of community media to civil society? 4: Media ownership: Big deal?, and 5: The corporate sector and information control. Sasha Costanza-Chock examines "The CRIS Campaign: Mobilizations and blind spots", Cees Hamelink takes on the "Moral challenges in the information society" and Antonio Pasquali makes "A case for setting up an international tribunal". Seán Ó Siochrú gives "A personal account of WSIS PrepCom 1" and Bruce Girard has prepared a "Statement on PrepCom". Other WSIS and CRIS resources are provided for further reading.

Reporting the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict. Following on from two international debates run by WACC, articles accompany the main piece which is a "Journalists' Code of Fair Practice - Style-sheet on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict" prepared by J. Martin Bailey. Marda Dunsky asks "What consitutes full and fair media coverage of Israeli-Palestinian issues?", Sarah Eltanawi shows how "US media turn a blind eye to the Israeli occupation" and James Wall examines "Sharon's cunning plan". Haroon Siddiqui shows the view from Canada with "International media coverage and changing societies" and other articles by Isabelle Graesslé and Gabor Karsai complement the issue.

Mass Media and Impunity. This issue includes articles on Digna Ochoa y Plácido, murdered in Mexico for speaking out, "Breaking the silence on the war in Algeria - the fight for truth and reconciliation" by André Jacques, and relfections on "Impunity, the media and Dietrich Bonhoeffer" by Edwin H. Robertson. Charles Villa-Vicencio brings in the South African perspective on amnesty with "Neither too much, not too little justice", Jake Lynch looks at impunity in journalism, "The Red Sea catch: A Palestinian perspective" is an instructive case study put forward by Mitri Raheb of Bethlehem and Cees J. Hamelink shows how "Communication may not build peace but it can certainly contribute to war". Other articles in French and Spanish are also included.

Mass Media and Democratisation in Eastern Europe. Articles in this issue include: "Empowering women and men through participatory media structures" by Colin Sparks, "Issues for media theory in Russia's transistion from dictatorship" by John D.H. Downing, and "A global blancing act: New structures in the Russian media" by Elena Vartanova. Media and political society in Eastern Europe are looked at by Peter Gross. Additional material from the East is provided: " The role of media in China's democratisation" by Junhao Hong, "Democratisation and restructuring the media industry in South Korea" by Sunny Yoon, and "Media, democracy and globalisation: a comparative perspective" by Joseph Man Chan.

Communication, from Confrontation to Reconciliation. Memory and Reconciliation: Media and ways of communicating ; Culture, Censorship and Voice ; Grandmothers Uniting ; Memory and reconciliation: The story of Guatemala ; Confronting cultural rights ; Communication must strengthen civil society ; Restoring human dignity and reconciling the people of Rwanda ; Reconciliation is an act of mutual recognition ; Culture and Reconciliation ; Statement by the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) ; Déclaration de l’Association Mondiale pour la Communication Chrétienne ; Erklärung der Weltvereinigung für christliche Kommunikation ; Declaración de la Asociación Mundial para la Comunicación Cristiana ; Community, dignity, reconciliation ; Communication: From confrontation to reconciliation – The challenges;

Communication and Cultural Identity in Asia. Cultural identity, internationalization, and regional diversity ; Japanese popular culture and East Asian modernities ; The state of civil society in Singapore ; The media and asylum seekers in Australia ; Images of the ‘other’ in India ; Globalisation and tradition: Paradoxes in Philippine television and culture ; Media versus globalisation and localisation ; The politics of compassion: Journalism, class formation, and social change in China ; ¿Cómo construir ciudadanía responsable desde los medios? ; Think local, teach global: National identity and media education ; Religious programming in secular media ; The Windhoek Charter on Broadcasting in Africa

Media Scenarios in Southern Africa. Privatisation of the media and national survival in Lesotho ; Globalisation and its possible effects on independent media in South Africa ; Free for all? The case of Zimbabwe’s media ; The politics of press freedom and the national economy in Swaziland ; The Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust: An experiment that failed ; Plurality and power relations in Zambian broadcasting ; Reform and, outreach: Analysing Southern African media ; Service providers and liability for digital defamation: Finding the right balance ; Cartooning and democratization world-wide ; Cartoon journalism in Africa puts political power into perspective

