Namen prispevka je umestitev poročila Mednarodne komisije za proučevanje komunikacijskih problemov Mnogo glasov, en svet (bolj znano kot MacBridovo poročilo), v zgodovinski, družbeni, političnoekonomski in intelektualni kontekst njegovega nastanka. Poročilo velja za eno najpomembnejših intervencij na področju mednarodnega komuniciranja, ki si je za cilj zastavilo zmanjševanje neenakosti v dostopu do komunikacijskih sredstev tako med državami kot znotraj držav. Prispevek izhaja iz predpostavke, da sta kritična misel in poizkus njenega prenosa v praktične rešitve neizogibno pogojena s širšim družbenim kontekstom. To se kaže tako v primeru MacBridovega poročila kot tudi v razvoju politične ekonomije komuniciranja, ki je tvorila temelje za pobudo za novo svetovno informacijsko in komunikacijsko ureditev, katere najpomembnejši dokument je prav MacBridovo poročilo. The aim of this article is to situate the report of the International Commission for the Study of Communication Problems Many Voices, One World (more commonly known as the MacBride report) within its historic, social, political-economic and intellectual context. The report is regarded as one of the seminal interventions in the field of international communication, and aimed to reduce inequalities in the access to means of communication between countries as well as within them. The article argues that critical thought and its practical application are necessarily conditioned by the wider social context. This is evident in the case of the MacBride report as well as in the development of political economy of communication, which formed the basis of the call for a New World Information and Communication Order and of its most important document, the MacBride report.