Register of the David James Webster papers
Finding aid prepared by Aparna Mukherjee
Hoover Institution Library and Archives
© 2004
434 Galvez Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003
hoover-library-archives@stanford.edu
Title: David James Webster papers
Date (inclusive): 1989-2001
Collection Number: 2004C5
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
6 manuscript boxes
(2.5 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Correspondence, reports, and memoranda, relating to post-communist era radio and television broadcasting in Eastern Europe.
Creator:
Webster, David, 1931-
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Access
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
Use
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquisition Information
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2004.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], David James Webster papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Biographical Note
1931 January 11 |
Born, Taunton, England |
? |
Attended Taunton School and Ruskin College, Oxford |
1953 |
Joined British Broadcasting Corporation in the World Services News Department |
1958 |
Moved to British Broadcasting Corporation television |
1967-1969 |
Editor, British Broadcasting Corporation television public program,
Panorama
|
1970 |
Assistant Head of the Television Current Affairs Group |
1971-1976 |
Representative of British Broadcasting Corporation in the United States |
1974-1975 |
Chairman of the International Council of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences |
1977-1981 |
Member, Board of Management, British Broadcasting Corporation |
|
Director of Public Affairs, British Broadcasting Corporation |
1981-1985 |
Resident director, British Broadcasting Corporation in the United States while retaining his seat on the Management Board
in England
|
1985-1987 |
Resident Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace |
1986 |
Returned to England to become Controller, Information Services and concurrently, Acting Secretary of the British Broadcasting
Corporation
|
1987-1992 |
Director, Annenberg International Disaster Communications Project |
|
Senior Fellow, Annenberg Washington Program on Communication Policy Studies |
1988- |
Founder and Chairman, Trans-Atlantic Dialogue on European Broadcasting |
2003 August 6 |
Died, Washington, D.C. |
Scope and Content Note
The David James Webster papers consist of correspondence, reports, and memoranda relating to post-communist era radio and
television broadcasting in Eastern Europe. Webster created the Trans-Atlantic Dialogue on European Broadcasting in 1988 to
realize his goal of introducing democratic ways of broadcasting in former Soviet bloc countries by helping them enact new
legislation and establish new infrastructure with regulatory bodies. The papers are focused on Webster's activities with this
organization, though some records of the Trans-Atlantic Dialogue on Broadcasting and the Information Society are also included.
Conferences, programs, seminars, symposiums, projects, and official missions to different countries were the tools Webster
used to accomplish the goals of Trans-Atlantic Dialogue. Of these tools, the hypothetical seminars, based on role-playing
and free and unscripted discussion by participants of issues involved in the democratization of broadcasting, are well documented
in the TRANS-ATLANTIC DIALOGUE ON EUROPEAN BROADCASTING OFFICE FILE.
Of all the projects undertaken by Webster through Tran-Atlantic Dialogue, the Democracy Audit Project is particularly well
documented in the papers. Its objective was to monitor the level of freedom, independence, and openness of the media, and
the status of human rights. It was carried out by setting up local institutions whose role was to act as watchdogs.
Most of the financial support for Trans-Atlantic Dialogue was provided by the Phare and Tacis Democracy Programme, which was
started by the European Union in 1992 to promote democracy in the former Soviet bloc countries through economic and political
reforms. In addition to material in the TRANS- ATLANTIC DIALOGUE ON EUROPEAN BROADCASTING OFFICE FILE, this organization's
activities are documented in files printed from the COMPUTER DISK.
Webster also had close contact with the Soros Foundation, which initiated and supported openness in society through independent
organizations established in particular countries, such as Albania, Belarus, Crimea, and Croatia. Webster's relationship with
this organization is documented in the SOROS FOUNDATION FILE.
The FILE ON ORGANIZATIONS relates to the activities of various organizations promoting democracy and human rights, the situation
in Macedonia, and the development of independent media.
The David Webster papers were acquired in 2003.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Radio broadcasting -- Europe, Eastern
Television broadcasting -- Europe, Eastern
Trans-Atlantic Dialogue on European Broadcasting (Organization)
Trans-Atlantic Dialogue on European Broadcasting Office File
1989-2001
Scope and Contents note
Appointment calendars; conference, seminar, symposium, and workshop material; correspondence; financial records; lists; memoranda;
minutes of meetings; program file; proposals; reports; speeches and writings; and travel file relating to the organization's
efforts under the chairmanship of David Webster to promote democratic ways of radio and television broadcasting in the former
Soviet bloc, arranged alphabetically by physical form
box 1, folder 1
Appointment calendars, .
1990-1991
Conference, seminar, symposium, and workshop material.
Scope and Contents note
Includes related correspondence, memoranda, and other materials
box 1, folder 3
Human Dimension Seminar, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), Office for Democratic Institutions and
Human Rights (ODHIR), Warsaw, Poland, .
1993 November
box 1, folder 4
Symposium, "Government and Broadcasting," Bulgaria and Romania, .
1994 March
box 1, folder 5
Workshops, Bratislava and Prague, .
1994 April
box 1, folder 6
Budapest Review Conference, .
1994 June-July
box 1, folder 7
Hypothetical seminars in Hungary and Poland on the "Relations between the Government and the Media," .
