Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 2, 1982, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free december 1982 focus in bureaucrats Admire pravda in Public relations staff warmly praised communist press but attacked Western press for respective attitudes to by Jeff Endrst special to the free press new York a Short lived United nations Experiment in trying to explain its sagging fortunes by putting the blame on the Western press serves As an instructive lesson in what promoters of a new world information order May have in the was conceived As proof that negative Public perceptions about the United nations around the world Are due mostly to Western pique that the world democracies no longer Call the tune in the 157nation As if that assertion were not enough of a the in Public relations bureaucrats elevated the state con trolled press in the communist coun tries to a position of True supporters and defenders of United nations the United states found it Shock ing for a group of top in information executives to say that in the communist countries the press provides Reg ular and continuing support for in efforts directed towards International the asked if that meant that the communist press reports regularly on in condemnations of the soviet occupation of or on resolutions condemning Vietnam occupation of Cambodia is there perhaps much re porting in the communist press on the in investigation of claims that the communists have been using chemical weapons on defenceless primitive Tri Besmen in Southeast Asia and Afghanistan or is there evidence of press concern in the communist countries for the massive violations of workers rights in Poland if then is there evidence of communist East Europe collective concern about the phenomenon of massive refugee Waves which communism or concern about in peacekeeping operations to which the communist countries scarcely con tribute in Perez de Cuellar then called the document of his information experts unfortunate and he said in an interview that he did not agree with the reports unfavourable comparison of the Western press with the press of the communist he called that comparison really incredible and a display of a Lack of the inevitable then took the Heads of Allun special with Perez de Cuellar form the administrative committee on Coordie met in new York and decided to Shelve the report without acting on its a in spokesman explained the Deci Sion by saying that it was generally agreed by the agencies Heads that in rather than analyses of press culpability for the organizations Lack of popularity in the Public percept should be the primary concern of in what the in spokes Man failed to explain was How the controversial report saw the Light of Day in the first defending the position of his own the spokesman insisted that it was impossible to say who wrote the it was committee with various people contributing preliminary drafts which were later changed and finally summarized in an internal Docu the spokesman but the document had been issued by the and it was then defended in a debate on information and communication before the in general the defence was offered by Yasushi Akashi of who As undersecretary general of the in department of Public assumed final responsibility for the ill fated attempt to define Public perceptions of the in Akashi argued that the aim behind the controversial report was to Cor rect unbalanced presentations in the press of the functioning of the United nations he said this Effort challenging our Middle East tilt by John Best special to the free press Ottawa professor Peyton Lyon of Ottawa Carleton University has taken the government to task for what he sees As a persistent pro Israel Bias in Canadian Middle East although professing to be balanced Canadas approach has in fact Long tilted in favor of he writes in the Magazine International Lyon is a Well known commentator Canadian foreign policy and inter National he has been prominent among a group of Academe and maps trying to get the govern Anent to move closer to the Arab and palestinian their efforts were spurred by the invasion of Lebanon in Early and the widespread suffering and destruction this led including the of hundreds of palestinians Christian militiamen in at one Point in a delegation from the group had a 45minute inter View with prime minister Pierre tru amid speculation that the government might be amenable to a Little pressure in favor of a More prop Les Tinian the government is under conflicting pressures from its own lib eral with some trying to pull it one Way and others sympathetic to Ward Israel anxious to maintain the policy status notwithstanding professor Lyons there does appear to have been movement on at least one aspect of Canadian Canada lost no time in supporting president Ronald Rea Gans september 2 peace rejected by calling for Palestin Ian in the Israel occupied West Bank and Gaza in some kind of association with but whereas Reagan specified the will not support an Independent palestinian state in the two Canada repeatedly made Clear that it does not exclude the the strongest of several declarations along this line was made by Pierre de now fisheries when he was still minister of state for external in a Quebec City speech september while we would have no problem with self governing palestinians in the West Bank an Gaza in association with we would not Rule out the possibility of a palestinian de Bane he reiterated Canadas firm sup port for its Security and Well but also asserted Canadas in Tention to maintain contacts with the Palestine liberation organization denounced by Israel As Little More than a terrorist we have not proceeded to the Point of recognizing the Plo As the sole legitimate representative of the pales though Lyon insists that no one in Ottawa pretends that any other group could now speak for the pales Tinian in an intriguing professor himself a former foreign service implies that Canadian policy toward Isrel has been out of tune with the thinking of Canadian studies carried out some time had tended to confirm that Ottawa mandarins consider israeli policies