How to Make Asia’s Voice Louder Around the Globe
By Qu Yingpu
Deputy Editor-in-chief of China Daily
I once heard a story I would like to share here: In the town of Biratnagar in the Nepali terai - where the north Indian plains meet the foothills of the Himalayas - students were debating the impact of satellite TV on their lives.
One boy said: “I don't like Star movies and Channel V. The life shown on these channels is far removed from the reality of our own country. Because of these channels, Nepali girls have started wearing short skirts.”
“I think films are much more dangerous to society,” replied a girl. “Nepali boys are very quick at imitating. That's why we see boys wearing earrings, bandanas on their heads and teasing girls.”
It may not be a pleasant story, but is probably a fair reflection of the current state of Asian media.
Asia is the fastest growing economic region in the world with a large population and abundant natural resources. According to the statistics from the World Bank, in 2005, the economies in this region continued to grow at a steady pace of 8.2 percent and continued at about the same rate in the first half of 2006. Since the early 1990s, Asia’s vitality has been boosted by regional cooperation, such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations（ASEAN）.
However, the development of Asian media does not reflect its economic dynamism. Asian countries account for 60 percent of the world's population, but almost two-thirds of the information flow comes from the developed world, reducing the Asian voice to barely a whisper. Developments in the media industry have been led largely by Western countries, whose international presence has overshadowed much of the Asia-Pacific media.
I think Asia, as the fastest growing economy in the world and the engine for global economic development，deserves better media coverage by news organizations in the region and around the globe.
This paper is organized in two chapters. The first section reviews what implications global media integration will have on Asia. The second looks at ways to make he Asian media voice louder throughout the world.
Section One: What implications will the global media integration have on Asia media?
Global media integration means the concentration of the press in fewer and fewer corporate hands and in a few countries. New communication technologies have made it possible for media giants to enter the lucrative Asian market to establish powerful distribution and production networks. It will have serious and progressive repercussions not only on Asian media but also on cultural, social and economic development.
In many cases, media institutions survive on advertising revenues, which can lead to the media outlet being influenced by various corporate interests. At the same time, ownership interests may affect what is and is not covered. Stories can end up being biased or omitted so as not to offend advertisers or owners. When global media companies enter Asian countries, the attempt of building a new image of Asia will be in the control of Western media powerhouses. The voice of weak countries will never be heard.
It is about time for the Asian media to act together to prevent this from happening -- like Singapore's media regulations that disallow a single foreign entity from holding more than 3 per cent of a Singaporean media company. Otherwise, Asian media will be gobbled up like a McDonald's Big Breakfast by Western interests.
Section Two：How to make the Asian Media Voice Louder?
Asia is a politically and culturally diverse continent, where we can find reforming and developing communist countries next door to some of the most successful capitalist countries in the world. And no one or two religions dominate the continent. It is hard to assume Asian media’s success by imitating their Western counterparts. Here I illustrate four proposes which may lead Asian media to a potent medium to express the voice of the Asian community in the global exchange of views.
1. Don’t always blame Asia’s media climate
I always hear complaints about China’s media environment: Reporters are constrained from expressing what they truly believe, the government lords it over the industry with policy directives and draconian regulations, and the dissemination of foreign information on the Chinese mainland is severely circumscribed.
Citing these facts, however, may obscure the more important story about changes in China's media environment. Through a combination of government initiative and unintended consequences of economic reform, the Chinese media environment is being transformed to one in which state-employed media managers have more autonomy in making decisions, the images and ideas to which Chinese are exposed are increasing and a greater role for private capital is being carved out. The new media environment is one of lively radio talk shows, less inhibited press coverage, live television broadcasts, greater imports of foreign media products and the growth of advertising.
Like in China, the improvement of Asian media climate is not likely to be happen overnight. Yet the movement has been toward greater openness, and that seems likely to continue. A reduction of government subsidies to state-owned media enterprises and the emergence of a commercial mindset among media managers are undercutting government control and contributing to the development of a quasi-independent media. As Asia goes ahead with its economic reforms and becomes further integrated into the international market economy, and as new technologies, such as mobile phones and the Internet are used more widely, media environment changes will continue.
2. Develop Asia’s own forms of journalism
A study examined the claim that Asian journalism is essentially different from Western journalism through a comparative study of Channel News Asia (CNA), an international news channel operated by a Singapore company, and CNN. It analyzed the news bulletins aired by the 2 stations in their special news programs on Asia during 4 weeks over a 6-month period in 2000. The results show that despite its objective of presenting an Asian perspective in its newscasts, CNA is not significantly different from CNN. Both stations tended to focus on crises and conflicts in their news coverage of Asia. The findings indicate that being Asian does not automatically enable Asian journalists and media to present news about Asia in a way significantly different from their Western counterparts.
Western media powerhouses have advanced technology and concepts which have long been accepted as the ideal with hardly any doubt throughout Asia. Developing Asia’s own form of journalism is the way out of the dilemma of being beaten by Western media. There are three steps we could follow:
First, by accepting that there are truths beyond those put out by AP or Reuters. Second, by fine-tuning skills to communicate those truths effectively. Third, by identifying – and exploiting – areas of interest to its receivers.
3、 Utilize digital media
Asian media have undergone dramatic development and change in the past decade. The growth of the Internet and other digital media has opened up exciting opportunities for Asian mainstream media. The Internet will give Asian media the leverage over Western interests. It enables Asian media to expand their coverage beyond Asia. For example: The China Daily website was China’s first news website at the time of its launch in December 1995 and it remains one of the country’s top news portals today. By providing easy access to a wide range of news, business information, photos and syndicated cartoons, chinadaily.com.cn has grown into an influential source of information for people at home and abroad. Published in English and Chinese and attracting 6 million pageviews a day, chinadaily.com.cn serves as an online bridge between China and the rest of the world. The Internet is like the fine art of Judo. You may be weaker than your opponent, but by developing and adopting the right skills at the right time, you can overthrow a Goliath.
4、Form Alliances
This global trend would also encourage media in Asia to forge closer cooperation among them, like with the Asia News Network (ANN). Eight years ago, the birth of ANN marked the validity and strength of Asian media acting together. The Asia News Network is a network of national daily newspapers published in Asian cities, organized to provide avenues for cooperation and to optimize coverage of major news events in the region. Eight years have passed, the network’s membership has grown from 7 to 16 newspapers, representing 12 nations that cover about half of the world’s population. The best way for Asian media to cope with the seductive tug of global media integration is for it to integrate, and to report Asia, if not always objectively, then with a subjectivity quite different from that of Western media practitioners. This trend will continue to happen, and will help strengthen Asian media positioning in the global market.
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