2004 UNIS-UN CONFERENCE TO TAKE PLACE ON 4 - 5 MARCH; THEME IS ‘MODERN MASS MEDIA: THE INFLUENCE OF INFORMATION’

Note to Correspondents

2004 UNIS-UN CONFERENCE TO TAKE PLACE ON 4 - 5 MARCH; THEME

IS ‘MODERN MASS MEDIA: THE INFLUENCE OF INFORMATION’

The theme of the twenty-eighth annual UNIS-UN (United Nations International School – United Nations) Conference is “Modern Mass Media:  The Influence of Information”. The Conference will be held on Thursday and Friday, 4 and 5March, 2004, in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations.

This year’s topic seeks to address the influence of mass media on the world stage.  In this age of advanced communication, the dissemination of information -— whether it be weather reports or political coverage -— has become both an essential and lucrative endeavour for the global community.  From the effects of corporate marketing on youth to the censorship of news outlets in totalitarian States, from the deterioration of print journalism to the extensive international coverage of the Second Persian Gulf War, from sensationalism to satire and from Fox News to Al Jazeera, the media is not only a crucial topic in modern discourse, but also the primary medium through which we engage in it.

The UNIS-UN Conference is organized and run by UNIS students.  The UNIS-UN Committee begins preparations for the Conference nearly a year in advance, finding and researching a topic of global relevance, drawing up a list of speakers, inviting several hundred students from schools all over the world, organizing UNIS Tutorial House debates, and compiling a working paper of articles pertaining to the topic written and edited by members of the UNIS-UN Committee.  The Conference is also broadcast live on the Internet.

The structure of the UNIS-UN Conference is designed to provide students with expert knowledge through the experience of provocative guest speakers.  The Conference also endeavours to give students a platform to express and debate their own opinions and views in arguably the most internationally significant gathering place on earth.

Speakers will include Newsweek CEO Richard M. Smith, Al-Jazeera correspondent Abderrahim Foukara, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Shashi Tharoor and Professor Noam Chomsky of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) via video.  The Conference will be attended by more than 500 students hailing from six continents.  By outlining some of the issues that dominate the discussion of mass media in the modern world, the UNIS-UN Committee hopes that the Conference will foster a greater awareness of this fundamental aspect of daily life, as well as of the world at large.

* *** *