Abstracts

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION RESEARCH (IAMCR). LAW SECTION.

Theme: ‘Media, Information, and Communication: Celebrating 50 years of Theories and Practice’

The Law Section was among the four IAMCR Sections which has been established already during the founding IAMCR conference in Paris in 1957. Its first Chairman was Prof. Martin Löffler, a famous German Press Lawyer. Löffler chaired the Section until 1984, when he resigned for health reasons. In New Delhi in 1986 the Law Section was reestablished and Prof. Cees Hamelink was elected as the new Chair. When Hamelink became IAMCR president in Barcelona in 1988 Vice Chair Prof. Wolfgang Kleinwächter overtook the leadership of thr section and headed it until 1998. In Glasgow in 1998 Prof. Andrei Richter was elected as IAMCR Law Section Chair.

The Session will discuss the main areas of activities of the Law Section in the last 50 years - national media legislation, human rights, legal aspects of new ICT and Internet Law - and discuss the challenges of the future.

Session 2. International Efforts in Promoting Media Freedoms and Professional Standards Worldwide

1) Les limites des droits du citoyen « à l’information » et « à la communication », dans le cadre d’une conception « individualiste », de la liberté de communication

Département de Journalisme et de Communication, Université Aristote de Thessalonique, Grèce

Cet exposé essaiera de répondre à la question de savoir, si, et dans quelle mesure, l’affirmation internationale du «droit à l’information», et, dans un stade ultérieur, celle du droit à la communication a aboutit, dans le temps, à la formation d’un cadre juridique, susceptible de protéger le citoyen contre le pouvoir des médias. Ces deux droits assurent-ils, à l’heure actuelle, l’accès du citoyen à la communication, ainsi que sa participation active au dialogue public mené par les médias ?

I. L’affirmation théorique du droit à l’information dans les années de l’Après Guerre à repondu à la nécessité de protéger la liberté de l’information, non seulement à l’égard de l’Etat, mais surtout, contre les médias eux mêmes, afin de rendre au citoyen l’exercice plein et entier de la liberté d’expression, et de son droit d’être informé tout en garantissant la formation d’une opinion publique capable d’orienter l’expression de la volonté politique. L’étude conteste l’efficacité de ce droit pour des raisons qui tiennent à la fois, à sa portée, à sa nature juridique, et à son statut philosophique. L’analyse théorique du droit à l’information est doublée d’une étude comparative et critique, de la jurisprudence hellénique et française, qui démontre, que ce droit bénéficie, en fait, beaucoup plus aux médias eux-mêmes (sujets de l’aspect actif de celui-ci) qu’à leur public, (sujet de l’aspect passif de celui-ci).

II. Cependant, la proposition de reconnaître le « droit de l’homme à la communication » (J.d’Arcy :1969) -qui imposerait à l’Etat d’intervenir, selon des règles qui garantissent sa neutralité, en vue d’une plus grande multiplicité des médias, de leur diversité et pluralité, ainsi que de leur plus grande accessibilité par les citoyens (F. Balle : 2001), tout en rendant compte de la possibilité de ces derniers de participer activement au processus de la communication- appelle des réserves semblables à celles, qui avaient suivi l’analyse du droit à l’information. La portée, ainsi que les limites de ce droit seront exposées, à la lumière de l’article 5A de la Constitution Hellénique, qui fut parmi les premières, à introduire, le « droit du citoyen à la communication électronique ».

Les contradictions et impasses que laissent apparaître les analyses qui précèdent, nous permettent de conclure, que la simple reconnaissance et superposition de droits protégeant le citoyen contre les médias, ne peut pas à elle seule conduire à la « Constitutionnalisation du pouvoir médiatique » en l’absence d’une redéfinition et d’une mise à jour de la conception traditionnelle de la liberté de communication, intimément liée à la liberté d’expression et à la liberté économique (J.M. Ferry :1994, 2000, B. Libois :1994).

2) The Limits: Unexpected Dangers from the Free Flow of Information in the Digital Era

Sandra Braman
Professor
Department of Communication
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
210 Johnston Hall
2522 E. Hartford Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53211
USA
414-229-3238 * braman@uwm.edu

Analysts and advocates involved with communication law and policy have historically focused on protecting and expanding expressive freedoms, based on the assumption that doing so would inherently and inevitably lead to positive and expected outcomes. While the basic premises regarding the nature of human rights, civil liberties, and the dependence of participatory political decision-making on the free flow of information remain sound, causal relations between expression and the exercise of political power take on new forms in the 21st century. In part this is a result of the transformation from the bureaucratic welfare state to the informational state (see Braman, Change of State: Information, Policy, and Power, MIT Press, 2006). In part, however, it is also a consequence of the inexorable use of new technological hammers that can be used to analyze communications in ways not previously possible. The result is that the very openness that has long been sought by proponents of freedom of expression today can result in political effects that may be the very opposite of those sought. This paper will examine threats to political efficacy that openness of expression and the free flow of information can yield in today's environment. These include the limits of diversity of expression when that expression is not effectively linked to decision-making, limits to the value of the sharing of facts and evidence in a political environment that has turned away from evidence-based decision-making, limits to the political valence of speech that result from the shift from a panopticon to a panspectron environment, limits to the effectiveness of public discourse surrounding political matters as a result of intellectual property rights, and limits to how facts themselves can be used for legal purposes. The paper concludes with an exploration of the implications of these developments for legal analysis, the development and implementation of communication policy proposals for today's environment, and for expressive practice.

The 46 member Council of Europe adopted a "Declaration on freedom of
expression and information in the media in the context of the fight
against terrorism" in 2005. On June 1 this year, the Council of Europe
Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism enters into force. Has the
right constitutional balance between the public interest in
maintaining the secrecy of security-related information and the public
interest in disclosure been achieved? And, in any event, maybe
political critics of government secrecy should heed theoretical
analyses such as Georg Simmel's (1906 trans.) The Secret and the
Secret Societies or Hood and Heald's 2006 critique of the absolute
value of transparency (Transparency: The Key to Better Governance?)"

4) The Council of Europe’s approach to minorities and the media: how the tortoise is catching up with the hare

The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is the bedrock of human rights protection in Europe, but notwithstanding its general anti-discrimination provisions (Article 14 and more recently, Protocol 12), it does not contain any provisions dealing specifically with the rights of persons belonging to (national) minorities.[1] Over the years, the Council of Europe (CoE) has witnessed a number of abortive attempts to mainstream minority rights, either by grafting a special protocol onto the ECHR, or by elaborating a separate, multilateral convention. In practice, however, political rhetoric in support of minority rights has generally not been matched by the adoption of legally-binding standards. The CoE’s flagship treaty for the protection and promotion of minority rights, the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM), was only opened for signature in 1995 and entered into force in 1998.

