Page 115 - Communication Commerce and Power The Political Economy of America and the Direct Broadcast Satellite

I 04 Communication, Commerce and Power

television and radio infrastructures, the Swedes (and others) also were
concerned with the need to establish universally accepted regulations in
light of the potential for instability and conflict stemming from the
collapse of existing regimes governing telecommunication applications.
See Signitzer, Regulation of Direct Broadcasting from Satellites, pp. 29
and 51. Also Belinda Canton and Herbert S. Dordick, 'Information
Strategies and International Trade Policy,' Transnational Data Report,
V (6) (September 1982) 311-12.
62 The degree to which a country was in compliance with this provision
was to be determined by the ITU's International Frequency Registra-
tion Board, although the technical basis for this determination was not
established.
63 Taishoff, State Responsibility and the Direct Broadcast Satellite, p. 161.
64 Brazil was one of the few developing countries actively pursuing the
development of its own telesatellite system in conjunction with a more
general-high-technology industrial strategy. As such, it held a vested
interest in limiting immediate international advancements by established
computer and telesatellite interests. The Brazilian draft resolution in the
COPUOS was especially timely given the recent entry of IBM in the US
telecommunication services market through SBS. See Signitzer, Regula-
tion of Direct Broadcasting from Satellites, p. 16, and Canton and
Dordick, 'Information Strategies and International Trade Policy,' pp.
310-11.
65 Luther, The United States and the Direct Broadcast Satellite, pp. 111-12.
66 See UN Document A/37/PV.lOO (10 December 1982) in United Nations
Plenary Meetings, vol. III (New York: United Nations, 1986) p. 1661.
The General Assembly vote saw 107 nation-state delegates raise hands
in favor, thirteen in opposition, and another thirteen in abstention.
Those opposing or abstaining were almost exclusively First World
countries. The United States voted against the resolution.
67 Emphases added. Subsequent UN activities involving DBS have been
relatively non-contentious, involving, for example, studies on educa-
tional applications. See Blatherwick, The International Politics of Tele-
communications, p. 49.
68 Wolfgang Kleinwachter, 'Freedom or Responsibility Versus Freedom
and Responsibility,' in Jorg Becker et al. (eds), Communication and
Domination, p. 136.
69 William Appleman Williams, The Tragedy of American Diplomacy (New
York: Dell Publishing, 1982) esp. pp. 229-43.
70 On the history of UNESCO-US relations, see William Preston, Jr,
Edward S. Herman and Herbert I Schiller, Hope & Folly, the United
States and UNESCO 1945-1985 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press, 1989) pp. 5--202. Also see Mark F. Imber, The USA,ILO,
UNESCO and IAEA, Politicization and Withdrawal in the Specialized
Agencies (Houndmills: Macmillan, 1989), chap. 6.
71 Preston et al., Hope & Folly, pp. 60-75.
72 Ibid, p. 100.
73 Kaarle Nordenstreng, The Mass Media Declaration of UNESCO (Nor-
wood, NJ: Ablex, 1984) p. 14.