For about two decades now, there has been a very lively and often acrimonious debate on the questions of ‘free and balanced flow of information’, Freedom of the Press, the right to sources of news, the right to know, the right to privacy, protection against exploitation via media, distor¬tion, bias and misinformation, selective exposure and so on. The Third World’s demand for a New World Information and Communication Order has emerged from this debate.
The western countries’ argu¬ments on the other hand centred round concepts of Freedom of the Press, restric¬tions on the movement of journalists in ;he name of protection of their limbs, plurality of sources, objecti¬vity and accuracy. Their strongest charge against the media of the developing coun¬tries has been that most of these countries have autho¬ritarian governments, which often indulge in propaganda and have scanty regard Tor well established professional codes.