The means of implementation of the FCNM is a system of State-reporting, overseen by the CoE’s Committee of Ministers (CM) and a specially-established Advisory Committee. Articles 6 and 9 are the mainstay of the FCNM’s approach to media-related issues. In a short period of time, the monitoring process – now well into its second cycle – has built up considerable experience and expertise concerning minorities and the media. The essential axes of that experience can be summarised as follows:

Protection against “hate speech”, prejudicial reporting and negative stereotyping in the media;

The net effect of this comprehensive approach is to enhance the exercise by minorities of an array of interrelated rights: freedom of expression, freedom of information, dignity, equality/non-discrimination, effective participation in public life, maintenance and development of cultural identity and traditions, language, etc. It also serves to enhance the consolidation of various operative public values: democratic principles, pluralism (in societal and informational terms), understanding, tolerance, etc. Thus, after a faltering start, it can be said that the tortoise of minority rights is now steadily catching up with the hares of other human rights within the Council of Europe.

This paper proposes to mount a critical evaluation of the accumulated experience of the FCNM monitoring process concerning freedom of expression and the role of the media therein, with a view to:

(i) assessing whether it really does offer added value to existing approaches within the CoE and under other international instruments;

(ii) determining whether its key features could viably be applied in other regions outside Europe, and

(iii) exploring the relevance of the Guidelines on the use of Minority Languages in the Broadcast Media (2003)[2] for questions (i) and (ii).

The Guidelines are introduced as an external yardstick on the basis that they draw inspiration from, and seek to crystallise, existing international legal and political standards dealing with relevant issues. Furthermore, their focus comprises overarching general (human rights) principles, policy, regulation (including licensing) and promotional measures. This provides a suitable analytical framework to explore the interplay between constitutional, legislative and more programmatic measures, as well as the interpenetration of international, national and indeed, sub-national norms.

5) Defining and Implementing Professional Standards for Journalism in Transition Countries: Thresholds and Outcomes

This paper investigates the process of adoption of professional journalistic standards in the societies of the former Communist Bloc. The characteristics of the adoption process and the journalistic standards reflect the countries’ shared, and their idiosyncratic own manner of identifying and solving problems, adhering to rules and self-binding values, acknowledging the autonomy of the journalistic profession, and defining functions of journalism for society. These aspects bear marks of the former status of journalism under totalitarian rule and the ongoing transition processes. The paper first discusses the interdisciplinary theoretical base, the relevance of the adoption process and it highlights predicted thresholds that transition on the one hand, and the procedure of defining and implementing professional standards on the other hand, will encounter. The inventory of outcomes encompasses a specific legal foundation, involvement of political and civil actors, the provenance, degree of autonomy and impact of professional associations, the argumentation used to adopt, reject or re-adjust standards, the resources for the enforcement of their implementation, and the topics and phrasing of the standards themselves. Second, the paper conducts a qualitative analysis of data collected in Russia, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan in interviews with journalists and representatives of professional associations; the latter’s published statements, and official documents.

Multitudes of present, comparative studies investigate common denominators of professional standards of journalism in the world’s regions, and identify peculiar problems inherent in the media systems’ constitution. Both, the path of transition of political and governance structures, as well as that of the transformation of the former notion of journalism to the limited variety of notions found in transition countries today, have a crucial impact on the nature and implications of professional standards. Journalism has evolved from a state-controlled instrument for the control of the public and the endorsement command-loyalty to the party, which operated by centralized rules without correspondence to regional idiosyncrasies within the communist realm. Today’s post-communist journalism systems refer to a diversity of definitions of journalism as a profession, diverging grasps of its political and social functions, and variations on its economic sensitivity. It is therefore relevant to include the adoption process in theorizing and research.

Transition theories, in particular the approaches emphasizing the process of separation of powers, the depoliticization of social systems to allow for the development of their peculiar functional logic, and perspectives conceptualizing requisites for the democratic consolidation of a society, predict that a social system like journalism will generally support democratization, although its investigative variant may at times bring about destabilization. Consolidation theories as well as perspectives on functions and standards of journalism underline the necessity of the adherence of regulators, professionals, and associations to stipulated rules, and the involvement of members from civil society to acknowledge their civil liberties and duties. The findings of the study conducted for this paper partly confirm these assumptions, and throw a light on the discrepancy between the vision behind the standards, and their poor observance due to the political and economic reality.

6) Role of European Organizations in Promoting Media Freedoms in the Former Soviet Union

Andrei Richter, Associate Professor, Faculty of Journalism, Moscow State University, 9 Mokhovaya, 125009, Moscow, RUSSIA, E-mail: arichter@medialaw.ru

The paper reviews the efforts of international organizations, in particular those of the Council of Europe (mostly through its Parliamentary Assembly) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, in improving media freedoms in the post-Soviet countries.

Upon accepting applications for membership to the Council of Europe the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) concluded memoranda which stated that certain conditions to improve human rights should be met by the applicants. While in 1993-1996 (in relation to the Baltic States, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine) those conditions did not spread to press freedoms, memos adopted in 1999-2000 (with Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia) enumerated demands to change national media law. Since then more than 30 resolutions and recommendations were adopted by the PACE based on the results of monitoring on the honouring of obligations and commitments by the post-Soviet states that touched upon the mass media field. They dealt with such issues as creation and functioning of public television, changes in licensing of broadcasters, denationalization of the press, censorship and assaults on journalists. Somewhat separately stand two recommendations and a resolution of PACE on persecution of the press in the Republic of Belarus, a non-CoE state.

The paper studies effectiveness of such recommendations and resolutions. It points out that the demands from Strasbourg to Belarus were stricter that those to all other post-Soviet European states even with the same or similar media law and policy. Demands to the Transcaucasian states for a change in media law were stricter that those to Russia or Ukraine, where legal grounds for the press freedoms did not differ with the Caucasus.

Local observers point out that the Council of Europe plays the role of the main teacher of democracy in the region. European pressure helps accelerate the activity of the governments to move closer to the global understanding of media freedoms. On the other hand, a certain confidentiality of expert evaluations of the draft legislation prevents national NGOs from interfering in the process of communications between the governments and the Council of Europe.

