Recommendations of the Asia Media Summit (Kuala Lumpur, 9-11 May 2005) to the World Summit of the Information Society (Tunis, November 2005)

Broadcasting is crucial to development. For many, it remains the major source of information and knowledge, and therefore, it requires strengthening and support.

The ministers of information and broadcasting of countries in the Asia-Pacific region met in Bangkok, Thailand, in May 2003, to consult with academics, scholars and representatives of agencies of the United Nations on the steps to be taken to revitalise broadcasting as a tool for access to information and knowledge, and as a means of eliciting social participation necessary for sustainable development. The Bangkok Declaration, which emerged from this first Ministerial Conference, led to the annual Asia Media Summit. This year's summit was especially important, as it was registered as a "Regional Thematic Meeting" with a view to contributing to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis in November 2005.

The United Nations agencies and the international community have been instrumental in promoting best practices broadcasting, notably in public services broadcasting community multimedia and other citizen media initiatives thus contributing to sustainable development through access to information and knowledge.

However, many of the needs of broadcasters, and of society at large, are not yet fulfilled. Further action is essential. We believe more attention should be given to these issues at the forthcoming 2nd phase of the WSIS in Tunis in 2005. Towards this end, the Asia Media Summit 2005 puts forward the following recommendations.

To see the complete recommendations, go to the AIBD web site - www.aibd.org.my/conferences/2005/summit

• Media and Globalisation
• Cultural Diversity
• Digital Opportunities
• Free Flow of Information
• Public Service Broadcasting
• Human Resource Development (HRD)
• Children
• Gender
• HIV/AIDS
• Disasters
• Preservation of radio and television archives
• WIPO Broadcasters' Treaty
• Copyright and Digital Technology

Preservation of radio and television archives

We broadcasters

recognizing the role of media archives as a production resource and a powerful tool for expressing cultural identity and preserving national, regional and world heritage;

realizing the fragility of analogue archive material and the increasing obsolescence and unavailability of equipment needed to play back and reproduce earlier audio and video recordings;

considering the existence of reliable technical solutions to ensure the long-term preservation, access and reuse of archival records, mainly the migration to digital formats;

continuing the action led by UNESCO, and referring to the Call for the Preservation of the World Broadcast Heritage launched by the International Federation of Television Archives (FIAT/IFTA);

agree that it is essential to implement preservation policies using digital technologies;

recommend that

1. Authorities be requested to
   • urge broadcasters to organise the preservation of their audiovisual materials, in cooperation with national archives where appropriate
   • provide adequate resources for long term preservation and migration of endangered materials


2. Broadcasters be requested to
   • provide adequate storage and IT facilities for their archived material
   • establish a long-term policy for the collection, development and preservation of such material
   • provide appropriate access to the archived material, internally and externally
   • ensure proper training and up-skilling of their staff, so that the valuable resources are optimally used


3. International agencies be requested to
   • provide venues and platforms to define and clarify the issues, obstacles and solutions regarding digitization and archiving
   • support the training of broadcasters to improve their knowledge of archiving