Register of the David James Webster papers

Finding aid prepared by Aparna Mukherjee

Hoover Institution Library and Archives

434 Galvez Mall

Stanford University

Stanford, CA 94305-6003

hoover-library-archives@stanford.edu

URL: http://www.hoover.org/library-and-archives

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 2

General, . 1992-1994

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 2

General, . 1990-1994

box 2, folder 3

AMWAB, . 1993

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 8

Harartzi, Miklos n.d.

box 2, folder 9

Jarrett, Bob, . 1994

box 2, folder 10

Lake, Anthony, . 1994

box 2, folder 11

Mosher, Fritz, . 1992

box 2, folder 12

Pralong, Sandra, . 1995

Scope and Contents note

Includes memoranda and travel schedule

box 2, folder 13

Price, Gareth n.d.

box 2, folder 14

Schmidt-Montfort, Sonja, . 1994

box 2, folder 15

Talbott, Strobe, . 1994

box 2, folder 16

Willard, Richard, . 1995

Financial records.

Scope and Contents note

Includes contracts, grant agreements, and related materials

box 2, folder 17

General, . 1994

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 23

Lists n.d.

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

Program file

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