CHAPTER 3

COOPERATION AND INTERRELATION

WITH OTHER ACTORS INVOLVED
IN STABILITY AND SUPPORT OPERATIONS
3.2. COMMUNICATION AND RELATIONSHIP WITH MEDIA
Communications with the global public is based on information
collected from media or from the ground were the real facts are taking
place. In case of military operations, due to communication are
happening very transparent or almost live. Weather is good or wrong,
is still debatable and more important is based on international law on
communication, culture and peace elaborated at the United Nations.
Among others, Ronald Reagan quoted: Trying to control the flow
of information is a hopeless desperate cause. The Goliath of
totalitarian control will rapidly be brought down by the David of
microchip and Jean Baptiste Lacordaire said:
Between the strong and the weak it is freedom which oppresses and
law which liberates.
For many centuries, communications has played a powerful role in
exacerbating tensions among nations and even the nations have used
communications channels to manipulate domestic public opinion and
to misinform opposing populations.
Mass communication media also have the potential to bring about
peace, build confidence among nations and strengthen international
understanding. In the last decades, the world has witnessed an
increased role for the media in international relations, an
intensification of ideological struggle, and a tremendous explosion of
global information technologies. These facts challenge the
international law of communication and information to keep apace.
How can we control or manage the playing field between the infopowerful and the info-weak? In a world of increasing
disparities between the rich and poor the relations between freedom
and law is most relevant. Normally, vulnerable countries are calling on
international communication and information law to protect their
interest. Dominant countries are resisting international law because the

unrestricted free flow of information and communication benefits

them in profit and influence.
Throughout the history of international relations, every time a new
innovation in communication technology appears,
sooner or later international law arises to regulate it. Gutenbergs
invention of the printing press led some like Milton
to call for a right to freedom of expression. Morses discovery of the
telegraph led to the creation of the International
Telegraph Convention. The development of wireless radio led to the
International Radio Telegraph Convention. The great radio
propaganda wars of the 1930s led to the famous International
Convention Concerning the Use of Broadcasting in the Cause of
Peace, the first multilateral effort to regulate peacetime propaganda.
GENERAL ASPECTS REGARDING THE INTERNATIONALLAW
All international law is based on the seven fundamental principles
specified in the 1945 UN Charter and in the 1970Declaration on
Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and
Cooperation among States in Accordance with the Charter of the UN.
Members of the UN are required toguide their actions in accordance
with these principles and to compel all natural and juridical persons
under their jurisdiction to act in agreement with them.
Non-use of Force. States may not threaten or use force against the
territory or independence of another state or against
the rights to self-determination, freedom, and independence of
peoples. A war of aggression constitutes a crime against peace. States
may not organize mercenary forces or civil strife in other states nor
may they occupy another state through military force or recognize that
occupation as legal.
Peaceful Settlement of Disputes. States must settle their international
disputes by peaceful means in a way that does not
endanger international peace and security. States in dispute must seek
negotiation, mediation, and settlement and, short of
a resolution, must not aggravate the situation.
Nonintervention. No state has the right to intervene directly or

indirectly in the internal or external affairs of another state. This

includes not only armed intervention but also any form of
economic or political coercion against the political, economic, or
cultural integrity of another state. Every state has the inalienable right
to choose its own political, economic, social, and cultural system
without outside interference.
International Cooperation. Whatever their differences may be, states
have the duty to cooperate with one another, to
maintain peace and security, and to promote economic stability and
progress. This means conducting international relations according to
the principles of equality and nonintervention and promoting respect
for and observance of human rights and elimination of racial
discrimination and religious intolerance.
Equal Rights and Self-Determination of Peace. All peoples have the
right freely to determine their political status and to pursue their
economic, social, and cultural development without external
interference. States must promote friendly relations, end colonialism,
and guarantee respect for and observance of human rights. States must
refrain from any threat or use of force that deprives their own or any
other people of self-determination, freedom, and independence.
Sovereign Equality of States. The UN Charter is based on the
sovereign equality of all states, notwithstanding differences of an
economic, social, political, or other nature. This means that states are
equal before the law and enjoy the full rights of sovereignty and
territorial integrity. All states must respect the political, social,
economic, and cultural systems of other states and live in peace with
all states.
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF INTERNATIONAL
COMMUNICATIONAND INFORMATION LAW
The fundamental principles about media practice and performance
surface from the analysis of international
communication and information low are as follows:
Communication media may not be used for war and aggression.
The universally respected principle prohibits thethreat or use of force
by one state against another and forbids not only wars of aggression
but also propaganda for wars ofaggression. This means that

