Cees J. Hamelink is Professor of International Communication at the University of Amsterdam. He studied theology and psychology at the University of Amsterdam where he graduated in 1968 and received his Ph.D. in 1975. Professor Hamelink is the editor-in-chief of Gazette, the International Journal for Communication Studies and Honorary President of the International Association for Media and Communication Research. He is presently policy advisor to several international organisations (such as Unesco) and national governments, mainly in developing countries. For the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development he coordinates a study on information-communication technologies in social development. He is the initiator of the People’s Communication Charter. His major publications include Cultural Autonomy in Global Communications (1983), Finance and Information (1983), and The Technology Gamble (1988). Recent publications -still in print- are The Politics of World Communication (Sage: London, 1994) and World Communication (1995, Zed Books: London). Shortly UNESCO will publish his Media Regulation and Media Independence. This article was prepared in 1998 for the UN Chronicle.