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.
CROSSING BORDERS: REPORTAGE FROM OUR MEKONG (2006, 192 pp)
Borders in the Mekong Region evoke journeys, which is what this book invites us to explore.'Crossing Borders: Reportage from Our Mekong' brings readers to the countries where China's aid and investment programmes are going, to places like Luang Prabang, Hoi An and Xishuangbanna where culture collides with tourism, to societies where monks are going beyond the temples to take up social causes, and to border areas where the smuggling of goods and the sex trade meet.
This book is the fourth compilation of articles and photo essays on transboundary issues in the Mekong Region, done by 17 journalists who spent weeks in villages and towns, taking planes, boats and buses, to tell their stories.
These journalists are fellows who have completed the 'Imaging Our Mekong' media fellowship programme for 2005-06. This annual programme, which has worked with more than 140 journalists, is undertaken by Inter Press Service Asia-Pacific, together with Probe Media Foundation Inc.
For information about purchasing the book, please write ipsasia@newsmekong.org
Previous books: Invisible Borders: Reportage from Our Mekong (2003), Exploring Borders (2004), Bustling Borders: Reportage from Our Mekong (2005).
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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