The 2010 Milton Wolf Seminar brought together practitioners and academics for three days of exciting debate in Vienna, Austria from March 17 to 19 at the Diplomatic Academy Vienna. Co-sponsored by the American Austrian Foundation, the Center for Global Communication Studies at the University of Pennsylvaniaâ s Annenberg School for Communication, and the Diplomatic Academy Vienna, the seminar explored the theme, â New media, new newsmakers, new public diplomacy: The changing role of journalists, NGOs, and diplomats in a multi-modal media world.â

The Premise
Discussion began with a recognition that: as new media and communication technologies diffuse worldwide, traditional media institutions face a range of challenges, from shortened news cycles to fragmented and shrinking audiences. Advertising revenues have declined as advertisers try to make sense of the new environment and to redirect their spending in efficient and effective ways, putting media under economic pressure. New technologies create demand for ever-more rapid news provision and non-professional, user-generated content competes directly with the products of traditional news media. In response to these pressures, many news operations have engaged in aggressive downsizing, reducing their staff complements and eliminating foreign bureaus in a bid to contain costs and refocus their operations. These institutions are attempting to adapt to new technologies while retaining their traditional role of supplying accurate and factual news, sorting the important from the irrelevant â the traditional foundations of their businesses.

Predictably, under these difficult conditions, the quality of news products suffers. Scott Maier, an associate professor at the University of Oregon detailed the growing problem of inaccuracy in mainstream newspapers. Maier argued that, under the twin pressures of shorter news cycles and smaller newsgathering operations, the quality of news coverage is under threat, an argument echoed by several speakers. Maierâ s and othersâ research suggests that the problem is broad, applying to both the American and European contexts.

What then, does this changing news landscape mean for journalists, NGOs, and public diplomacy practitioners?

In the family of freedom of information laws globally, Mexico is a leader, partly because of its Federal Institute for Access to Public Information in Mexico (IFAI) set up under the countryâ s new Transparency Law. The William

and Flora Hewlett Foundation asked an international team to study how IFAI has made a difference as the legislation furthers public understanding of government and provides for an informed citizenry. Evaluating performance was the first priority. But for an institution like IFAI to survive and flower and for it to make its greatest
contribution, it must also be perceived to be performing in accordance with legislative hopes. Two stakeholdersâ the â obligated agenciesâ or agencies covered by the underlying law and the public that uses the transparency law were canvassed as part of the study. We conducted a survey of the staff of IFAI itself as to its understanding of its role and performance. IFAI, as part of the architecture of government openness, has already contributed enormously to a culture of transparency in Mexico. That culture of transparency has contributed to undergirding democratic processes. Much of this progress is attributable to the Commissioners and staff at IFAI. They recognize, however, that there remain substantial opportunities to deepen and broaden this process. Our study seeks to make specific recommendations that will reinforce and advance what IFAI has already
accomplished.

Among IFAIâ s important mandates are: resolving appeals of a denied request under the law, training public servants as well in access to information and protection of personal data, monitoring compliance with the law, promoting and disseminating the use of the right of access to information, establishing guidelines for the management of personal data, and disseminating information about how the Transparency Law works. The study focused on these particular mandates as a basis for framing recommendations.

In particular, there is an emphasis on extending the work of IFAI to as many groups and citizens as possible to make the Transparency Law effective. This outreach must extend to public servants subject to the law and the community at large. Indeed, for a deeply ingrained, robust â culture of transparencyâ to be established in Mexico, IFAI must involve state and municipal governments to promote transparency on the local level. The Transparency Law is largely an accomplishment of the Mexican civil society that lobbied and won its passage. It is a law that stands for unprecedented public openness in Mexicoâ s history. The underlying hopes are that reach citizen throughout Mexicoâ s thirty-one states benefit, directly or indirectly, from the functioning of the transparency laws and the discipline and educative support of IFAI.