The concept of the right to communicate has emerged from discussion of the freedom of information. It has emerged because that debate failed to resolve the issue; so, part of the purpose of the introduction of a new concept is to approach the problem from another base. The replacement of one term by another seemed dangerous until the discussions in 1975, when it became apparent that the concept of the right to communicate is genuine. This brief examination of the right to communicate leads to two courses of action. The first is to develop a wide range of research programs in which the problems of communication systems will be clarified. The second is to set policies that will be directed toward a better understanding among nations of the role of communication in modernizing the developing world. This second task seems of greater urgency.