1994 September 12-16
box 2, folder 1
Hypothetical seminars in Hungary and Poland on the "Relations between the Government and the Media," .
1994 September 12-16
Correspondence.
Scope and Contents note
Includes letters neither from nor to David Webster
box 2, folder 4
Beaird, Richard C., .
1992
box 2, folder 5
Carnegie Corporation of New York, .
1991-1992
box 2, folder 6
Center for the Study of Democracy, .
1993
box 2, folder 7
Eberhardt, Eva, .
1993-1995
box 2, folder 12
Pralong, Sandra, .
1995
Scope and Contents note
Includes memoranda and travel schedule
box 2, folder 14
Schmidt-Montfort, Sonja, .
1994
Financial records.
Scope and Contents note
Includes contracts, grant agreements, and related materials
box 2, folder 18
Commission of the European Communities (CEC), .
1996
box 2, folder 19
International Media Fund, .
1990-1991
box 2, folder 20
Markle Foundation, .
1992
box 2, folder 21-22
National Endowment for Democracy, .
1990-1995
box 2, folder 24
Memoranda, .
1992-1995
Scope and Contents note
Includes memoranda neither to nor from David Webster
box 2, folder 25
Minutes of meetings, .
1992-2001
Scope and Contents note
British Broadcasting Corporation, London, 1992 May 19-20; Regulatory meeting, Prague, Czech Republic, 1994 December 5; Meeting
on "Criminality and Control in the Digital World," The Hague, 1997 June 6-8; and Office of the Prime Minister, Sweden, 2001
July 6-7
box 3, folder 1
Annenberg Washington Program in Communications Policy Studies of Northwestern University and the Trans-Atlantic Dialogue on
European Broadcasting joint project on "Building Democracy: New Broadcasting Laws in East and Central Europe,"
n.d.
Scope and Contents note
Report prepared by David Webster
box 3, folder 2
Media Program in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), .
1995
Phare and Tacis Democracy Programme.
General note
See also box 6
box 3, folder 4-7
Applications, .
1992-1995
Scope and Contents note
Includes related materials
box 3, folder 8-9
Financial records, .
1993-2000
Scope and Contents note
Includes correspondence and other related materials
box 4, folder 3
Organizational records
n.d.
Phare Democracy Audit Project: Audit of the Media Legislation in East and Central Europe
box 4, folder 6
Application for funding, .
1995 April
box 4, folder 9
Report on Phare Democracy Project Implementation, .
1994
box 4, folder 10-11
Proposals, .
1992-1995
Scope and Contents note
Consists of proposals for European Satellite Consortium initiated by David Webster, and "Media Watch" for media monitoring
in East and Central Europe, presented to OMRI in conjunction with Democracy Works
box 4, folder 12
Reports, .
1989-1994
Scope and Contents note
Consists of report on the goals and accomplishments of Trans-Atlantic Dialogue and report on Albanian visit by Daniel Brenner
box 4, folder 13
Testimony by David Webster, Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance, U.S. House of Representatives, .
1989 July 26
Scope and Contents note
Typescript
box 4, folder 14
"Broadcasting in Europe and America: The Old Order Passeth," remarks, Belgium, .
1991 April 11
Scope and Contents note
Typescript
box 4, folder 15
Building Free and Independent Media, Freedom Paper Series, .
1992 August
Scope and Contents note
Printed copy
Soros Foundation File
1991-1994
Scope and Contents note
Correspondence, financial records, and files on projects in Central and Eastern Europe and Russia reflecting the foundation's
policy of promoting openness in societies, arranged alphabetically by physical form
box 5, folder 1
Correspondence, .
1991-1994
box 5, folder 2
Financial records, .
1991
Project file, .
1991-1993
box 5, folder 3
Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Crimea, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzsia, and Moldavia
box 5, folder 4
Romania, Soviet Union, Slovenia, and Yugoslavia
File on Organizations
1991-1995
Scope and Contents note
Clippings and printed matter, correspondence, itinerary, memoranda, notes, press release, proposal, report, speech, and statement,
relating to activities of organizations promoting democracy, human rights, and independent media, arranged alphabetically
by organization name
box 6, folder 2
Council of Europe, .
1991-1993
box 6, folder 4
Independent Journalism Foundation
n.d.
box 6, folder 5-6
Independent Media in Europe
n.d.
box 6, folder 7
Institute for Constitutional and Legislative Policy: The Central European University, .
1993
box 6, folder 8
Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe, .
1995
box 6, folder 9
International Society for Human Rights (ISHR), .
1993
box 6, folder 10
National Forum Foundation
n.d.
box 6, folder 11
U.S. Agency for International Development
1995
Computer Disk
1995
Scope and Contents note
One 3.5-inch, 2 MB computer disk containing six documents. All documents are versions of "Guidelines for 1995 Phare and Tacis
Democracy Programme" in various languages and file formats, which have been printed and filed in this series
box 6, folder 12
One 3.5 inch, 2 MB computer disk
box 6, folder 13-14
"Guidelines for 1995 Phare and Tacis Democracy Programme," .
1995
General note
See also box 3
Scope and Contents note
Documents printed from computer disk.