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77.

Mass Media as a UN Partner:
Geneva Perspective

ARTICLE
BY MR. VLADIMIR PETROVSKY
UNITED NATIONS UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL
DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE AT GENEVA
FOR “GENEVA NEWS”

20 April 2000

S
peaking of the new challenges that the world faces, we usually
refer to the new stage of globalization, accelerated by the techno-
logical revolutions and new transnational problems it has
brought about. But this is only part of the picture. What is no less important is
the emergence of new actors in world affairs whose influence is growing - par-
liamentarians, local authorities, business communities, religious leaders and
civil society - in all its aspects. Among them the international media takes a
prominent place.

Three-quarters of a century ago Carl Jung suggested a notion of the
"collective unconscious" which to a large extent defines our perceptions of the
world in which we live. This phenomenon gives enormous possibilities to the
mass media. Today, as a result of technological change, the influence of the
media and its power in shaping our views has increased many folds. We are all
in some danger these days of suffocating under a deluge of information. It is the
mass media that can either improve our chances of emerging from that deluge
as better- informed decision-makers or to a large degree deprive us from them.

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