Communicating Cyberspace and Virtual Reality. L’internet, outil de développement : Une nouvelle donnée pour l’éducation en Afrique noire ; He lies like a rug: Digitising memory ; Plain speaking in a world of suspect communication technologies ; Is the Internet a form of electronic apartheid? ; ‘Nurslings of immortality’: Being human or being digital? ; América Latina entra a la carrera ciberespacial ; The agony and the ecstasy of media work in the USA - Bernard R. Bonnot: "The media environment in the USA today is one in which a company that didn’t exist 20 years ago can swallow up Time Warner. That’s part of the agony, the uncertainty of a dynamic situation. Even the most prosperous and powerful of media enterprises worries about being taken over whole by some yahoo or other and about their executives migrating to some e-commerce start-up. But there are compensations, as the following article suggests. "

Communicating Reconciliation in Today's World. Education for peace: The UN and new ideas for the ‘information age.’ ; Seeing (beyond) the frame ; Beijing Declaration on the Rights of People with Disabilities in the New Century ; A ‘Cruel Radiance’: Reconciliation in Mike Leigh’s Secrets and Lies ; Communicating reconciliation: The churches’ responsibilities in an increasingly secular society ; Sanctions: the children of Iraq are still dying ; Giving back the bike: Reconciliation’s promise ; A cultural foundation for communicating reconciliation in Africa ; Hablar de comunicación en tiempos de confrontación en el Perú ; Theological understandings of reconciliation ; Screening ambiguity: From conflict to the common good ; De l’influence de la télévision : Un point de vue africain ; Okinawa Charter on Global Information Society;

Women and Media, The Need for Policy. Media vs. society in Lebanon: Schizophrenia in an age of globalisation ; Looking beyond the ‘body count’ in the Caribbean ; Developing gender sensitive communications policies ; Don’t abandon safeguards in the name of freedom of expression! ; Globalisation of the media and its implications for women’s expression ; Changing images: a long road ; Lost on the information superhighway? Del Nevo: "How have gender issues in communication altered since two landmark conferences in Bangkok 1994 and Beijing 1995? The following article reviews the current situation, concluding that a global transformation of culture and the policies of the communications industry are required. This can only be done through the development of gender sensitive communications policies that are democratically pout into practice."

Impunity and the Media. Cultural politics: choosing between the global market and democracy ; Herbert I. Schiller ( 9 9-2000): Radical scholar, teacher, activist ; Restoring the rights of children ; Democracy requires science journalism ; Media, racism and monitoring ; Playing the race card in South Africa ; More Colour in the Media ; Everyday racism and the importance of a cultural paradigm ; Migrants, racism and the media – a perspective from Australia ; Arkan: A villain glamorised by the media ; Beyond contesting racism: Imagining the polyethnic media environment ; Audience segmentation: Is it racism or just good business? ; The potential role of the mass media in deconstructing racism

Communication and the Globalisation of Poverty. Current discourse on new technologies in development communication ; First Impressions: The angelic taxi driver ; The tortuous road to reconciliation ; Death and dying in ‘For Better or For Worse’ ; Redemption and film: Cinema as a contemporary site of religious activity ; Village Phone: An information revolution for rural Bangladesh ; La Iglesia, la pobreza y la economía global ; From French revolution to information revolution ; Coupons make the world go around ; Christian faith and the globalization of poverty ; Conceptualising the fourth world: Four approaches to poverty and communication ; Irish print media coverage of the998 Sudanese crisis: The case of The Irish Times

Language and the Right to Communicate. Web wars and inter-faith futures in India ; War in Bosnia, Moving Images ; Selective protection: Guarding language in South Africa ; Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights ; First public hearing on languages and human rights ; From our mothers’ arms ; What fate awaits the world’s languages? ; Rehabilitating language ; Languages and the right to communicate ; Tok Pisin and Tok Ples as languages of identification in Papua New Guinea. Despite promising beginnings, there is still a long way to go in the realisation of the right to communicate. The following article argues that ‘Global civic organizations that represent public interest issues need to mobilize themselves and form alliances with other interested parties for active intervention in the fora of world communication governance.’ This is the fundamental challenge on the communications agenda of the 21st century.

