La crise de l’information et la crise de confiance des Nations Unies by Alpha Amadou Diallo-Tayiré (review)

356 BOOK REVIEWS La crise de l'information et la crise de confiance des Nations Unies. By ALPHA AMADOU DIALw~TAYrnE. Switzerland: Editions Universitaires Fribourg, 1971. Pp. 144. Fr. 18. The title of this slim volume promises much more than it can deliver. Both the UN information services and whatever current crisis of confidence the organization is passing through are subjects of periodic review and frequently of in-depth analysis. This little book is published as a "study " in the field of social communication. It reads more like a term paper, with dutiful footnotes but with lapses into sweeping generalizations and recommendations that contradict facts accepted in the study itself. It is obvious from the text that the author's UN experience is limited to the UN's European office in Geneva (we learn only in passing that he has spent four years in the secretariat but not in what capacity). His drastic criticisms of the information services for correspondents accredited to the UN and of the Visitors' Services, for example, are not true of UN headquarters in New York, although he implies they are. Though he cites his observations in four African countries, one wonders on what he bases the statement that " no one " ever hears any of the UN's radio broadcasts, which go to 120 countries-either live or taped-in 28 different languages. The interest manifested in them by some delegates to the last General Assembly would seem to qualify, at least, his categorical conclusion. Anyone familiar with the UN and how it works will be entirely symp~ thetic with Mr. Diallo-Tayin?s laudable concern for more information on the UN in attention-getting form, more materials on development capable of capturing the interest and sustaining the enthusiasm of the general public. These are also concerns of the UN itself as evidenced in several resolutions on "public information " and a fairly long document on "mobilizing public opinion " for development. Where one parts company with him is in the remedies he proposes, which are unrealistic if not singularly naive. And one is bound to regret, too, that the limitation of space, which he invokes, results in a mere nod to certain factors, a fuller treatment of which is essential to his thesis. In discussing the "information crisis," Diallo-Tayire recognizes the great importance of the mass media, especially in this day of electronic communication . He then accepts the judgment (quoted and footnoted) that the mass media do not form public opinion but rather reflect it. He recognizes that public opinion is fickle at best and compounded of emotion, traditions, local customs, self-interest, etc. He also accepts the fact that development cannot take place without the involvement of the "man on the street." Then, as an example of UN information failure in the development field, he takes only one example, the rather dull and meager publica~ tions of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD, which BOOK REVIEWS 857 is headquartered in Geneva) and pays no attention to the fact that this agency deals with the intricate complexities of trade and snail-paced negotiations -hardly the stuff for popular readership. To remedy the "failure" the author then proposes the elimination (for cost-benefit reasons) of certain specialized agency publications, including UNESCO's Courier, WHO's World Health, and FAO's Ceres, which are the most readable, appeal to a special interest audience and perform much of the " promotion " or public relation function he advocates. They are also issued on a subscription basis. Instead of these and several other publications he would have a weekly newspaper of about 20 pages in the style of France Soir and modeled after the Osservatore Romano. The latter, in his view, defends the Holy See against mistaken criticism, corrects false reporting and " reflects the international Christian community." Presumably the paper he suggests would do the same for the UN. Just how such a paper would present in human terms an " international viewpoint " that would reach the " man in the street " in 133 countries, with all their separate local, traditions, customs, priorities, and hundreds of different languages , and would fire him with enthusiasm for " development " boggles even the non-journalistic mind...