Perspectives
by Lia Sciortino
Perspectives
China’s PR Problem Rears Its Head
Johanna Son
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CHIANG MAI, Dec 11 (TerraViva/IPS Asia-Pacific) - Powerful neighbour. A rising power. Old friend. Big, secretive investor. Big boy of the region.
These were some of the terms participants at a talk-show format discussion at the Mekong Media Forum used when asked to share the images of China they get from the media.
Reading Media
Johanna Son
BANGKOK -- Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia. What images might these words conjure up in the minds of international consumers of news? Perhaps war, maybe the Khmer Rouge. Or they might say, ‘Oh, it’s that those countries that had that war some time ago. . . they’re near one another, and they’re all the same’.
China: Benign Bully of the Mekong?
Johanna Son
SYDNEY, Oct 3 (IPS Asia-Pacific) – Over the last decade or so, China’s deft use of soft power has seen South-east Asian neighbours’ view of it change from a looming threat to a largely friendly, if still imposing, giant to the north.
News from the Mekong
Yang Kun: A Life Well Lived
His dreams for filmmakers in the Mekong region. His role in opening the eyes of communities in his native Yunnan to the power of video. His generous insights as a mentor. His crinkly, smiling eyes and his sense of fun.
Obituary: Our Cheerful Phet
Lao television journalist Souvannaphet Champhone or ‘Phet’, a fellow in the ‘Imaging Our Mekong’ programme, passed away on Jul. 26, 2009. He had liver cancer.
Top Stories
Bauxite Plan Stirs Worries in Vietnam, PM Speaks Up
By Tran Dinh Thanh Lam
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, May 7 (Newsmekong) - While investors and their opponents argue the pros and cons of an ambitious plan to mine bauxite deposits in Vietnam’s Central Highlands region, life for the tea and coffee farmers in nearby towns has already become a whole lot more complicated.
Quietly, Worried Lao Villagers Debate Dam Impact
E Souk
VIENTIANE, Apr 2 (Newsmekong) - On the banks of a remote section of the Mekong River in southern Laos, an area known as Siphandone, villagers quietly debate the question, which is more important to Laos: fisheries or building dams?
Cooperation, the Other Side of Competition
Duong Quang
Vietnam has long aimed to overtake Thailand as the world’s top rice exporter, but it faces a number of challenges, including the creation of internationally recognised rice brands, before it can attain this goal.
LAOS-THAILAND: Deeper, Better Links
Vayorath Xayasomroth
Laos and Thailand have agreed on the construction of a third and fourth Friendship Bridge over the Mekong River. Thailand remains Laos’ largest trading partner, and the two countries benefit from tourists and visitors who go their border areas, especially where travel is easy. Already linked by land, air and water, a new bus route was added in early 2008 between the Lao capital Vientiane and the north-eastern city of Khon Kaen in Thailand.
Products
6th Mekong Book Now Off the Press
Whether it's a story about how rubber plantations are taking root at the China-Laos border, how Thai is having an impact on the Lao language, or the use of harmful fishing methods in Cambodia and Vietnam, all the features and photo essays in 'Changing Borders: Reportage from Our Mekong; follow the changes that have been taking place as countries in the Mekong Region deepen their cross-border links with one another.
Opening Borders: Reportage from Our Mekong (2007, 237 pp)
'Opening Borders: Reportage from Our Mekong' (237 pp, 2008), the fifth book in the Imaging Our Mekong series, is now off the press.
The phrase ‘Opening Borders’, which appears in this book’s title, also describes what the 21 journalists whose work appear here were doing while reporting on issues that link at least two countries in the Mekong Region.
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 IPS Asia-Pacific
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Mekong's Avian Flu
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What's New
Mekong ICT Camp 2010
The Mekong ICT Camp (http://mekongict.org), a biannual training workshop on information, communication, and technologies for citizen media, community health, and civil society practitioners in Mekong subregion, is accepting applications until Mar. 31, 2010. Participants are welcome from the Mekong countries, including Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.
COMING SOON: 'TALKING GENDER IN THE MEKONG MEDIA'
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BANGKOK - Do media organisations in the Mekong Region think that gender sensitivity, including giving voices to women, is part of doing better stories? How do they define it within the context of their societies and how do they report on different genders and sexuality? Do they include the use of gender-friendly language in their stylebooks and training programmes? How much is using a gender lens a news habit?