UN becomes more important as a news source in the media crisis
When media outlets cut back, the UN becomes all the more important as a news source. Switzerland presented this position to the UN Committee on Information in New York.
When the media cut back, the UN becomes all the more important as a news source.
This was Switzerland's position before the UN Information Committee in New York. The media have also been affected by the biggest economic crisis since the UN was founded, said Simon Pidoux from Political Affairs Division III in the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) on Tuesday at the UN headquarters in New York. Wherever you look, media companies are having to lay off staff, cut back and save money.
In many places, newspapers - the backbone of an open, pluralistic democracy - are threatened with extinction. Pidoux said the familiar ways of gathering, processing and disseminating news were being changed by new technology in ways that were not yet fully understood. "We are moving into a new information age that is creating additional confusion and gaps on the world map of knowledge and understanding," Pidoux said. The UN Department of Information must therefore make a special effort to deliver the best quality news directly.
Humanitarian disasters such as those in the Congo, Darfur, Burma, Georgia or Sri Lanka show the public how timely, fair and complete the UN reports on events. In such crises, the organization has to prove its credibility as a global news source.
This was Switzerland's position before the UN Information Committee in New York. The media have also been affected by the biggest economic crisis since the UN was founded, said Simon Pidoux from Political Affairs Division III in the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) on Tuesday at the UN headquarters in New York. Wherever you look, media companies are having to lay off staff, cut back and save money.
In many places, newspapers - the backbone of an open, pluralistic democracy - are threatened with extinction. Pidoux said the familiar ways of gathering, processing and disseminating news were being changed by new technology in ways that were not yet fully understood. "We are moving into a new information age that is creating additional confusion and gaps on the world map of knowledge and understanding," Pidoux said. The UN Department of Information must therefore make a special effort to deliver the best quality news directly.
Humanitarian disasters such as those in the Congo, Darfur, Burma, Georgia or Sri Lanka show the public how timely, fair and complete the UN reports on events. In such crises, the organization has to prove its credibility as a global news source.