As to the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, his mandate goes to all post-Soviet countries including Central Asian. OSCE also goes further in its demands on media freedoms than PACE: they typically include law enforcement practice and personal appointments, for example in the administration of public television companies.

In modern practice of relations in the post-Soviet region globalization proceeds mostly on the basis of Western values of human rights and freedoms. This process in media affairs is facilitated by such international organizations. The major source of influence for the Baltic States is the European Union, for the European countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) it is the Council of Europe, and for Kazakhstan and Central Asia – the OSCE.

1) Free Expression and the Indian Public: Support for Free Speech and Media
Rights in the World's Largest and Most Pluralistic Democracy

Anantha S. Babbili, Ph.D.
Dean & Professor
College of Mass Communication
Seigenthaler Center for First Amendment Studies
Box 51 Middle Tennessee State University
Murfreesboro, Tennessee 37132, USA
Phone: 615-898-2195
Fax: 615-898-5682
E-mail: ababbili@mtsu.edu
Robert O. Wyatt, Director
Office of Communication Research
College of Mass Communication
Middle Tennessee State University
Box 391
Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA 37132
E-mail: rwyatt@mtsu.edu

India is a nation stitched in time together by a democracy that seems
nothing short of a miracle. This presentation is derived from the very
first public comprehensive survey on free expression and media rights
ever conducted in India. A measure of Indian support should thus prove
invaluable as we seek to understand the varieties of democracies across
the globe. In order to measure the support for media and speech rights
in India, our first task was to determine whether a set of free
expression questions developed in the United States -- and employed
earlier in Hong Kong, Israel, and Russia as well -- would be
comprehensible to a diverse sample of Indians and would produce results
that cohere with findings obtained in these countries. Our pretest
employed a stratified convenience sample of 1,122 of Hyderabad's diverse
residents. Interviewers reported that respondents struggled with some
questions, seemed offended by various issues, and criticized the
questionnaire for its Western orientation, and the number of refusals
suggest as much. However, factor analysis and multidimensional scaling
indicated that answers fell into coherent patterns. But, demographics
associated with support for free expression -- age, education, income,
and gender -- were only weak predictors in India. We differentiate
between the means of individual expressive rights and means of media
rights and evaluate a factor analysis of free speech rights along with
predictors of the support for free expression. Overall, this first
formal study in India reveals insights into a complex democracy and
free-thinking public with interesting views on free and responsible
media rights in an age of globalization. Conducting this research
project in a multi-cultural, mutli-lingual, multi-religious and
demographically diverse populations of Hyderbadi neighborhoods was both
a challenge and a lesson in international communication research.

Chen Xiaoyan, Lecturer, School of Journalism and Communication, Xiamen University, China, 361005; Ang Peng Hwa, Associate Professor, Wee Kee Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, 31 Nanyang Link, Singapore, 637718.

Singapore and China have many similarities. They respect the same Chinese culture and the government in both countries maintains strict control of the media and free speech. Defamation law and defamation litigation have also been hot topics in these two countries. In Singapore, defamation litigation has been heavily relied upon by officials to suppress the dissent and been a major threat to free speech. In China, with the explosion of defamation suits since the late 1980s, there is also great concern about whether defamation law and defamation litigation will be new instruments for Chinese officials to suppress free speech.
By comparing defamation laws and defamation litigations by officials in both countries, this paper argues that presumed damage and excessive damages in Singapore encouraged Singaporean officials to abuse defamation litigation to silence unwelcome speech. And Singaporean officials have heavily and successfully used defamation litigation to suppress unwelcome speeches. However, the Chinese defamation law provides less incentive for officials to do so. In China, no presumed damage is allowed. For remedies, non-monetary remedies are emphasized, and damages awarded are meant to compensate for actual economic loss and mental suffering. For compensation for mental suffering, the living standard of the local community and the paying capacity of the defendant will be assessed. Thus, in China, legal consequences of defamation suits generally are of less intimidating power. As there are not many marginal benefits for an abuse of defamation litigation for Chinese officials and they are more likely to be subject to the potential risks of greater exposure of their wrongdoings in defamation litigation, Chinese officials, especially high officials, seldom resort to defamation litigation to suppress unwelcome speech.
This paper concludes by arguing that strict liability and no public figure concept in defamation law may not necessarily be against the media and free speech. This paper also recommends a reform of Singapore's defamation law to adopt the Chinese approach of no presumption of damage and damages control to reduce the chilling effect of Singapore's defamation law.

Dr. YAN, Mei Ning, Assistant Professor, Department of Journalism, Hong Kong Baptist University

Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights stipulates that the authorities have the power to license broadcast media. On the other hand, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights does not expressly mention such a power. But Article 19(3) has been interpreted as allowing governments having such a power. Moreover, according to early European Court jurisprudence, individuals do not have a right to access the media. Time and circumstances have nonetheless changed. Convergence is opening up more and more delivery platforms for broadcast media, thus making traditional regulatory rationale for broadcast media less convincing. Alongside with this, broadcasting freedom is also gaining ground. In recent years, several intergovernmental organizations, the UNESCO and the Council of Europe in particular, have been actively promoting broadcasting freedom, setting norms and standards for governments in their broadcasting regulation and exploring possible mechanisms for effective self-regulation.

Unfortunately, Hong Kong seems to be way behind in this area and has failed to keep pace with the international efforts to promote broadcasting freedom. This paper examines how broadcasting freedom has fared in post-1997 Hong Kong. In July 2007, Hong Kong has returned to China for exactly one decade. Convergence has not liberalized government control on broadcast media. No community broadcasting has been allowed in Hong Kong so far. It is highly unlikely that this will materialize in the near future. In 2005-6, a pirate radio station was launched and this led to prosecution of the operators. In addition, the Broadcasting Authority, the statutory regulator composed of members handpicked by the government, has repeatedly come up with controversial rulings in relation to content regulation. This leads to worries of broadcasting freedom being curbed. Indeed, conflicts in relation to broadcasting freedom have come to a head in the past couple of years. The incumbent public broadcaster, Radio Television Hong Kong, has been under increasingly attacks from the pro-Beijing camp for its critical programmes. In early 2006, the Hong Kong government appointed a committee to review public service broadcasting, thus intensifying the uncertainties which RTHK is facing. All these are not positive signs and more restrictive developments in the broadcasting scene are likely. This is despite the fact that the Basic Law, the post-1997 mini-constitution, stipulates that Hong Kong people will continue to enjoy rights and freedom in accordance with the ICCPR upon the territory’s return to China, including the right to freedom of speech and of the press. This paper will further explore how broadcasting freedom in Hong Kong can be better protected, looking to experience overseas.

