GLOBAL NEWS FLOW

REVISITING THE NEW WORLD COMMUNICATION ORDER

Abstract

The paper critically examines the concept of global news flow in line with the New World Communication Order (NWCO). The New World Communication Order or New World Information and Communication Order  (NWCO/NWICO) was coined by MacBride and came into existence in the 1970s. It aimed at addressing the glaring imbalance in global news flow dominated by the Western media which called the shots in global news purveyance and conveyance. This paper adopted an in-depth literature  review approach. It attempts to revisit the call for a New World Communication Order in the contemporary digital era bearing in mind the unpredictable nature of global politics, conflicts of interest and different levels of technological development. Major highlights of the study include the expansion of the media landscape occasioned by advancements in information and communication technologies, and the rise of citizen journalism. The downsides or the threats are the issues of censorship, propaganda and misinformation. The paper leaning on the Development media theory therefore recommends a deliberate emphasis on development news from less developed countries by the Western media conglomerates in order to mitigate the level of negative news inflow from them to the developing countries of the world.