One Region, Many Voices
IMAGING OUR MEKONG is annual fellowship programme for journalists who work in print media, photojournalism and television and are nationals of the Mekong countries. The programme, which began in 2002, is jointly implemented by two Southern-based media organisations -- Probe Media Foundation Inc and IPS Asia-Pacific Center Foundation Inc. It is supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, with partial support over the years from the Japan Foundation, Oxfam America (East Asia), the Open Society Institute (Zug) and UNICEF East Asia and the Pacific (Avian Flu Series of the Imaging Our Mekong programme, 2007-08 cycle).
Perspectives
by Lia Sciortino
Perspectives
Mekong Media Makeover
Not so long ago, adjectives like “staid” and “predictable” were used to describe the state-controlled media of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), and Viet Nam.
Q & A: ‘Publishing Books Isn’t Like Making Instant Noodles’
The book publishing process can be tedious and take years, test the patience of author, editor and publisher, and involve concerns ranging from how interesting the topic is to the weight and colour of the paper used in printing the final product.
A Healthy Mekong River is Priceless
BANGKOK, Dec 4 - The timeless rhythm of the Mekong’s seasonal cycles has nourished and inspired the peoples of the region for millennia. Many rural peoples’ lives and cultures are intimately tied to the river’s health. Even residents of the region’s bustling cities, whose lives appear more distanced from the river, are linked by the cultural richness it spawns.
Reading Media
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’.
Events
Top Stories
Thai Tourism Survives Bird flu
BANGKOK - The airlines and five-star hotels appear to be fully booked, the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Reclining Buddha are filled with visitors and the night market in the Patpong red-light district is crowded. These scenes here in the Thai capital convey the message that the worst fears that bird flu would seriously hurt tourist arrivals into the country did not really happen.
Cockfighting Continues, Legally or Otherwise
KAMPONG CHAM, Cambodia - Roosters flapping their wings furiously, lunging at each other with the sharp spurs on their legs and feathers flying about, amid the backdrop of roaring crowds – this is a common scene in many a cockpit in Cambodia.
Avian Flu: Far Yet Near
Whether in Bangkok or in Beijing, many people in the Mekong region find avian flu something far removed from their everyday lives. Yet the signs are all around, as the disease, which affects animals and humans, continues to spread in the region.
HEALTH-ASIA: Harried by Sporadic Bird Flu Outbreaks
BANGKOK, Dec 21 (IPS) - New cases of avian influenza across Asia in recent weeks confirm warnings that the deadly virus still lurks in the region and raise questions of gaps in efforts to contain it in affected communities.
Documentaries
Chicken Smuggling
At the Vietnam-China frontier area, authorities spend sleepless nights. The place is a hotspot for smugglers, especially those who illegally transport chicken from China to Vietnam via different roads.
To make this daring documentary, Le Thi Thoa and Bui Tuan Linh pretended to be tourists and interviewed an illegal transporter who guided them through the dark and complicated world of chicken smugglers.
VIETNAM: On the Trail of Smugglers
At the Vietnam-China frontier area, authorities spend sleepless nights. The place is a hotspot for smugglers, especially those who illegally transport chicken from China to Vietnam via different roads.
To make this daring documentary, Le Thi Thoa and Bui Tuan Linh pretended to be tourists and interviewed an illegal transporter who guided them through the dark and complicated world of chicken smugglers.
What’s more alarming than the illegality of the act is the possibility that these law breakers are facilitating the spreading of the H5N1 virus or avian flu.
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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What's New
Coming in December! Mekong Media Forum
Coming in December!
Mekong Media Forum
BANGKOK - How have economic integration and openness shaped the media environment in the Mekong region? What do audiences expect in the age of more openness? What changes in press laws and access to information have taken place in the last 15 years?
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.
News from the Mekong
China Pulling Southeast Asia into Its Orbit
BEIJING, May 1 (Newsmekong) - The global financial crisis is proving a boon for a resurgent China, which is poised to exert ever greater influence in Southeast Asia.
China Makes Deep Inroads into Cambodia
SISOPHON, Cambodia, Apr 10 (Newsmekong) – Chem Hout sits at the Maxxi coffee shop on a busy thoroughfare in this rural town of western Cambodia, waiting for the school bus to drop off his nine-year-old son. When the mini-bus eventually pulls by, it carries the Chinese characters for the local Chinese bilingual school – the enviable choice of Chem and other parents who can afford to send their children there.
Mekong Media Roundup
VIETNAM: Guidelines Seek to Assist Trafficked Women and Children
HANOI - Trafficked women and children would receive more help to return to Vietnam and integrate back into society with the release of ministry guidelines on effective use of the law, a press conference was told here on June 27.
LAOS: More Illegal Migrants Volunteer to Return Home
VIENTIANE - A group of 837 illegal Lao migrants arrived in Vientiane on June 22 after spending years suffering in Thai detention camps.
THAILAND: Land mines Threaten Elephants
Thailand - More than 100 elephants hauling logs on the Thai-Burmese border are in constant danger, as one step in the wrong direction could injure or even kill them.
THAILAND: Landmines Threaten Elephants
MAE SOT, Thailand - More than 100 elephants hauling logs on the Thai-Burmese border are in constant danger, as one step in the wrong direction could injure or even kill them.
CAMBODIA: Chinese Language Courses Popular
PHNOM PENH - While English remains the most popular foreign language among students in Cambodia, Chinese, Japanese and Korean are fast catching up as young Khmers increasingly view them as a gateway to better jobs in the country’s growing industrial and tourism sectors.