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14:23, August 09, 2007 |
BOAO: An imbalance in global reporting is leading to the world being bombarded with the language of the White House, a senior media expert said here at the weekend.
Phrases such as "weapons of mass destruction" and "war on terror" are commonly used by people around the globe these years, but they had their origins in White House documents, Li Xiguang, an expert in international media studies with Tsinghua University who was attending the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), said.
He said that the dominance of Western reporting meant that important human rights stories, such as the spread of HIV, world poverty and children''s issues, were being neglected.
Speaking at a session entitled "Asian Media Integration", co-sponsored by the BFA and China Daily, Li said that media integration would lead only to the concentration of services within fewer media empires in fewer countries.
A truly free media should be a diversity of voices and cultures to ensure the voices of weaker nations are heard, he said.
Li''s view was shared by many panelists at the session.
Rivindra Kumar, editor and managing director of India''s The Statesman newspaper, said: "Global media reporting needs a local perspective, so that we at least get an Asian point of view on the news that is covered."
While Asian countries account for 60 percent of the world''s population, almost two-thirds of the information flow comes from the developed world, reducing the Asian voice to barely a whisper.
Other panelists said that as Asia has the fastest growing economies in the world and has provided the engine for global economic development, it deserves better media coverage by news organizations in the region.
Liu Jiang, vice-editor-in-chief of the Xinhua News Agency, said: "The voice of Asian people asking for peace, development and cooperation should be heard through our media reports."
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