Changing Perspectives in Europe Today. Film fathers: From the demonic to the angelic ; Against the common good: The commodification of Latin American society ; Tackling the final and optimal crisis of the century ; Implementing children’s right to freedom of expression in sub-Saharan Africa ; Child rights and the media: Guidelines for journalists ; Call for a safer world ; Using the principle of publicity to create public service media ; Turn-of-the-century challenges facing the mass media in Bulgaria ; Democratisation of the media in the Republic of Karelia ; Trends in the development of the Estonian media market in the990s ; Dilemmas facing Hungary in securing genuine democratisation of communication ; Broadcasting in Macedonia: Between the State and the Market ; East Europe’s cinema industries since989 ; Mass media and the transition in Romania ; Media education in Slovenia

Key Issues in Global Communications. Communication for development is alive and kicking! ; Journalism for people: An interview with P. Sainath ; Declaración de Quito ; Public Service Broadcasting in the Information Society ; ‘Guatemala: Never again’. Witnessing on behalf of the disappeared ; Gender, media production and media output ; Amazônia in focus: Brazilian and regional media scenarios ; Information society and multilateral agreements: Obstacles for developing countries ; Democratising telecommunications: The role of organisations in civil society ; Against global inevitability ; The politics of designing information networks ; Biodiversity, patents and Indigenous Peoples ; Ethics, economics and innovation: The future of accountability

Children and Media. Public Service Broadcasting: Proud past, interesting future? ; Towards reforming public television in Latin America ; Establishing boundaries for the right to communicate religion ; Sex and violence: A Brazilian soap opera ; Convention on the Rights of the Child ; Statements on children and media ; ¿Una radio para chicos? ¿Una radio hecha por los chicos? ; Ethics and responsibility in journalism: An Islamic perspective ; How young children can learn from popular television ; Los derechos del niño: sueños y realidades ; Responsible advertising to children and youth in the new online environment ; El Periodiquito: Propuesta de comunicación educativa con niños, niñas y adolescentes ; Helping to promote literacy among Arab children in Israel ; Young Asia Television experiments with public service broadcasting ; Existing in other worlds: How to locate indigenous narratives

Media Ownership and Control New films on children and youth challenge old perceptions ; Ethics, democracy and citizenship ; Media ownership and control in Cameroon: Constraints on media freedom ; Media ownership in Nigeria: Present and future perspectives ; Ownership and control of the Malaysian media ; India's Internet policies: ownership, control, and purposes ; The political economy of global media ; China: New public sphere, new TV journalists? ; The Cuscatlán Charter on the right to communicate ; Media ownership and control in the Philippines ; A contextual macro-analysis of media in the Caribbean in the990s ; Les tambours baillonnés: Contrôle et mainmise du pouvoir sur les médias en Côte d’Ivoire ; Killing the messenger: The media in Puerto Rico

Migrants, Refugees and the Right to Communicate. What's in a name? - The many lives of alternative media ; Australia, the media and the politics of anger ; Putting more colour into the Dutch media ; The future imperfect of radio ; Television helps to define 'home' for the Turkish women of Amsterdam ; Castle perilous: How the EU is re-building its defences ; Education for extinction: Racism in Canadian universities ; L’oeuvre cinématographique : résonances théologiques ; The refugee challenge for Ireland: Cultural globalisation or identity crisis? ; Le film: miroir et lieu d'altérité ; Deconstructing 'Canada': A vision of hope ; Multiculturalism in German broadcasting ; Cultural communication, media, and Iranian women refugees in Germany and Canada ; The plight of migrant women: They speak, but who's listening?

Communication and Disability. Movies as mirrors and windows: Depicting disabilities in film ; Reconciling education and mass media ; Disabled people are taking control of their own lives ; Disability and the media: a suitable case for treatment? ; Mass media and disability in Africa ; Medios de comunicación como potenciales productores de espacios de salud ; Designing communication technologies for everyone ; Forget pity or charity: Disability is a rights issue ; Social science, communication research and the Third World ; Images of mental illness in the mass media ; Disabled people are strangers in their own land ; Communicating human dignity through disability awareness ; The sacredness of life ; Independent living in the Philippines: the Bigay Buhay Multipurpose Cooperative ; Libertad religiosa formal y discriminación real en España

Communication Issues in the Caribbean. From Caribbean hip-hop to Puerto Rican lament ; Creating a culture of exchange and co-operation in the Caribbean today ; Popular media and cultural identity in the Eastern Caribbean ; Mind your language! ; Metepec pou Marisule Listwa WACC-CARIBE ; Metepec to Marisule: An introduction to WACC-CARIBE ; Théologie, langage et perception populaire ; How video films developed in Nigeria ; The Boulder Statement of the MacBride Round Table on Communication ; Free market vs. political control in China: Convenience or contradiction? ; Globalización y comunicación alternativa ; English and Kwéyòl Summaries ; Using vernacular languages in the media ; The Caribbean - a chance for community media to develop ; Language and communication in the Caribbean

