Page 131 - Communication Commerce and Power The Political Economy of America and the Direct Broadcast Satellite

120 Communication, Commerce and Power

enforceable international regime of intellectual property rights should
be pursued - one that could adequately protect 'new forms of intel-
lectual property' involving a ban on 'unauthorised commercial recep-
tion and use of copyrighted material transmitted by satellite.' 47
Also in 1983, the US Senate commissioned Jane Bortnick to pre-
pare a report on 'International Telecommunications and Information
Policy.' One conclusion was that there existed a 'need' for the United
States 'to respond to [protective] foreign actions and [to] influence the
proceedings of international organizations.' However, the Senate
report admitted that 'the best mechanism to accomplish this, given
existing political realities and institutional inertia, is less clear.' 48
During Senate hearings, the underdevelopment of American state
capacities to formulate and implement a coherent and relevant foreign
communication policy was repeatedly addressed. Even FCC Chair-
man Marc Fowler- just one year after he told another Congressional
committee that the current policy structures, headed by the SIG,
constituted a satisfactory coordinating mechanism - testified that
efforts to centralize US policy making in the hands of the executive
branch should proceed. In response to questioning by Senator Barry
Goldwater, Fowler explained that 'what has changed over the past
year which leads me now to support a very high-level approach to
coordination in the executive branch has been that, more than ever,
telecommunications has become important to our country ....
[I]ncreasingly, it has an important trade implication.' 49
Dating from 1982, Department of State officials unilaterally sought
the formation of a new office in charge of all foreign communication
policy activities. 5° In 1983, Secretary of State George Shultz asserted
his department's leadership in this policy field by establishing the
Office of the Coordinator for International Communication and
Information Policy, and President Reagan appointed Diana Dougan
to be its Coordinator. In September, Shultz submitted to the Senate a
letter outlining the three general objectives of the United States in this
policy field. The first objective Shultz listed was the principle of the
free flow of information. The second committed the United States to
'support the advancement of international commerce through the
efficient and innovative use of communications resources.' Finally,
Shultz wrote that it was the objective of the US government to
'expand information access and communications capabilities of devel-
oping countries.' 51 To achieve these somewhat mixed objectives,
Shultz noted that trade policy would play a role in more general
attempts to promote 'competitive' and 'deregulatory' policies in