to be and the pressure within Canada of the zionist lobby to be contrary to sound Canadian he goes on Canadian diplomats incline to be especially critical of can Adas pro Israel tilt while posted to the Middle East or the United but i know of none who denies the or expresses happiness with an external affairs department offi asked to comment on the said we like to think of ourselves As having a reasonably balanced and impartial position i Hope our policy is seen As Lyon pays tribute to the efficiency of the Canad Israel the for eign policy Arm of the Well organized jewish in its efforts to influence Canadian but maintains that political parties probably exaggerate the significance of the jew ish vote in he concludes by saying Public out rage at the excesses of the begin government a sentiment apparently shared by Many jewish canadians Likely accelerate Canadas slow evolution toward a More balanced Middle East in the events of the last four months in Lebanon have left a deep imprint on the minds of canadians that cannot in a democratic having an Impact on the direction of government they have made even longtime admirers of Israel wonder just what kind of Tiger is now Loose in the Middle and whether the country that has had to fight so bravely for its life so Many has not now turned irrevocably Militarist and even More remarkably they have made people practically sad to the Many heinous atrocities committed As a matter of policy by the Plo against Israel and israeli and the worst part is from All prime minister Menachem begins hold on Power has not at All been weakened and May have been strength ened by the Lebanon in these the question of a pro Israel tilt in Canadian policy cannot help but resolve and very John Best is a freelance journalist based in was not intended to be a Public relations exercise or a cosmetic at tempt to sell the United nations to the he agreed that the image was essentially a reflection of the organizations he also agreed that the in has not been an unqualified Success he neither has the in been a Complete As some stories attempt to reflecting the mood of the organizations then also said that his information department has to be concerned with the promotion of the establishment of a new world information and communication he told the general Assembly com Mittee debating this Issue that there seemed to be a solid consensus emerging on this even though it had not come to the stage where the concept could be defined with precis the codeword Akashi then mentioned fundamental elements of the proposed new they included the need for free circulation and wider dissemination of information guaranteeing the diver sity of sources of information and free Access to information but also the recognition of the need for a better balance in the dissemination of information and for a change in the dependent status of the developing countries in the Field of information and comm while these principles could have been Clear and acceptable to some speakers immediately after him put different interpretations on what their governments viewed As a new world information a spokesman for the european Community recalled that Freedom of opinion and As Well As the free circulation of information and Are essential human diversity aids Freedom the Best defence of those rights Lay in a Well informed and critical Public All Over the and that in turn depended on the diversity Choice of sources of the spokesman adding communication and information should not be subservient to the policies of govern for in a free the press cannot be another instrument of gov the soviets put it reactionary which their spokesman did not were interfering in the internal affairs of other countries under the Guise of free flow of inform the As the spokesman saw was that the class struggle in the of which he could be turned into a psychological which he the United he was preparing such a War against Many countries of Afri Ca and latin it was there fore necessary to adopt a set of principles to guide broadcasting and other mediums of communication in order to prevent what byelorussian and later other communist called information Cuba went it argued thar the West insists on free flow of information so that its multinational corporations should freely obtain Industrial and economic data to keep the third world in continual but Back to the Public perceptions of the unas expressed in the now abandoned the authors of the report argued that the worldwide perception of what the in does affects the organizations Abil Ity to be saying that in work is Art of the these officials acknowledged that what the Organiza Tion does is neither gripping in proce Dure in most dramatic in so How can the importance of the often plodding but vital processes of multilateral diplomacy be conveyed to a Broad mass of people the first hurdle the officials recognized was the unrealistic Public image of the unas a Supranational organization in effect a world gov then they suggested that idealists who in the Early years saw the unas the Hope of Mankind now frequently see it As part of the worlds this is where the press came the in officials argued that the current Gap Between reality and caption about the in is accentuated by the Lack of sustained attention by the press to the uns the report suggested that since the bulk of the in membership is pressing for changes in the established the West is on the defensive and the Western press is therefore no longer interested in recording events around the third world demands for a new world economic and information orders were mentioned As sex the report said where once there was Strong there is now a confused amalgam of doubt and resentment the real value and role of International organizations Are in Dan Ger of fading from the critical passages of the report ran As follows influential sectors of the mass mediums of communication in Deve loped Western countries have Pic tured the United nations system As an inefficient and swollen by grossly inaccurate charges of financial ineptitude have been lev Elled and criticism made on the basis of confused and inaccurate