Media Policy and Globalization - Blogs Unpad

THE INFORMATION SOCIETY 115
good jobs for the American people and economic growth for the nation.
As importantly, the NII can transform the lives of the American
people – ameliorating the constraints of geography, disability, and economic
status – giving all Americans a fair opportunity to go as far as
their talents and ambitions will take them. (NII 1993)
[The European Parliament] considers that the new information
technologies may create even greater regional and social disparities
in the European Union than at present and considers that in order to
obviate this risk, the use of information highways should focus on correcting
existing imbalances and discrepancies between regions of the
European Union in terms of economic and social development, and
social and regional problems ...(European Parliament 1998 para. 23)
Transforming digital information into economic and social value is the
basis of the new economy, creating new industries, changing others
and profoundly affecting citizens’ lives. (Commission of the European
Communities 2000a: 4)
Proactive policies are needed to respond to the fundamental changes
in technology. Digital convergence requires policy convergence and
a willingness to adapt regulatory frameworks where needed so they
are consistent with the emerging digital economy. (Commission of
the European Communities 2005b: 3)
These quotes capture the spirit (and time) of the ‘new’ informational
age and exemplify the directions of national and supranational policy
in Europe and the USA. Quite significant in their positioning, the declarations
made in Gore’s National Information Infrastructure (NII) and
the European Commission’s two major policy documents eEurope: an Information
Society for All (2000a) and the ‘mature’ IS plan for i2010 – a
European Information Society for Growth and Employment (2005b) convey
the expectations of policy-makers and in general the rhetoric of a new
and therefore promising era for revived economies and an end to poverty.
They also clearly convey an almost dogmatic definition of policy which
adheres to technological determinism and the ‘free’ market. Among these
celebratory intents, the voice of the European Parliament emerges as an
unannounced visitor, the voice of caution and urgency pointing to the
vast gap between fairy tales and reality. One of the interesting traits of
the development of IS policies is that the boundaries between ‘national’
and ‘global’ policy, ‘Fordist’ and ‘post-Fordist’ modes of production, conventional
and ‘new’ media are continuously shifting – they coexist and