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.
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. Whether it is writing about the Kunming-Hai Phong railway, delving into perceptions by young Vietnamese and Cambodians of each other’s countries, or analysing the impact of border economic zones, they sought to open their own news borders -- by looking at the other side of issues, going beyond usual national perspectives, and stepping far beyond familiar territory and languages.
These writers and photojournalists were fellows in the 5th cycle (2006-07) of the annual Imaging Our Mekong media programme (www.newsmekong.org). This book is the fifth compilation of articles and photo essays published by IPS Asia-Pacific news. ‘Opening Borders: Reportage from Our Mekong’ also has a set of feature articles on avian flu.
The annual Mekong fellowship programme, which has worked with some 185 journalists since 2002, is undertaken by IPS Asia-Pacific together with Probe Media Foundation Inc with support from the Rockefeller Foundation South-east Asia.
Previous publications and outputs of the Imaging Our Mekong series can be seen at: http://www.newsmekong.org/products
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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