U.S. Communications Failure
PAGE, RICHARD
U.S. Communications Failure By Richard Page Paris Unesco House, located south of the Eiffel Tower, recently was the scene of a little reported cold war battle officially called,...
...We came here to learn," he explained...
...Only one press agency asks for no money, simply an exchange of news with us," he concluded, "and that agency is Tass...
...observer who happens to be stationed in Africa why America, with the best-developed media in the world, seems unwilling to counter the Communist offensive...
...Those guys are stubborn," he replied...
...Only at the final session did an American speaker admit that various African delegates had criticized him for not offering concrete help...
...Anyway, the Communists are making promises, but do they keep them...
...Ceteka not only trains technicians and press agency editors but sends technical experts to Africa to help new agencies set up reception equipment...
...And even if true, he added, wouldn't this amount to asking the Africans to pay for their own training fellowships...
...Why aren't you empowered to offer training at AP offices...
...government can't tell private industry what to do," he replied unhappily...
...When necessary it supplies the equipment...
...He insisted it was a private company founded by unions of writers, scientists and journalists...
...Spartak Beglov, vicechairman of the board of the new Soviet news agency Novosty, quickly offered to exchange news with the African agencies free of charge...
...What about the Associated Press...
...The U.S...
...Obviously the Communists have a lot to do in Africa: They must fill a vacuum left by the West, and above all by the great private media combines...
...I asked another U.S...
...Doudou Gueye, a delegate, from Mali complained that wire service fees were "fantastic," never taking into account Africa's limited number of newspaper readers when setting prices...
...investments which American foundations were now scaring up...
...At the opening plenary session, René Maheu, UNESCO's Acting Director General, indicated that "only 1 per cent of Africa's population read newspapers, only 2 per cent own radio sets and only .5 per cent have access to cinemas...
...A young U.S...
...In the working panels speaker after speaker appealed for help, loans, training of newsmen, lower rates for press agency services...
...It has working agreements with the Mali government, the Guinea Press Agency, the Ghana News Agency and Maghreb Arabe Presse (Morocco...
...Don't forget we're a capitalist country...
...He offered to share with Africa "every bit of experience" Russia possesses...
...AP is a non-profit cooperative...
...attach...
...No more was heard from the Americans until the following day, when an able but unarmed attaché urged Africans to look for help from private U.S...
...The Czech agency has been in the vanguard of bloc activity in Africa...
...Beglov, who actually had not been invited to speak for the USSR but to provide technical advice to the UNESCO secretariat, countered with offers of aid from Novosty...
...Communications Failure By Richard Page Paris Unesco House, located south of the Eiffel Tower, recently was the scene of a little reported cold war battle officially called, Conference on the Development of Information Media in Africa...
...Yet according to UNESCO criteria, economic and social progress is retarded if a country has fewer than 10 copies of newspapers per 100 inhabitants, or less than 5 radio receivers, and if only 2 per cent of its population goes to the cinema...
...Participants included newspaper editors, ministers of information, directors of government radio monopolies and heads of budding news agencies from 34 African nations...
...Habib Boulares, Director of the Tunisian News Agency, then disclosed that 30 per cent of his agency's budget went into fees to international news agencies, and another 18 per cent for renting Unes to receive their cables...
...A few hours later I saw the same attaché in the UNESCO film auditorium during a showing of Speak Out, Africa!, a brand-new Czech film which showed how Africans are training at the Prague headquarters of Ceteka...
...Meanwhile, Beglov complained joyfully, "In this field I am the exploited and you Africans are the exploiters...
...Off the floor, I asked a U.S...
...media adviser spoke up to say that he was informed United Press International included training of indigenous personnel, both in Africa and at UPI's home offices, in contracts with African states...
...Lubomir Fiser, Deputy Director General of the Czech news agency Ceteka, also announced that Charles University in Prague would be glad to set up a center in cooperation with UNESCO to provide technical training in news telecommunications for Africans...
...Also on hand were the Soviet bloc and United States information officials who compete (or so one imagines) for their minds...
...Not so, snapped Boulares...
...Then its real work only begins, for the Czechs distribute 24,500 words a day to Africa by teleprinter in English, another 5,000 in French...
Vol. 45 • April 1962 • No. 9