Cartoons and Comic Art. Paulo Freire and the 'Pedagogy of Hope' ; Interview with Carlos Arnaldo ; Cartooning in the Southern Hemispheres: Commercial and Developmental Angles ; Christian Cartoonists Network ; Kenyan Religious Media ; Government allows a new public sphere to evolves in China ; Black journalists in South Africa are treading new paths ; Laying cartooning on the line in Africa ; Brève histoire du neuvième art: La bande dessinée chrétienne ; Batman Crucified: Religion and Modern Superhero Comic Books

Indigenous Communications. Hidden perspectives on Communication & Culture in the Pacific Islands ; Stealing Stories: Communication and Indigenous Autonomy ; Journalism, democracy and transition ; Mongolia's bid for free media stifled by lack of standards ; Truth in context, or what does truth mean? ; The Place of Oral Traditions in Indigenous Communications: Effect of Modern Mass Media and New Technologies of Communication ; Overcoming Impunity: Reconciliation in a Latin American Context ; The political-pedagogical praxis of Paulo Freire ( 92 -97): Dreaming of a world of equality and justice ; Reinvidicación de los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas y las posibilidades de ser escuchados en el Contexto de la Paz. ; Indigenous Broadcasting in Australia

Communication and National Identity. The Role of Communication in Preserving Cultural Identity in Northern Thailand ; Communication and national identity: Towards an inclusive vision ; The role of media in the creation and development of national identity ; Communication Dilemmas in a Traditional Urban African Society ; Crippling Government Information Control in China: The Role of new media technologies* ; The audiovisual market in Latin America: From image-identity to a Latin American audiovisual arena ; The audiovisual sector and information technologies: possibilities and risks for regional development. ; Communication and the Preservation of National Identity

Cultural Boundaries, Identity and Communication in Latin America. Cultural Boundaries: Identity and Communication in Latin America ; Language, Cultural Myths, Media and 'Realpolitik': the Case of Mozambique ; World Modernity and Identities ; Crossing the border between reality and fiction ; Haiti media report ; The willingness to weave: cultural analysis, Cultural Fronts and networks of the future ; Shifting Continental Divides: The USA and Canada ; Hybrid Cultures and Communicative Strategies ; 'Limits' in Latin American Communication Analysis ; Cultural Decentring and Palimpsests of Identity

Communication and Conflict. The Scientifically Unexplainable: Magic and the Electronic Cosmos ; Communication and Conflict ; Amateur film-making, collective memory and cultural identity ; The mass media culture in the religious world: The case of evangelical churches in Lima, Peru. ; Statement of the 8th MacBride Round Table ; Communication and Human Rights: A Challenge We Cannot Refuse ; The Stories We Tell ; Religion and the Aesthetics of Communication ; The Declaration of Cajamar ; Radio stations in Burundi: From hatred to humanity ; 'I'm begging you... if you won't help don't bother filming!' ; Journalism and Conflict Resolution ; Internet, structural violence and non-communication

Alternative Communication Networks. ZEBRA: The international network for North-South audio-visual activities ; Krzysztof Kieslowski ( 94 -96): Screen Giant of Irony ; Viewer's Declaration of Independence ; Videazimut: an International Coalition for Democratic Communication ; UNDA ; The internationalisation of struggle and the need for global solidarity ; China-Bashing Western Journalists ; Opportunities and strategies for democratic media ; The MacBride Round Table on Communication ; IPS Towards the Year 2000 ; Globalisation, Civil Society and Communication ; The People's Communication Charter ; The Role of NGOs in Making Human Rights a Reality

Communication as Everyday Resistance. Communication as Everyday Resistance: Economic Migrants, Popular Culture and 'City'zenship ; Pop Music as Everyday Resistance: Tropicalismo Contests Protest Music ; Australian Aboriginal Communication as Resistance ; Youssou N'Dour ; Communication Technology and Nonviolent Action ; From "Naming the World" to Theorizing Its Relationships: New Directions for Participatory Communication for Development ; The world has no owner: Everyday resistance in popular songs of Africa ; La idea de dignidad en las marchas de protesta mexicanas