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Title: David James Webster papers,
Date (inclusive): 1989-2001
Collection number: 2004C5
Creator:
Webster, David, 1931-
Extent:
6 manuscript boxes
(2.5 linear feet)
Repository:
Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace
Stanford, California 94305-6010
Abstract: Correspondence, reports, and memoranda, relating to post-communist era radio and television broadcasting in Eastern Europe.
Language:
English.
Collection is open for research.
The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to
copies of audiovisual items. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos or films during your visit, please contact the Archives
at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see
or hear. Please note that not all audiovisual material is immediately accessible.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives.
[Identification of item], David James Webster papers, [Box no.], Hoover Institution Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives in 2004.
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find
the collection in Stanford University's online catalog at
http://searchworks.stanford.edu/ . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in the online catalog is larger than the number
of boxes listed in this finding aid.
| 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 | Director of Public Affairs, British Broadcasting Corporation |
| Member, Board of Management, 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 | Senior Fellow, Annenberg Washington Program on Communication Policy Studies |
| Director, Annenberg International Disaster Communications Project | |
| 1988- | Founder and Chairman, Trans-Atlantic Dialogue on European Broadcasting |
| 2003 August 6 | Died, Washington, D.C. |
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.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the repository's online public access catalog.
Trans-Atlantic Dialogue on European Broadcasting (Organization)
Radio broadcasting--Europe, Eastern.
Television broadcasting--Europe, Eastern.