Governments and the Media - Eternal Foes? By Chris Kabwato The third Preparatory Committee Meeting (PrepCom3) of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) taking place in Geneva has thrown into sharp relief the gap between governments and the media. In the current negotiations between the government representatives and the media a deadlock has been reached on a number of issues. In the current draft of the Declaration of Principles there is paragraph 51 on the Media which contains the line ?The existence of free and independent communication media, in accordance with the legal system of each country, is an essential requirement freedom of expression and a guarantee of plurality of information.? The media representatives (journalists, academics and media owners) have organized themselves into a formally recognized body called the Media Caucus. The Caucus has recommended the removal of the phrase ?in accordance with legal system of each country? and the insertion of acknowledgement of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 19 emphasizes freedom of expression. However, the governments of Egypt, China, Cuba and the Russia have been adamant in the retention of the disputed text. China has even gone further to advocate for the deletion of reference to the media specifically. Botswana has insisted on reference to Article 19 together with Latin America, North America and Germany. According to, Alain Modoux, the Chair of the Media Working Group in which Governments have been debating the media text, one of the key problems has been the lack of understanding of the history of communication rights by the government representatives. He noted that all governments were signatory to documents such as the Windhoek Declaration 1991which were explicit on media freedom issues. The negotiations continue and for the Highway Africa delegation and other African media representatives the main work will be around the lobbying of friendly African governments to support reference to either Article 19 or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Preparatory Committee Meeting ends on 26 September. For more information on the World Summit on the Information Society log on to www.itu/wsis