Criticisms of the one-way flow of international information were first voiced in the 1940s, when, in the name of free flow of information and worldwide access to news, the United States launched an offensive to dismantle European news cartels. At a UNESCO conference in 1945, the United States was chiefly responsible for making the free flow of information a UNESCO objective; it has remained one ever since. The first UNESCO reference to a change in western control of information was made in 1969 following an influx of developing nations into the organization, when resentments bred by information flow imbalances spawned a series of proposals to correct them. It is observed that western discussion of this new world information order has generally been couched in Cold War rhetoric, including charges that the proposals are Soviet inspired and supported. U. S. news agencies and journalistic organizations have led this opposition, pressuring the U. S. government to air its views to UNESCO. Although Third World arguments today resemble those used to indict the European cartels in the 1940s, the U. S. media neither treat the debate objectively nor acknowledge criticism of their position. It is normal for the U. S. media and government to be reluctant to support a course that, though just, seems to counter their economic and political interests. But if America is to maintain and expand its trade and political influence in developing countries, it has to be more sensitive to their problems than it has been in the New World Information Order debate. (HTH)