GA/SM/75
PI/1094

PRESIDENT OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY STRESSES MEDIA'S 'MORAL DUTY' IN STATEMENT TO THIRD WORLD TELEVISION FORUM

Following is the statement of the President of the General Assembly, Didier Opertti (Uruguay), to the opening of the third World Television Forum at Headquarters today:

In his dialogues, 400 years before the birth of Christ, the Greek philosopher Plato had already suggested that truth was comparable to image. He did so in the allegory of the caves, where chained prisoners can see only their own shadows, those of the merchants who moved around behind their backs and those of the trees, rivers and mountains which are also illuminated from behind by an incandescent flame. To the prisoners, truth or reality is nothing other than those same shadows and images, which represent the only world visible to them. When one of the prisoners is finally released, he is initially unable to bear the real source of the shadows, that is to say, the rivers, mountains and sky. Instead, he prefers the pleasing deception of the shadows, which is the world he is used to. The allegory continues until the prisoner manages to overcome these difficulties by entering the intelligible world, where he first identifies particular objects and then conceptualizes and understands them (the allegory of education).

Just like Plato's prisoners, modern man knows the world, which is increasingly outside the bounds of his own experience, through the electronic shadows transmitted by television monitors. Perceptions, public opinion and even the socialization process are being determined by the global, ubiquitous and penetrating images and sounds of television. But, let us not forget Plato's allegory and the fact that the state of the image is simply that of conjecture, the human being's most basic state of consciousness.

I thought that on opening this third United Nations World Television Forum for the Organization, of which I congratulate all those bodies which have sponsored it, it would be timely to recall this allegory, which seems to

foreshadow modern times, for the audio-visual media have become an integral part of our daily lives and the source from which a large sector of humanity seeks the truth.

Providing the information and knowledge which, in large measure, determines our decisions, our behaviour and our preferences, is a tremendous responsibility. That is why I believe the convening of the meeting which is beginning today to be so important, for it offers a further opportunity to engage in reflection and introspection. There is no area of social relations where this exercise is more necessary and important than in the area of audio- visual communication. According to the programme, this exercise seeks to answer the following fundamental question -- what function should the audio- visual media have in modern society and how should they carry it out?

Defining the role which television should play in modern society is a task that cannot be postponed. Thanks to the dizzying speed at which it has developed in recent decades, television has quickly become a powerful factor of modern life. It not only determines, to a large extent, our perception of the world, but also influences our behaviour, our tastes and our sensibility. However, modern society is not ready to assimilate this impact, to digest the inflationary volume of visual and auditory information and to select and interpret the information.

To manage the astronomical volume of images and sounds which are broadcast by the audio-visual media in such a way as to educate the recipients, without disinforming, desensitizing or overwhelming them is one of the most delicate tasks facing us in the years to come. The aim is to ensure that the shadows do not cause modern man to forget reality.

The audio-visual media have a moral duty to provide their services, guided not only by material considerations but with a view to furthering the social good, by providing the audience with material, the content and form of which can help to develop the audiences' intellect and enhance its spirit. For that reason, television must not confine itself to satisfying the demands of the market, but should steer the market towards the achievement of certain social and ethical values, on the basis of which our societies are organized and function.

This mandate does not in any way mean that the exercise of freedom in the production and development of the audio-visual media should be diminished. It merely means that this freedom must be exercised for the benefit of the community. In other words, this freedom must be exercised responsibly.

We all know that some circles of opinion have questioned the past role of television. Some do not hesitate to give a categorically negative opinion, accusing television of being responsible for a number of the evils affecting

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modern society. These radical views no doubt ignore the fact that television is merely a tool and, as such, its supposed virtues and defects are not inherent elements of its nature and essence, but rather stem from those who use it and the purposes for which it is used.

A few days ago, I read an interesting essay published in The New York Times about television as a means of disseminating political information. The author complained that, in an event as important as the United States elections in early November, television had not helped him to take a sound, responsible decision. He noted that he could receive up to 93 channels on his television set, but none of them had treated him as a dutiful citizen. According to the author, not even the half-dozen stations that appeared to take an interest in local news showed any desire to help him vote intelligently. The channels televised a great deal of political advertising, but paid little attention to the candidates and the issues of the campaign.

I suspect that many people, though they may not share the most extreme views, would agree with this type of complaint on the limitations of television as a means of gaining information and as an educational tool. For this reason, events such as the one we are inaugurating today could not be more welcome, since they offer a chance for self-examination that could convince those in charge of the media to prepare their management more adequately to face the challenges of the new century.

I note that the schedule of meetings does not include a single explicit reference to education, although the idea of education as one of the media's most important aims -- if not the most important one -- is implicit in some of the topics to be discussed. I draw attention to this fact, because I believe that the development of the media should be focused on the strengthening of television as an educational tool at all levels and in all areas of human knowledge.

The education of peoples to build a better world to live in should be the main objective that will chart the course of future media policy. Last week, the General Assembly adopted a resolution by which the period from 2001 to 2010 was declared the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non- Violence for the Children of the World. This resolution recognizes that the United Nations should promote a culture of peace consisting of shared values, attitudes and behaviours based on the principles of freedom, justice and democracy, human rights, tolerance and solidarity, and rejecting violence.

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The resolution recognizes the role that the media, among other institutions, will play in the development of a culture of peace. In this enterprise of establishing a culture of peace in and for future generations, the media are called on to play an extremely important role. We trust that meetings such as the one beginning today will help to define that role and that, when the time comes, television will play its part for the benefit of all humanity.

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United Nations