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.
2007 Imaging Our Mekong DVD Set
From documentaries that delve into issues of ethnicity to transboundary roads and infrastructure projects, to television features on avian flu, the works compiled in the Imaging Our Mekong 2007 DVD set look at what links the countries of the Mekong Region together.
The Imaging Our Mekong 2007 DVD is the latest compilation of the works of the television fellows under the 5th cycle (2006-07) of the Imaging Our Mekong media fellowship programme.
The contents of the DVD include:
• 'Dream Makers', Boualay Phanouvong, Lao PDR
• 'A Ti's Home', Zhang Xiao Meng, China
• 'Shanda's Family', Dang Thi Huong Giang and Nguyen Quang Sang, Vietnam
• 'The Sticky Rice Container', Boungneun Phetchampa and Simmany Keokene, Lao PDR
• 'A Chinese Veteran and the Mekong River', Ou Yang Bin and Yang Hua, China
• 'Two Routes Along the River', Sun Min, China
• 'Highway No. 9: The Way of Changes', Siwattra Tiang Rojrat and Khomsunti Thongmak, Thailand
• 'Life in Laiza', Lanau Roi Aung, Myanmar
• 'Human Zoo', Ko Ko Gyi, Myanmar
• 'Life Without a Choice', Sokhayouk Prak and Kong Sideth, Cambodia
'AVIAN FLU IN THE MEKONG'
- Prom Vicheth Sophea, Cambodia
- Vo Ngoc Van Quan, Vietnam
- Zhu Yan, China
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?
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