propaganda glorifying the threat or use of force in international

relations is prohibited by law. States are forbidden from spreading war
threats or encouragements content themselves, for example, through
government-owned and operated international radio stations. They
are also obligated to stop any war propaganda emanating from their
territory on the part of private groups.
Communication media shall not be used to intervene in the internal
affairs of another state. The principle of
nonintervention forbids all forms of interference or attempted threats
against a state or against its political, economic, and
cultural elements. This includes organizing, assisting, financing,
inciting, or tolerating subversive information activities directed toward
the overthrow of another state, or interfering in civil strife in another
state. It also bans systematically undermining public support to
disintegrate the opponents inner cohesion, gradually putting its state
leadership in a condition of uncertainly and discouragement,
diminishing its ability to act under the pressure of a national public
opinion undergoing a process of reorientation. This principle prohibits
subversive foreign broadcasts that attempt to change another countrys
governing system or that try to foment discontent and incite unrest.
All dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred,
incitement to racial discrimination is punishable by
law. The information activities of all organizations that are based on
ideas or theories of superiority of one race or group of persons of one
color or ethnic origin or that attempt to justify or promote racial hatred
or discrimination in any form areprohibited. It is a crime against
humanity directly to encourage, or cooperate in the commission of
racial discrimination.
States are obligated to modify the social and cultural practices,
including information and communication activities,that are based on
the inferiority or the superiority of either the sexes and to eliminate
any stereotyped concept of roles of men and women. States may by
obligate to change media practices that advocate discrimination
against women.
Media should play a positive role in educating and enlightening
the public toward peace. The mass media must
contribute effectively to the strengthening of peace and international

understanding and to the promotion of human

rights.
People enjoy equal rights and self-determination in
communication and information. This includes the right to develop
local information and communication infrastructures without the
interference of external parties, to establish communication policies
for the benefit of the people, and to participate in international
information relations without discrimination.
States enjoy sovereign equality in communication and
information infrastructures. Every state has inalienable right to choose
its political, social, economic, and cultural systems without
interference in any form by another state. Every national
communication system has juridical expression through an
information authority, especially in its constitutional, penal, civil,
press, copyright, post, and telecommunications laws.
Disputes about communication and information must be settled
peacefully. This duty also implies that states must refrain from and
prevent hostile and subversive ideological campaigns.
Communication and information demand international
cooperation. New technologies such as global computer networks and
international satellite television cannot succeed technically without the
willingness of states to work cooperatively toward mutually beneficial
solutions.
The free and unrestricted flow of information is encouraged.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and
expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without
interference and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas
through any media and regardless of frontiers.
MEDIA IN OPERATIONS
In real operations military is always accompanied by media
representatives in different forms: combat camera, national
journalists from TV, radio or journals, and international media. Each
one is having its own perception, goals and tools of obtaining desired
information.
Combat camera is composed by military professional journalists
who belong to a military department of public relations and their

mission is to escort and follow the course of actions taking the same
risks as the soldiers, and recording the main activities for military
purpose.
National journalists belonging to the state media, in principal are
inclined to support the military actions in accordance with the national
interest and sending the right messages at home for the soldiers
relatives and the society emotionally involved in the evolution and
state of their men and women at war.
International journalist from countries which are not involved with
troops and some journalists from private programs or magazines even
from the nations engaged in military operation are looking mainly for
watching how the human rights are respected or for spectacular events
ranging out of military discipline or weaknesses (like The Gulf
Syndrome, or the case of Guantanamo). As a general rule, civil
journalists are sent by their managers and take all the risks that the
military is not responsible for.
Nevertheless, the attitude of the military vis--vis the media
representatives should be normal and as permissive ortransparent as
the military rules allow it, and the interviews are provided by skilled
spokesmen or those especially nominated by the commanders for
these.
During the recent times, due to the large number of operations at the
same time some TV and radio stations hired anumber of young
journalists aside experienced ones, who has taken the risk to deploy to
different theaters of operations inshort with less experience which
sometimes make the report less professional, with low level of
knowledge about the local culture and mindset.
The media is also used sometimes for campaigns, in support of
recruiting soldiers like Be All That You Can Be well known
television commercials aired throughout the country believing that
the nations interests will be better served by an all- volunteer force.
Other campaigns under different slogans: Todays Army Wants You
to Join, Join the people Who have Joint the Army.
Normally, in many countries the military use to organize common
training inviting the dedicated journalists to take part for getting more
accustomed to the military procedures in real operations.