US government Global Audio-Visual strategy document leaked PDF Print E-mail
Granville Williams, 15 December 2004

Spinwatch has obtained a copy of the 'Global Audio-Visual Strategy' of the US government, which outlines the attempts of the US government to liberalise EU policy on the media. This document provides a rare insight into the priority the US government attached to its lobbying efforts to liberalise audiovisual trade, and the specific strategies which it planned to adopt to achieve this at a global level. The document is subtitled Phase 1 January - April 1995 and indicates an ongoing campaing to stitch up the global media market in the interests of US corporations. In October 1989 the European Community agreed the directive Television Without Frontiers. Within the directive there is the requirement that European television channels should carry at least 50% of European originated programming. Two words were added as a result of lobbying by Jack Valenti, President of the Motion Picture Association of America, of President Ronald Reagan. Reagan in turn contacted Margaret Thatcher and the two words ‘where practicable’ were added to the directive as a result of the intervention of the then Foreign Secretary, John Major. (1)

After the directive was implemented US efforts moved to another forum, the negotiations on the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) where Jack Valenti sought to mobilize opposition to the directive, whereas European Union negotiators were mandated to seek an explicit exemption for the audiovisual sector. Valenti used the close links between Hollywood and the Clinton administration to reinforce opposition to the directive. At a meeting on October 15, 1993, the President, Valenti and sixteen leading Hollywood figures issued a statement which asserted that audiovisual services must be included in any GATT agreement. (Grantham, 2000, p125)

In the end it was the EU position, strengthened by the insistence of the French government’s determination to defend the cultural exemption, which won through. In order to conclude the GATT negotiations the US conceded and the directive remained in force. The US government however realized that it had to reassess how it negotiated to ensure that its lobbying on media and communications had clear goals and strategies. This is the genesis for the US government strategy document.

The strategy document, in photocopied form, was amongst a collection of material on loan to me from a former MEP, Carole Tongue, who was very active in the European Parliament on media policy issues, particularly the Television Without Frontiers directive and the defence of Public Service Broadcasting, but it did not give a source. The organizations mentioned in point one of the Outreach section are MPAA, Motion Picture Association of America; AFMA, American Film Marketing Association; RIAA, Recording Industry Association of America; and IIPA, International Intellectual Property Alliance. I have since seen another copy of the document published in Inside U.S. Trade, February 24, 1995, pp. 6-7 with a commentary, which stated, “An official with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representatives would not comment on the paper, which was recently distributed to the Investment and Services Policy Advisory Committee (INSPAC).” Later in the commentary it refers to a speech by Don Abaison, Assistant US Trade Representative for services and intellectual property, who said at a meeting of the INSPAC on February 13, 1995, “We are not about to get into a back and forth debate about the value of French culture versus our culture. The U.S. will focus on ensuring that the new broadcasting technologies, which will greatly expand the choices open to consumers, are not subject to restriction.” (p. 5)

The document gives a very clear insight into the concerns of the US government to ensure that its economic interests in the audiovisual area were protected and developed globally. It is safe to conclude that, just as in 1994-95, there were clear goals set out, and strategies developed to achieve them, the same energy and priorities will be in operation now. Indeed it is possible to see some of the strategies described in the document being deployed in the current lobbying around the revision of the Television Without Frontiers directive.

Read the full text of the document here

Note (1) The issue is discussed in John Cole’s memoirs, As It Seemed To Me (1995). Douglas Hurd, Home Secretary at the time, ‘particularly admired the skill with which Major handled the Prime Minister during a heavy piece of American lobbying. President Reagan, surprisingly, telephoned her himself about a low-level problem, a European broadcasting directive, which seemed to exclude non-European material. After what Hurd thought was a marvelous Major performance at the Council of Ministers, Thatcher was able to tell the President that the directive was going to go through anyhow, but that Britain had won a clause – “where practical”, or some such.’ (Cole, p 347) Cole’s interpretation suggests this was an insignificant matter but for the American film and television industry the threat of quotas would have a major impact to audiovisual exports to Europe. Reference

John Cole (1995) As It Seemed To Me London: Orion Books.
Bill Grantham (2000) Some Big Bourgeois Brothel, London: John Libby.

See also Granville Williams, Media industry in EU lobbying offensive 19 October 2004, Spinwatch.org
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