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endured actual imprisonment for
the content of his spoken message
(Jeremiah 20:2).
In the New Testament, the
authorities tried to prevent the
apostles from preaching the Gos–
pel. The apostles were forcibly
brought before the council. The
high priest asked them: "Did not
we straightly command you that
you should not teach in this
name'? and, behold, ye have filled
Jerusalem with your doc–
trine ... " (Acts 5:28).
In other words, the civil and
religious authorities were seeking
to
regulare
the.
content
of their
message!
In response, the apostle Peter
declared the firm rule that "we
ought to obey God rather than
men" (verse 29). Since Peter and
company had a God-ordained
duty
to say what they were say–
ing, the commands of the civil
government of Jerusalem were in
direct conflict with God's.
For the future, the Bible
prophecy reveals that the time
will come when most of this
world' s nations will be led by
Satan to abolish freedom of the
press-and all related freedoms.
Why? To prevent any publishing
of God's message from reaching
any substantial number of
people!
'BehoJd, the days come, saith
the Lord God, that 1 will send a
famine in the land, not a famine
of bread, nor a thírst for water,
bu t of hearing the words of the
lnternational News
Censorship
Looms on the Horizon
The stage is now being set for a marked restriction, in the years
ahead, of the free flow of vital news from around the world.
A
little-noticed event in the closing
weeks of 1980 has laid the foun–
dations for coming global censorship.
.The event was the twenty-first annual
conference of the United Nations Edu–
cational, Scientific and Cultural Organi–
zation (UNESCO) in Belgrade, Yugo–
slavia.
UNESCO adopted by consensus
a resolution calling for " a new world
information order. " Specifically. the
resolution called on the world's
mass media "to contribute to the
strengthening of peace and interna–
tional understanding, to the promo–
tion of human rights and to coun–
tering racia lism, apartheid and
incitement to war." These words
provide a ready excuse to clamp
down on any news story of which
governments disapprove.
According to Stanley Karnow,
head of the lnternational Writers
Service in Washington, the resolu–
tion was the product of Sean Mac–
Bride, a former lrish foreign minis–
ter and holder of the Lenin and
Nobel peace prizes. MacBride was
commissioned by UNESCO to look
into the complaints of Third World
countries about the " Western
press." Mr . Karnow writes, " Mac–
Bride carne up with a preposter–
ous idea. Journalists visiting Third
World countries, he suggested ,
should pledge to accept the gov–
ernment's version of events."
The issue of establishing inter–
national press controls has been
smoldering for sorne time. Third
Wor ld countries have long re–
sented the fact that most of the
world 's influential news media are
based in the industrialized " First
World" countries. These media ,
they charge , operate "news
monopolies" and present a biased
view of Third World events.
What
really
d isturbs sorne in the
Third World countries is that West–
ern news agencies are generally
free to report to their readers what
is happening
inside
the developing
countries . Such reporting occa–
sionally gives an unfavorable or
biased view of domestic events
Lord: and they shall wander from
sea to sea, and from the north
even to the east, they shall run to
and fro to seek the word of the
Lord, and shall not find it "
(Amos 8: 11- 12).
Elsewhere the Bible reveals
how
this prophesied press
clampdown will take place. Rev–
elatíon 13 describes a great relí–
gious-cívíl power that wíll arise
in the place of the old Roman
Empire. This propl)esíed pow.er
will not allow free speech, a free
press or the free exercise of
any
religion-except the
official
reli–
gíon of the state.
Why
F ree Press lmpo r tan t
The Gospel is the good news of a
government that will
REPLACE
occurring inside the host nations.
Editorialized the
Los Angeles
Times
in angry reaction to the
UNESCO resolution: ' 'The undem–
ocratic countries already control
what their people read and hear.
What they want is a mechanism,
created and subsidized by
UNESCO, to enable them to extend
that control to international news.
They are well on their way to achiev–
ing that goal. "
Exactly what the Western news
media might be up against was
dramatically revealed-albeit coin–
cídentally-during the UNESCO
fiasco . A French journalist working
for Agence-France Press was
arrested and jailed for having
reported accurately the attempted
coup that threatened the govern–
ment of the country on which he
was reporting.
Although not specifically men–
tioned in news reports from Bel–
grade, the UNESCO proscriptions
were undoubtedly directed at radio
and television coverage and other
Western radio services. These give
people living in Third World coun–
tries a generally accurate account
of conditions inside their own bor–
ders. The Third World countries
would like to restrict the movement
of, say, BBC reporters or stringers
operating overseas, calling in
reports to London, and having their
dispatches received back in the
home country vía shortwave.
This situation creates a special