use of in the socialist read communist the mass mediums of communication report regularly on nations particularly in the political it would appear that there is continuing support in these countries for United nations efforts directed towards International Cooper the report implied that this aint necessarily so just because those governments claim but it did say that those governments certainly take such a instead of saying that the communist governments pay lip service but Little Money to in develop ment the report said they limit their involvement in such activities in the belief that the problems involved Are not of their the authors of the ill fated report had some specific ideas on How Public perception of the United nations could be a Book on this subject by an eminent journalist of an unspecified country was one High prestige visit ing fellowships to be awarded by the in to distinguished members of the profession was another writers and producers could be enticed to take sabbatical leaves from their jobs to research and write in depth on in in information aides could take press leaders to lunch to get them involved in in All this would have required More Money and perhaps More in information the in employs about 800 information personnel at a Cost of Over Jeff Endrst is a freelance correspondent based at the United tory Mongoose will stalk socialist cobra will the legislative session which begins today be a productive gathering with both sides willing to listen or will it be a time of Nam calling and unwavering adherence to specific political Dogma perhaps the most one can expect is a combination of All those Howard Pawle acknowledges that continuing rough economic times will make it difficult to but has Faith in the direction taken by his Sterling Lyon also recognizes the influence of outside but his party intends to Point out that the nip is ill equipped to Deal with the problems in any realistic because the government wants to fulfil promises and improve its position in the Public the throne speech focuses on three main issues in creased strength of the human compassion and improvement of the democratic unlike the last which still reflected tory this one will have a definite nip of certain goals have already been Pawley was proud to note that instead of encouraging re the nip was pressing ahead with major economic such As interest rate a major housing program and a beef stabilization those efforts were bearing fruit and More would legislation will focus on new items under tie dome Arlene Billinkoff like pension Reform and conflict of along with a return to farm lands Protection and which failed to take Root in the first even before those Bills appear in printed other promises Are being a number of announcements last for appeared to be timed to brighten the governments they included the increase of the education support level by per a relatively Low increase in Auto Sacrates combined with the removal of alleged discriminatory categories and the revelation that cattlemen had joined the beef stabilization this week began with another major event the signing of the Federal pro Vinci Al North lands which has lingered in the background for More than a some such As the resumption of Hydro work at were Pawley admitted that until there is an economic there will be no major perhaps there has been no major investment in Hydro but Money has been the quarterly financial report will show shrinking government revenues and additional due to less Money from Ottawa and additional Cost it has not been spent said surveying a list of nip a com the tory Leader saw pretty thin with thousands of people out of the creation of a payroll tax and increase of minimum both of which worked against employ and the failure to carry projects which would have invigorated the provinces he was not impressed and predicted the new Mea sures would not be much the North lands agreement was merely a dispersal of Money which the nip would use primarily for landholding rather than legitimate he while the relatively positive re port on aut Opac was not due to the present there were some Good but Why did not the nip do More Good things and take off the employment scale Back waste Ful spending and Stop hiring party faithful the tories will concentrate on those issues during the emphasizing the incompetence of the which had mismanaged the Mega pro jets and shown Complete inability to restrain expenditures and manage the he prime attention will be Given to financial matters and the mishandling of the Power but those Are merely can you name one depart ment where they Are not vulnerable Lyon his people would Point out failures and keep the Public aware of the nip who had Dis played nothing but Malad ministry incompetence and an inability to form a meaningful tory will not be quoting Lyon said a Good opposition is Seldom specific about it was too Early to present them instead his people would show that the nip is out on Cloud nine on most things they but at least we Are countered the new democrats were disorganized during the first but with a years expert he believed everything would be better that combined with the impending tory leadership should produce a spirited session As the four or five hopefuls jockey for he pre Lyon was not surprised that new democrats would try to draw a red herring in regard to tory but wondered if they were in a position to talk about they Bicker among he and Many ministers cannot Cope with their re the tories intend to operate As a with prospective candidates playing Strong roles in health and but still remaining part of the we will keep on going like the Mon Goose after the it will be done in an orderly orderly Pawley insists that with his More experienced and better informed government business will Progress much while Lyon has warned that our Job As opposition is to remind them daily of just How incompetent they Given that Situ the speaker May have a difficult time maintaining but it should make a fascinating doonesbury mm10 Kilos Izi Iski Khou a half Mil suppose to by what it Kilos wow Iii 0utcagcn5 vacation month 0tit his guest hosts ;