Page 105 - Communication Commerce and Power The Political Economy of America and the Direct Broadcast Satellite

94 Communication, Commerce and Power

'Throughout the world,' said the Senator, 'there is a growing corps of
government officials who seek control of communications as a key
lever to be used against the West.' McGovern directed his colleagues
to pay attention to 'narrowly defined technical questions concerning
direct broadcasts from satellites' raised in W ARC-77 and subsequent
ITU and UN conferences that could produce 'a seriously damaging
blow to the concept offree flow of information across world borders.' 79
In 1980, at a UNESCO General Conference in Belgrade, the United
States responded to a recommendation made by UNESCO's Interna-
tional Commission for the Study of Communication Problems (the
MacBride Commission) to establish a kind of Marshall Plan for LDC
telecommunications. A new US-sponsored UNESCO organization -
80
the International Program for the Development of Communications
(IPDC) - was to be established. It would involve no corporate money
and a majority of its membership would come from LDCs. American
officials considered the IPDC to be an essential counter-move to the
Third World drift toward a NWICO and the Soviet Union's appar-
ently rising influence in LDCs through, among other things, its tech-
nological assistance programs. By attracting more moderate states
back to the 'practical non-ideological approach' offered by the United
States, Carter administration officials believed that not only could the
rapidly growing US telecommunication equipment sector benefit from
rising overseas demands but also that apparently 'ideological'
UNESCO activities could be transformed into a 'concrete develop-
ment opportunity.' 81
Nevertheless, US-based news media organizations and conservative
think-tanks (especially the Institute for Contemporary Studies,
founded by Caspar Weinberger and Edwin Meese III, and the Herit-
age Foundation) remained active in opposing UNESCO. In 1980,
the election of Ronald Reagan provided these interests with a neo-
conservative White House that, from the start, was determined to
curb LDC opposition through unilateral US action if necessary. 82
Rather than a policy designed to hold the line on LDC demands
and Soviet influence, the new administration proceeded to demand
their immediate retreat. UN agencies, such as UNESCO, were to be
brought to heel.
UNESCO - described by some conservative policy analysts as 'the
Grenada of international organizations' 83 - was explicitly targeted to
be made an example of for all UN agencies. 84 In December 1983, the
US officially announced its intent to withdraw from UNESCO in one
year. Appointed to represent the US at UNESCO conferences over