FIAT/IFTA at the World Summit on the Information Society

Tunis, 15th-16th November 2005

• Report of the WEMF Archive session, by Sue Malden


• Panelists contributions
  • Lawrence Atiase (URTNA)
    Get the 93 ko Word document here
  • Patrick Cozier (CBU)
    Get the 59 ko Word document here
  • Matthew White (NGS)
    Get the 36 ko Word document here


• Message of WEMF II to the World Summit on the Information Society : http://www.ebu.ch/en/union/news/2005/tcm_6-41027.php

Report of the WEMF Archive session "Saving the world's audiovisual archives for the 21st century and beyond"

Sue Malden presents the conclusions of the Archive session to Mr Kofi Anan, Secretary Genral of the United Nations, in the presence of Arne Wessberg, President of the EBU

WSIS, WEMF, WBU ... and FIAT

FIAT was asked to participate in the World Electronic Media Forum (WEMF), an event that was part of the second World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Tunis.

In December 2001 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution calling for the organization of the WSIS. The objective of the first phase was to express a political will and to take concrete measures to establish the foundations of an information society accessible to all, designed to narrow the digital divide.

The WEMF was established by the World Broadcasting Unions (WBU) with some very high principles that accord with the WSIS objectives : communication technology is not an end in its self, it is a vehicle for the provision of information and content ; freedom of expression, pluralism of the media and cultural diversity should be respected and promoted ; electronic media has a vital role to play in the information society ; television and radio are crucial for ensuring social cohesion and development in the digital world ; information should remain accessible and affordable to everyone.

This was an invaluable opportunity for FIAT raise the plight of endangered broadcast archives and the issues exposed by the FIAT Call for the preservation of the world broadcast heritage, which was launched at the conference in Paris in October 2004.

The Archive Session

Sue Malden of FIAT moderated the session entitles "Saving the world's audiovisual archives for the twenty-first century and beyond", together with Neil Regan of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

The distinguished panel were : Mohammad Ahamadin, from the Egyptian Television (ERTU) on the challenges facing the digitising project for the Information and Documentation Centre of ERTU ; Lawrence Atiase, Acting Secretary general of URTNA, who gave an overview of the situation in African archives ; Patrick Cozier, Secretary general of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU) presented the view from the other side of the world ; Guido del Pino, Head of the RAI Television archive, discussed the challenges still facing a well established archive ; and Matthew White, of the National Geographic Society.

The panel gave some illumination presentations and incisive proposals for debate. This was followed by a lively discussion with the audience of well over 300 delegates ; there was not enough time to take the points of all those wanting to speak. However the assembly was entirely in agreement with the concluding summary of their views outlined by Sue Malden.

Conclusions of the session

Sue Malden had the honour to present these conclusions, together with the moderators from the other six sessions over the two days, to Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr Kofi Anan.

The conclusions were as follows, so we wait with eager anticipation for the next stage.

Sue Malden
Tunis, November 2005