4) The challenge of introducing reform in media legislation and practice in Lebanon

In this paper, I will assess the various existing media laws in Lebanon in order to identify those areas that are in urgent need of reform if the country is to more effectively democratize its institutions and protect and promote freedom of expression. The assessment deals with the various stages of the policymaking process (mostly decision-making and the actual content of the legal texts, in addition to the implementation phase) and covers several media: terrestrial and satellite broadcasting, print media, and the internet. On the one hand, the purpose of the comparative analysis is to study the extent to which the various media laws protect freedom of expression, are compatible with each other, and are in tune with the latest technological developments in the field. On the other hand, the study of more than one phase of the policymaking process (e.g. the implementation phase in addition to the actual wording of the legal texts) is meant to identify the reasons that account for the serious lack of freedom of expression in some instances, even when such freedoms are supposedly protected by law.

The paper will deal with several case studies related to the different media, where the Lebanese authorities attempted (often successfully) to clamp down on freedom of expression: the licensing of private television stations in 1996, the police raid on an internet service provider in 2000, the closure of Murr TV following the 2002 elections, and the interruption of the satellite broadcast of New TV in 2003. The study will be carried out by analyzing primary sources (minutes of parliamentary sessions, broadcast application files, the texts of existing media laws, etc.) and newspaper reports, and by conducting qualitative interviews with legislators, government officials, administrators, and media practitioners.

Establishing regulatory frameworks have become a vital issue where the service given to the public needs to be organized and controlled. Any regulatory framework holds within itself economic, social and political dimensions.

The broadcast sector was directly influenced by the state, yet with the opening up of the television market to the private players a new system of regulation, called deregulation was put in place. Deregulation holds two main aspects, a loose political control and an opened frequency spectrum to the commercial broadcasters. For these reasons, regulation in terms of monitoring media ownership and promoting competition among the private and the public broadcasters, become the main elements to the broadcast regulatory entities.

As Egypt is a transitional democracy, where political, economic, social and media reform are taking place and as it happens in many of transitional democracies, the different media sectors must apply certain rules and regulations and operate within a certain framework that meets the international standards.

Under the Egyptian broadcast law, the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU) falls completely under the control of the Egyptian government and it is set within a strict regulations which makes it difficult to be adapted according to the fast pace of the technological changes taking place right now. This governmental control considers an integral barrier against the establishment or the transformation of the Egyptian media system into a public service broadcasting system which cares mainly about the public interest.

The methodology of this paper will be a comparative study explaining and displaying the different broadcast media law in different developed Western countries. It will mainly discuss the tasks, patterns of regulations and the structure of the regulatory entities required to enable the environment for a public service broadcasting system.

Finally, the researcher will propose a law model whose patterns fit within the new era of fast pace technology and that can really provide a system that caters the public interest and promote the concept of social capital and preserve the independency of the broadcasting system.

6) Democratic development, communication policy, and regulation of public broadcasting: The case for Pluralism in Political Programming in Nigeria

Broadcasting in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, remained the exclusive monopoly of government for many years after independence. In those days broadcast stations helped in promoting social and economic development from agricultural programming to health care campaigns, but the stations’ political programming was anything but pluralistic, partly and largely because of the nature of the military regimes that ruled for most of post-independence era. Following the deregulation of broadcasting industry in early 1990s, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) issued dozens of licenses to new private radio and television broadcasters and many have since commenced operations thereby enhancing freedom of expression and expanding the public sphere by facilitating public participation through political programs such as call-in talk shows featuring politicians and elected officials.

However, one feature of the broadcasting environment did not change: government of the federation and states still have more broadcast stations than all the private broadcasters combined. Unfortunately, such stations have remained, for the most part, inaccessible to dissenting voices in general and to opposition candidates during elections in particular. Rather than being public broadcasting serving public interest as they are funded by taxpayer money, the government-owned stations continue to serve only the incumbent regimes. The continued monopolization of public broadcasting by incumbent regimes/government and denial of access to opposition and dissenting voices not only seriously inhibits public trust in the largest media network in the country but it is also a great hindrance for freedom of expression and political pluralism, both of which are sine qua non for democratic development.

An examination of Nigeria’s Constitution, broadcast regulations, and the law establishing public broadcasting service reveal that although the first two offer ample legal justifications for pluralism in the political programming of both private and public broadcasting, the latter provided for total control of public broadcasting by the executive including the power to appoint and remove board members and management and the allocation of funding. Thus, adopting the framework provided by two studies commissioned by ITU/UNESCO[3] and UNESCO,[4] this paper argues that revised regulations should provide that public broadcasting be governed by non-partisan or multi-party independent boards whose members are appointed by the executive with the advice and consent of the legislature and their tenure be guaranteed and could only be removed on cause and with the consent of the legislature. Further, adequate funding should be appropriated by the legislature directly to the public broadcaster separate and independent of appropriations to any other branch of government.

7) The political economy of democratization of mass media: an empirical and econometric analysis of the regulation of HDTV in Brazil

The research aims at following the ongoing discussion on HDTV regulation in Brazil, taking into account the need of the democratization of access and the increase in competition. The analogue Brazilian TV System has failed in assuring a democratic access to the mass media in Brazil. The limited range of frequency, associated to the development of a few national TV networks, curbed the development of regional or communal broadcasters, leaving outside the game NGO's, Universities, trade unions and all people wanting to take part in the public debate. As a consequence, only few groups connected with strong economic interests are represented.

Indeed, the misuse of TV networks by pressure groups is a constant in Brazil. Episodes like the trying of a national TV to fraud the 1982's elections in Rio de Janeiro (the Proconsult case), the denying of the existence of a national movement demanding direct elections for president in 1984, or more recently the lobbying against gun control in 2005 are all sound examples of this partial access to the mass media. More importantly, this concentration of the concessions in few companies has contributed to a misleading concept of human rights, sold as 'the rights for the criminals against the citizens'.

A window of opportunity to change this is at place right now, with the discussion of the new standard for digital TV, the HDTV. If the monopolists' interest were to prevail, Brazil would adopt the Japanese standard, with a higher definition (inaccessible for the most majority of the people) and the same number of players, or the country could seize the opportunity and choose a system that can dramatically improve the number of players in the TV market. Behind a technical discussion we have truly a discussion about the democratization in mass media access, which shows the importance of the regulation in this case. The appointment of the former anchor of the largest Brazilian TV network, Mr. Hélio Costa, as minister of communications worsened the situation and blocked the debate.

