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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, December 26, 1980
Page 10
Exactly what the Western news media might be up against was dramatically
revealed--albeit coincidentally--during the UNESCO fiasco. A French
journalist working for Agence-France Press was arrested and jailed in the
Zambian capital of Lusaka for having reported accurately the attempted coup
that threatened the government of President Kenneth Kaunda. Yet remarkably
the French delegate to UNESCO went along with the consensus proposal and
most of the other issues brought to vote.
Although not specifically mentioned in news reports from Belgrade, UNESCO
proscriptions are undoubtedly directed at radio and television coverage
as well. In many countries, it is only reporting by the BBC World Service
and other Western radio services that gives people living in Third World
countries an accurate account of conditions inside their own borders. 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 via short
wave.
Collapse of Western Will
Champions of the ideal of a free and unfettered press were greatly out
numbered in Belgrade, reports L.A. Times' Don Cook, who covered the UNESCO
meeting. He quoted Elie Abel,""'au.s. delegate, as saying, "We and the
people who share our views are in a very small minority in UNESCO. We
don't have a lot of friends and we'd better face it. I think we have to
ask ourselves why we are seeing this steady, steady erosion of American
influence."
At the Foreign O ice in London, the British were indignantly outspoken
about the results of the Belgrade meeting. At one point, British delegate
Lord Gordon-Lennox was preparing to vote against the "world information"
resolution, but then the U.S. delegation got instructions from Washington
to go along with a consensus approval rather than force a vote. Britain,
"with the greatest reluctance," decided it had no alternative but to go
along too. Nevertheless, Foreign Office Minister Peter Blaker made it
clear that Britain regards the whole exercise as a growing threat to the
free flow of news and ideas and a curb on freedom of the press in the guise
of trying to define how journalists are supposed to report and behave
around the world.
In general, the Western countries caved in to the pressure exerted by the
opposition. Reported Cook: "The British were blunt and outspoken in
debate and committee work, and the Swiss refused even to go along with a
consensus. But otherwise, only Canada, Australia and West Germany were
ready to line up on most of the votes. France and the rest of the Euro
pean allies, and countries like Japan, Sweden, and Austria seemed more
concerned not to oppose the Third World."
The Western countries were also swamped by the Third World/Communist bloc
when UNESCO voted itself a hefty 34% increase in its operating budget, up
to $725 million over the next three years. Of course, most of this money
comes from the Western world, specifically good ol' "Uncle Sap."
Impede The Gospel?
UNESCO's Director-General Mahtar m'Bow of Senegal pledged at the closing
session that "this is only the first stage in creating a new information
order in the world." And before the delegates adjourned, the Soviet Union