Internet a basic human right - Tom Glocer

Speaking in Abu Dhabi, Glocer said: “I believe Internet access is a basic human right. Different governments have tried to stop the free flow of information, but eventually those tactics will fail in a dramatic and revolutionary way.”

During the revolution in Egypt the authorities tried to stop Reuters from broadcasting, the chief executive said, but the company still managed to put out 117 hours by being inventive in the way they produced and distributed content.

“We don’t try to legislate for what others should do, but when we publish news we do it as straight as humanly possible. But humans are biased so we rigorously edit to filter that out.”

On the role of global news organisations, Glocer said that there was nothing wrong with campaigning media as long as people have a choice of sources. “I have a problem when I see opinions creeping deeply into what purports to be news,” he said.

He said that while technology has allowed us to look over our own borders and realise “we are not so different from each other” he hopes cultural differences will still be reflected in regional media.

Postscript: On 23 March Tom Glocer posted the following on his blog:

Internet Freedom Finds a Fertile Crescent

I participated in a fireside chat last week at the Abu Dhabi Media Summit in which I was interviewed by the talented Lebanese journalist, Raghida Dergham. Raghida writes a well-read weekly column in Al Hayat and is a close follower of political developments across the Arab world. Thus, I should have been on notice that our scheduled discussion on the future of media could not ignore the remarkable changes taking place across the region. 

During a wide-ranging discussion of the future of media (not an unfamiliar theme to the readers of this blog) and the role of social media in the popular uprisings sweeping the region, I stated that I believed that access to the internet was now a basic human right. By this, I did not mean to imply that governments should not regulate noxious material such as child pornography or hate speech on the internet, nor that all societies regardless of their current state of development needed to provide free universal internet access immediately, but simply that citizens would not stand to be deprived of the basic information and connectivity they needed to function as participating members of modern societies. Thus, President Mubarak’s clumsy attempt to shutdown the internet in Egypt only fanned the flames of the popular rebellion. 

I am not so naiive or optimistic to think that the online tools provided by Twitter and Facebook, can, in the short-run, protect individuals from the guns and tear gas of a totalitarian state. However, over time, suppression of the internet will undermine the legitimacy of any government and sow the seeds of its downfall. I also have the 160-year history of Reuters News as a guide. There have been brief periods when governments have sought to punish the company for adhering to our Trust Principles and reporting the truth. However, over the longer-term, by sticking to our convictions we have earned the trust of the societies in which we operate. So too the internet will triumph. Not thanks to a single publisher, no matter how respected, but via the loud and competing voices of a multitude of self-publishers. 

Fighting the tide of history is always a losing bet. ■