The article discusses the political economy behind the choosing of the HDTV standard, as well as the effects of media concentration in the assuring of civil liberties and the rights of minorities. Some of these hypotheses were tested by resource to regression analysis and preliminary results are supportive to the main ideas. The data used in those regressions relate to the degree of concentration in TV concessions, the presence of pressure groups and proxies for the awareness of the ‘right to have rights’ by population. At the end public policies and legislative initiatives are suggested to democratize the access to TV and increase popular participation.

8) Sacrificing Privacy for the Sake of Fame: How Television is helping to Erode Privacy in Israel

Dr. Yuval Karniel, The Media School, College of management, Tel Aviv, Israel. Y.karniel@shibolet.com

Dr. Amit Lavie-Dinur, Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, Israel amitld@idc.ac.il

Rapid technological advances in the field of communications have changed the scope of reasonable expectations of privacy as well as the actual right to privacy. Television, particularly the new genre of reality and talk shows is helping to erode the borders between private and public domains. The Israeli public has proven to be no less vulnerable than the rest of the western world when it comes to trading personal privacy for a chance at fleeting fame on television. Reality shows on Israeli television are encouraging viewers to discard their inhibitions and to display themselves in all their intimate glory in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers on television. Television talk show hosts have abandoned traditional methods of interviewing and instead have adopted an artificial intimate coziness with their guests. The intrusion of the television camera that can enter one’s life unexpectedly has altered the way Israeli society views the previously guarded notion of the right to privacy. Individual success is increasingly being measured by the degree of one’s personal exposure to the rest of society. This paper analyzes the social and legal ramifications of these and similar trends on the individual and society in Israel as well as the more startling implications they have on the once highly prized value of privacy in Israel in particular.

This paper fits perfectly to the conference theme and subject of “Professional standards for media and public trust.”

9) Lobbying for Community Radio: In Search of a Comprehensive Broadcast Media Laws in Bangladesh

Mohammad Sahid Ullah, Associate Professor, Department of Communication and Journalism, Chittagong Univeristy, Chittagong, Bangladesh, Ph:88-031-684197, Fax:88-031-726310, Email: ullah_sahid@yahoo.co.uk

Community radio as a movement is more than half a century old on a world scale, still far from forming a clear idea of what it is about or how it makes a difference in Asian region especially in Bangladesh. Many NGOs here under the support from UNESCO and other donor agencies have been canvassing for a legal recognition for community radio as the third sector of sound broadcasting with the view that radio-electronic frequencies should be allocated equitably to all sectors of society as a common heritage and common property of mankind. Despite strong lobby by the NGOs, Bangladesh government is going to enact the Private Broadcasting Act- 2004 without putting any provision on Community Radio. This paper stresses the need for enacting a regulatory framework, which should legally recognize Community Radio as a more democratic media. The case for community radio, it is feared, may compromise the struggle for democracy. Public radio, or for that matter media in general, should not be subject to universal abandon. Demand for community radio must not obliterate people's democratic struggle against the dictatorship of capital, in the shape of an alliance of the colonialist foreign bourgeoisies with collaborationist ruling classes in the periphery. The paper closes with a cautionary tale: whatever happened to the not so old demand of peripheral nations for a new international information order?

1) Ideas, institutions, and e-volution :
the Internet governance ecosystem
Nanette S. Levinson, Associate Professor
International Communication Program,
School of International Service
American University
Washington, DC 20016-8071
Nlevins@american.edu
www.american.edu/levinson
202-885-1480

Using an ecosystem approach facilitates an analysis of recent innovations in the discussion of internet governance and the creation of dynamic coalitions related to the initial meeting of the Internet Governance Forum in Athens and the planning for the second such Forum. Work on ecosystems stems from the sciences ; I use this term because it includes a focus not just on an organism or an organization or a group of organizations but also on participating organizations' own network environments plus the characteristics of such environments. It is particularly powerful in capturing the dynamics of complex formal and informal networks or coalitions, their characteristics and knowledge transfer patterns over time.
I focus on tracking and analyzing institutional change or as I call it, e-volution (institutional evolution with an emphasis on the "e") for two main reasons. First, this term captures the "e" or electronically- facilitated communication in internet governance dialogue. Second, it allows for international as well as national internet governance study over long periods of time and large geographic spaces. Highlighting a remarkable alteration in 'policy space' from a single U.S. government agency at the internet's inception to a fractal and global policy space today, I examine the first Internet Governance Forum and the planning for the second, focusing on the roles of international organizations and informal multistakeholder networks and the roles of ideas and knowledge transfer/utilization.
The approach used is case study design and analysis. This case study of the initial Internet Governance Forum is based on quasi-ethnographic methods including content analysis of on-line documents and participant observation. It defines the boundaries of the Internet Governance Forum ecosystem and includes the many stakeholders and their organizations and interorganizational arrangements in the analysis.
Based on interrelated concepts from organizational sociology, communication studies, and political science, my paper tracks multi-directional change at the individual, organizational and interorganizational levels against the backdrop of internet-related, e-technologies themselves. It builds on earlier and pioneering studies of change in the field of international communication which have traced the generation, transfer and adaptation of innovations and those which have traced change related to international organizations in the context of national and regional governments. Looking ahead, it also proposes a research agenda and related methods to cope with changing technologies, complex inteorganizational and inter-sector dialogue (both face-to-face and via the internet), and turbulent environments marked by changing roles, power equations, ideas, and societal needs in developing nations.

William J. Drake
Director, Project on the Information
  Revolution and Global Governance/PSIO
  Graduate Institute for International Studies
  Geneva, Switzerland

In recent years, developing country governments, civil society organizations, and progressive academics have worked together to promote broad “development agendas” in the international institutions and policy debates dealing with such issues as trade, debt, and intellectual property. But in the field of Internet governance, no parallel initiative has taken shape. Developmental aspects of Internet governance were at times raised during the 2002-2005 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process, but they were not systematically considered as elements of a coherent development agenda. Moreover, in the post-WSIS environment, discussions of development have typically focused on capacity building measures that could enhance developing countries’ participation within the status quo nexus of institutions. In contrast, there has not been any serious debate on the substantive policies and institutional arrangements that might best serve development objectives.

Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to make a first cut at outlining the possible contours of a development agenda for Internet governance. Leaving aside the challenges of capacity building, the paper will explore such questions as: 1) Which of the many issues involved in Internet governance---broadly defined, per the WSIS agreements---should be given priority in the near-term? 2) Would any substantive changes in the governance of these issues be both desirable and realistically achievable in the current geopolitical and techno-market environments? 3) Of what relevance are the organizing concepts and strategies from development agendas in other settings, e.g. “special and differential treatment” in the World Trade Organization and “access to knowledge” in the World Intellectual Property Organization? 4) Could new approaches to the individual issues collectively constitute a holistic and coherent development agenda, and what would be the benefits and risks of pursuing such a framework? 5) How could a development agenda best be taken forward within the distributed architecture of governmental, intergovernmental, private sector, and multistakeholder Internet governance mechanisms?

3) Freedom of Expression, Private Controllers, and Internet Governance
Dr. Anne S.Y. Cheung
Associate Professor
Department of Law, University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Road
Hong Kong
Email Address: Anne.cheung@hku.hk

Professor Rolf H. Weber
Faculty of Law
University of Zurich
Rämistrasse 74/38
Ch-8001 Zurich
Switzerland
Email Address: rolf.weber@rwi.unizh.ch

Once upon a time, one had hailed the Internet to be the ideal public sphere, where unfettered discussion could take place. In the 21st century, the dreams are terribly dashed. The cautionary tale is that the seemingly safest forum is also one of the most intrusive and dangerous places. Governments in various countries have by now developed powerful surveillance devices to trace the contents of communications and discover the identity of users.
William Staples noted that the Internet is quickly becoming "much like the rest of social life" and netizens actually live in "gated communities." Yet this tight grip of the Internet could not have been achieved without the help of Internet service providers (ISPs). The companies whose activity is to provide access to communication services to the public turn out to be powerful gatekeepers, storing the trail of data left by any users passing their "tollbooths." . In 2002, this efficient and centralized point of control has attracted more than 40 countries from Western democracies to Far Eastern regimes to restrict their citizens' Internet surfing capabilities at the level of ISPs. Not only can ISPs filter or censor information, some of them are also, willingly or unwillingly, informers of the governments. ISPs are facing increasing number of requests from the authorities to filter information, retain data, and to reveal the identities of users.
Thus, the definitive role of ISPs in molding the democratic or counter-democratic culture on the Internet renders them comparable to or even more powerful than state institutions. Facing this mounting problem, efforts have been made by various scholars and politicians to impose human rights responsibility on ISPs, as non state actors, to uphold the standard of freedom of expression.
This, however, proves to be an uphill battle. The exposure of Internet users to the mercy of the ISPs in having their communications transmitted is mainly due to the fact that the legal relations between users and ISPs are governed by private law provisions. In contrast, the human right of freedom of expression is traditionally understood as right directed against activities of governmental bodies. In light of the dominating position of ISPs in Internet traffic the question arises whether such an understanding is still appropriate. Particularly, to what extent would it be justified to apply the right of freedom of expression against ISPs? And do human rights have at least in indirect impact on the legal position of a dominant ISP?
The proposed paper aims to answer the above questions in the new emerging legal and social order on the Internet. Drawing on international human rights jurisprudence on freedom of information, the current discussion on the US Global Online Freedom Act of 2006, and the European Commission's guidelines on ISPs disclosure of personal data, the paper argues that under certain circumstances, ISPs should be subject to international human rights standard to respect freedom of expression for their unique powerful roles and their close affiliation to the ruling regime.

4) The WIPO Internet Treaties: Canada's position then and now
Sara Bannerman, PhD student
School of Journalism and Communication
Carleton University
1125 Colonel By Drive,
Ottawa, ON
CANADA
K1S 5B6
sara.bannerman@gmail.com

This paper will examine Canada's role at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)'s 1996 Diplomatic Conference on Certain Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Questions, which led to the adoption of the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty. These treaties, which Canada has yet to implement, represented an attempt by WIPO to add to the international copyright and neighbouring rights system new standards regarding use of the Internet and new technology. While much attention has been paid to the negotiation of the World Trade Organization agreement on intellectual property (TRIPs), little has been written about the negotiations leading to the two WIPO Internet treaties, or about Canada's role at WIPO generally.
Section one of this paper will present an overview of the 1996 conference and the main issues and positions taken by parties. Section two of the paper will discuss the particular positions and actions taken by Canada during the negotiations, drawing on the records of the diplomatic conference and interviews with key players. Section three will ask how, in this case, Canada's actions and positions can be best understood, both with regard to the negotiation of the treaties and Canada's subsequent slowness in ratifying them. These actions and positions can be understood, I will argue, through a pluralist framework which takes into account the abilities of NGOs, business, or minority groups to enrol the power of states, the role of the international organization and secretariat in negotiated outcomes, and the role of conflicting interests within the state itself. In conclusion, I will argue that the shifting relative influence of various groups and ideas have caused Canada to adjust its position since the agreements were negotiated in 1996.

5) Hate speech on the internet. Case-study of Belgium, The Netherlands and France

The World Wide Web offers a wide pallet of possibilities for easy access to information. As such, it has become an important instrument to influence the public opinion. Although it is still far behind the traditional media, the impact of the Internet as an information channel has increasingly expanded since the mid-1990s. The use of Internet as an instrument for the dissemination of ideas and information is worldwide welcomed and recognized. On the other hand, we determine that the Internet is also used for purposes contrary to respect for human values, non-discrimination, respect for others and tolerance, including the propagation of racial hatred, xenophobia, right-wing extremist ideas and related intolerance.

Research has shown that racist discourse is a widespread phenomenon on the Internet. For example, Surf Control, a British-based web filtering company, reported that the hate and violence sites which they monitor increased with 300 percent from 2000 to April 2004 (www.surfcontrol.com). Further, the Hate Directory handbook, compiled by Raymond Franklin and published every six months (last update January 15 2007) by the University of Michigan, contains 149 pages of sites of individuals and groups that, in the opinion of the author, advocate violence against, separation from, defamation of, deception about, or hostility toward others based upon race, religion, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. In other words, the number of racist sites has grown exponentially over the years and is considered as a serious problem. It is striking that not only the number of racist sites increases, also the number of complaints concerning racism and discrimination on the Internet is rising (CGKR, 2005, p.17-18).

In this paper we discuss the main challenges related to combating racism while respecting the freedom of expression. Furthermore, we analyse the legal restrictions and the self-regulation initiatives against the misuse of the Internet in Belgium, The Netherlands and France and describe the jurisprudence concerning racist expression and hate speech in these three countries. Finally, we present the results of a content analysis of racist or xenophobic websites, weblogs, discussion groups, games, ….

In sum, this paper explores and discusses the dissemination of racist and discriminatory speech by means of the Internet and hopes to contribute to the discussion of finding the right balance between the protection of free speech on the one hand and the combating of hate speech on the other hand.

1) A Study on Websites of Terrorist Organizations within the Context of Cyber Terrorism

Tezcan Özkan
research assistant, Anadolu University
Faculty of Communication Sciences
26470 Eskisehir/ TURKEY
Office: +90 222 335 05 80/ ext.2521
Fax: +90 222 320 45 20
e-mail: tozkan@anadolu.edu.tr

The importance attributed to the internet today is describing it as a third revolution following the invention of printing press and industry revolution. However, as the other communication media, the internet is a technological innovation that may cause social problems besides its positive and beneficial features. Thus, it is unfavourable to evaluate the internet technology totally good or bad. This study is interested in the use of internet in violation of legal and social norms while undenying the potential power and social benefits it has as a communication medium

This study explores the ways in which the Internet is utilized by terrorist organizations and their supporters through analyzing the websites of such organizations that are active in Turkey. The exploration of terrorist individuals and groups as internet users is critical for determining potential implications of the use of the Internet for criminal purposes.

Within the definition of cyber terrorism as a global issue, the study analyses 25 official and unofficial websites belonging to 12 terrorist organizations active in Turkey. Content analysis on these websites has been conducted against basic, visual and content focused criterion.

The study concludes that the factors that differentiate and make the Internet superior to other communication tools, makes its use easier as a simple but effective propaganda mechanism by terrorist organizations and their supporters. It also reinforces the general perception that the Internet is currently viewed as an attractive communication tool. However, the results of the study outline that the Internet has the potential to be used as a dangerous global weapon by ill-meaning individuals and criminal groups.

The most effective way of preventing cyber crime and fighting against cyber terrorism is legal regulations. Therefore, both international and national regulatory short-comings should be addressed within the realm of international law, and decisions on harmful and illegal internet publications should not be left to internet service providers, whose roles and responsibilities have not yet been determined.

2) Internet Surveillance: Regulations Post 9/11
Lauren Movius
PhD Student
Annenberg School of Communication
University of Southern California
3502 Watt Way, USC
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0281

Email: lmovius@usc.edu

The development of the Internet as a networked global communications medium has produced a qualitative change in the nature of communications, and in the nature and amount of information which is exposed to interception and surveillance. Many aspects of life are now captured and stored in digital form. Concern has been expressed that governments may use this information to conduct mass surveillance. Focusing on the U.S. context, this article examines national security and individual's privacy from government surveillance, in the context of the Internet post 9/11.
The paper sets forth several hypotheses. First, the U.S. government, as all governments, maximizes their control under limits of institutional constraints. This hypothesis is supported through an analysis of the government's attempts to control and surveil information prior to 9/11. The second hypothesis is that the Internet is difficult to control based on technological and legal grounds. The paper discusses the technological characteristics, architecture and legal aspects of the Internet and surveys the control problems that the Internet poses for the government. The third hypothesis states that in seeking to maximize control, the U.S. government has tried to circumvent the aforementioned institutional limits in two ways: first, by changing legislations using social alarm, and second, by developing new technologies. The paper discusses the changes enacted by the Patriot Act and summarizes the developments of surveillance technologies. The September 11th terrorist attacks presented a window of opportunity to increase control, not just opportunities to increase security. The government used social alarm to enact legislation and to develop more technologies of surveillance. Hypothesis four proposes that the control of the Internet does not improve anti-terrorist policy. This is supported through examination of the limits of technology, (such as the algorithms used, structure of technologies, and problems of analysis of massive amounts of data) as well as with evidence that terrorists do not use the Internet to plan criminal activity. Finally, it is hypothesized that changes in legislation and technology in the context of Internet surveillance have led to unattended consequences, such as increased monitoring in the workplace, the effect on immigrants, and debates over civil liberties.
While the Internet can be viewed as a global network, national governments have different views on the kind of information that should be lawfully available. The issue of national sovereignty and control of data protection is exacerbated by the Internet. While characteristics of the Internet appear to make this technology "borderless," our geo-political global makeup, the backbone of the law, remains delineated in terms of sovereign nations. These nations follow vastly different approaches in their attempt to regulate the Internet and the last section of the essay explores the cross-border variation in privacy protection norms in the United States and European Union, and discusses major regulatory initiatives implemented by both regions.

Recently, there have been heated debates over how to evaluate the journalism function of netizen replies to news articles. At the heart of the debates are questions whether remarks, as a form of expression of opinion, should be protected even if some expressions are undesirable. Or, whether they should be regulated in order to protect individual rights and assure the soundness of cyber environment. ‘Internet real-name policy,’ which requires users to provide their real names and IDs to log on to the Internet, and ‘reply real-name policy,’ which also requires real names in order to make replies to news articles, have been introduced as an attempt to seek alternatives.

This study examines the explosive growth of online replies, and their journalism function in building deliberation democracy. It further analyzes the online media liability incurred from replies of users by examining court cases and related laws.

‘Reply journalism,’ a budding pattern of online journalism enabled by interactive technology, has some legal and social implications. First, vulgar speech, wild rumors, or abusive language posted by users are surely undesirable, but using such types of language does not necessarily lead to regulatory measures nor provide a basis of advocacy for the unnecessariness of online replies. Second, reading replies is not less important than writing replies, and is an important interactive process for users. It is also used as a channel of gathering information. Replies serve as a conduit of exchanging opinions and a source of information. In addition, because replies provide not only facts for given stories but also collective individual opinions about the issues, reading replies of others can help perceive the public opinion. Third, the evaluation of user anonymity remains split. In other words, researchers provide different views on whether anonymity plays a positive role of revitalizing online public discussions. This indicates that the real name policy is not the sole and the best alternative to negative features of online replies. Fourth, it is highly possible that replies can be fabricated and monopolized by particular groups of people, and opinions and thoughts can be a platform of unproductive conflicts for differing groups. This may support an assertion that online sphere fails to function as a public forum or to enhance deliberate democracy. Fifth, to preclude problems of replies and minimize damages caused by such replies, both the Internet and portal media themselves ought to take active and precautionary measures.

Attempting to analyze the issues of online replies with legal liability of the Internet media, this research concludes that ‘reply journalism’ should be treated with a new concept and standard different from those of the traditional public sphere. Although values of society to compromise through robust debates on various social issues between or among individuals should not be depreciated, it must be also recognized that the Internet with distinctive characteristics such as anonymity, interactive user participation, and openness is a medium composed of various kinds of netizens.

One of significant tasks in a democratic society is to make a balance among essential but conflicting social interests. Thus, a government is responsible for the harmonious adjustment of contending rights. It is also expected to establish legal standards to reconcile competing social interests by weighing their relative significance in the society. It also needs to provide its people with remedies when their rights are unlawfully infringed.

South Korea is not different. The Korean government has adopted the right of reply system since 1981 for the purpose of resolving libel problems, making a balance between the freedom of expression and a person’s right to reputation. Under this system, when the report of the press is false, the press has on obligation to print or broadcast someone’s full and fair statements of the reply. The right of reply system, even though there have been criticisms on the constitutionality of the system and the way that it functions, has been generally regarded as efficient to relieve the grief of Korean people. What is interesting is that by the newly enacted media law in 2005, the right of reply applies to the internet. About this, some scholars argue that requiring the right of reply can be a good strategy between the extremes of strict liability and total immunity on the net.

However, as a matter of fact, the right of reply on the internet has been a critical issue for the last few years in other countries as well as in Korea. While the United States does not allow the right of reply any more as a result of the recent court cases, many European countries such as Germany and France, as the Council of Europe suggested, seem to adopt the right of reply system on the net. The United States argues that right of reply is a violation of free speech right of internet users. In European countries, how the right of reply is implemented on the net varies country by country just like offline.

Based on this understanding, this paper will shed a critical light on the issues of the right of reply system on the net under the Korean media law. It will mainly focus on: (1) whether the right of reply is unconstitutional; (2) whether the system serve the public interests; (3) what is the internet media to which the right of reply is applied; and (4) how the right of reply is implemented including length and replacement of reply statements. This paper will enhance the discussions on the right of reply system and contribute to finding a more efficient way to reconcile the competing rights on the net.

5) Making a law against the crimes of internet and informatics:
a historical perspective to turkey's law making experiences against crime of Internet and informatics
Haluk Birsen, Ph.D.
Anadolu University
School of Communication Sciences
Journalism Department
Turkey
hbirsen@anadolu.edu.tr

The difference which is created by internet and its widen speed catch the governments unawares. And Turkey got her share from this development. This transformation proposed crimes of informatics for the agenda of security forces, lawmakers and jurists. Because of its technologic base, crimes of informatics is become an international problem and it makes impossible to find a solution in the national borders.
Some countries which are standing at the front side in the informatics technology race were interested in crime of investigation as an prior subject. They produced some solutions and laws. As a first point of view, crimes of informatics are not different than the others, so solution is to make some little changes and arrangements in the current laws. Second point of view is offering totally new law. In a brief internet history of Turkey both of them were tested.
Turkey met internet approximately at the same time whole world. Necessary law arrangements were done in those days. The first law arrangements against crime of informatics were done in Turkish Punishment Law in 1991.
But this arrangement could have not cover internet. When it was noticed that internet can use as a crime instrument, a new law item add to press law in 2002. This law item which saw internet like a newspaper, was accepted in a short time as a stillbirth.
When it is understood the adding item in the press law was not a solution, a new arrangement made in the higher council of radio and television law. With this arrangement The Higher council of Radio and Television was vested internet with authority. This arrangement got an interesting development started. The internet council which was established by government declared that they were against this arrangement because nobody consulted with them about internet.
At the point Turkey arrived today, Turkish parliament is going to accept a new law which is regulating and describing crime of informatics and internet under the child porn discussion in the internet. In spite of new law text is better than the old law experiences, some items of this law still needed to discuss.
This study will investigate internet law making efforts of Turkish public opinion from an historical perspective with a critical point of view. Appearing results will compare with other countries law arrangements about this subject and will discuss the ability of local arrangements to solve crime of informatics and internet as a global media.

6) The New Media Landscape in China
Peter K. Yu
Associate Professor of Law & Director, Intellectual Property & Communications Law Program
Core Faculty, Asian Studies Center
Adjunct Professor of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media
Michigan State University College of Law
426 Law College Building
East Lansing, MI 48824-1300

In the past fifty years, media freedom in China has presented a rich research topic within the academic and policy circles. With the growing use of the Internet and new communications technologies, significant changes, however, have emerged. Notwithstanding these changes, China remains a paradigmatic case for media censorship and control. In the legal and communications literature, for example, commentators have continued to use China to illustrate how the Internet and new media have posed serious challenges to authoritarian regimes or how a country's leadership has used Internet regulation to co-opt technology to strengthen its political rule. This paper challenges these widely held views and argues that the proliferation of new communications technologies requires us to adopt new analytical perspectives and research strategies.
Drawing on research at the intersection of law, communications and technology studies, this paper advances three major claims. First, the existing emphasis in the public debate on Internet regulation in China and its impact on freedom of expression and human rights is incomplete and misleading; commentators have overlooked important developments in the country in e-commerce, online chat rooms, and the use of other forms of socialware. Second, even if we are to focus primarily on media freedom in China, there is more freedom in the online discourse than commentators have recognized. Existing research tends to ignore what this paper has described as the "freedom of tacit expression." The understanding of this new concept is important not only to China or other countries that are subject to strong information control, but also to societies with high media concentration and heavy corporate censorship. Third, the Internet and new communications technologies provide the tools to facilitate tacit communication and semiotic democracy. Thus, it is vital that Internet regulation and policy are developed in a way that protects the political potential of these communications tools. This paper takes the view that a better understanding of online communication in China may provide insights into the worldwide protection of media freedom.

Law Section Heads: Andrei Richter (Russia) and Wolfgang Kleinwachter (Germany)

[1] C.f., Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

[2] Available at: http://www.osce.org/documents/hcnm/2003/10/2242_en.pdf

[3] Werner Rumphorst, Model public service broadcasting law and Aspects of Regulating Commercial Broadcasting. Geneva: ITU/UNESCO, 1999. Available online at:

http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/file_download.php/5aaba93cbe249941a13c36a3000863a9Model+public+service+broadcasting+law.pdf

[4] UNESCO, Public Service Broadcasting: A best practices sourcebook (edited by Indrajit Banerjee). Paris: UNESCO, 2005. Available online at: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001415/141584E.pdf