Asia Pacific Media Educator

Call for papers - issue #21

Eric Loo — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 16:56:26 PDT

Race and religion. Gender discrimination. Poverty. Economic disparities. Class struggles. What we knew and how we understood these global issues during the preinternet days were what the international news agencies reported. Journalism students and educators in developing countries essentially saw the world through the eyes of the Western (predominantly ‘American’) media. Key research themes and discourses in the 60s and 70s were dominated by terms such as ‘media hegemony’, ‘propaganda’, ‘cultural imperialism’, ‘manufacturing consent’, ‘agenda setting’, ‘four theories of the press’, ‘new world information and communication order’, ‘development communication’, ‘development journalism’, and so forth.

Journalism textbooks on international communication and methods of reporting global issues were at that time limited to US-based journalism textbooks and practical notes provided by itinerant journalism professors - mainly from the United States, who would spend a semester or two sharing their stories and experiences with local students. That was the extent that journalism schools in post-colonial Asia imbued some sense of ‘global perspectives’ to its curriculum and among its local faculty staff.

Today, online access to media news sites and news events as they are breaking anytime anywhere is reshaping journalism’s locality once limited by geography and time. Disparate worlds of thoughts and communities are being connected by imageries and stories written by (professional and amateur) journalists from anywhere anytime and uploaded to websites for global readership. Are curriculum contents, research directions and discourse in journalism education and training in Asia keeping pace with the ‘glocalising’ of the news environment? How are journalism educators preparing their students for a ‘glocalised’ media market?

In this thematic issue, Asia Pacific Media Educator aims to map the trends, constraints and challenges of ‘glocalising’ the teaching and training of journalism in the Asia-Pacific region. APME is inviting submissions of 300 to 350-word abstract for consideration of a full paper for peer-review on the following topics:

• Analysing trends in journalism education, demographics of journalism faculty and profiles of journalism schools in developing countries.
• Evaluating and ranking the quality of journalism education, institution’s technological capabilities, student and program performance.
• Promoting professional journalism training and critical journalism studies relevant to media in developing countries.
• Approaches to global-oriented journalism education and training.
• Constraints, incentives and opportunities in ‘internationalising’ journalism education and how the quality of teaching and training may be improved.
• Providing students with learning opportunities to look at community issues and affairs in ‘glocal’ contexts.
• Enhancing the cultural and ‘global’ literacy of journalism students, their readiness for the profession upon graduation.
• Facilitating dialogue between different journalism schools and traditions of journalism teaching.
• Developing cross-cultural and comparative journalism research.

Contributors are welcome to submit other abstracts that relate to the broader theme.

Deadlines are as follows:

• Abstract of 300-350 words: May 15, 2011
• Full paper for peer review: July 30
• Peer review period: July to August
• Submission of revised paper: October 30

The word lengths for full papers are:
• Commentaries (3000 to 3500 words)
• Research papers (not exceeding 6,000 words inclusive of references and endnotes).
• Q&A with journalists and book authors (not exceeding 3,000 words)

Please email abstracts to the Editor, Eric Loo (eloo@uow.edu.au) at the Faculty of Creative Arts, University of Wollongong, Australia.

This issue will be co-edited with Dr C.S.H.N.Murthy, Associate Professor in Mass Communication and Journalism, Department of Mass Communication and Journalism School of Humanities and Social Sciences Tezpur University, Napaam, India.

Background of Asia Pacific Media Educator

Asia Pacific Media Educator (APME) is a refereed journal published annually by the Faculty of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia. The first issue was published in 1996. APME is ranked ‘B’ by the Excellence for Research in Australia (ERA) board of the Australian Research Council. Which places APME in the top 30% of international refereed journals in related disciplines.

APME aims to generate dialogue among media educators, researchers and practitioners by publishing their analysis of media production and texts, journalism practice and innovations in journalism education and training. It will consider for publication original articles based on applied research that generates critical questions and examines media issues through comparative frameworks.

Commentaries and research papers should aim to challenge the conventions of journalism education and training, and provide practical ideas on improving the standard and currency of media reportage and media training.

Commentary: Pending crises: Crisis journalism and SARS in Australia

Terence Lee — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:23:51 PST

This commentary examines the broad discourse of crises and crisis reporting/journalism in Australia (and parts of Southeast Asia) during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome health crisis of 2003. It looks at how definitions of crisis/es and crisis journalism were invoked in media reports and broader discourse around the mysterious illness, which was eventually termed ‘SARS’. It then considers how Australia and the Australian media, although not a country closely affected as far as victims or casualties were concerned, dealt with SARS. This, we suggest, holds insights for journalism practitioners and researchers in the wayhow we approach and think about crises, especially health crises.

Commentary: Words matter: Journalists, educators, media guidelines and representation of disability

Shawn Burns — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:23:51 PST

A four-letter word starting with ‘c’, and “humour” have served to reinforce the message – words matter. In June 2010, individual but disturbingly similar cases of racism rocked leading sporting codes and organisations in Australia - the National Rugby League (NRL) and the Australian Football League (AFL). Two former champion Australian sportsmen – one a recently retired rugby league star, Andrew Johns, and the other, a former Australian rules heavyweight, Mal Brown –were at the centre of a debate about words and, more importantly, the power of words. Johns was accused of racial vilification while serving as an assistant coach to the NSW State of Origin rugby league team. Johns admitted to using a racial slur against Queensland opposition team member, Greg Inglis.

One incident, two stories: News coverage of the Sino-US mid-air collision

Jiang Jinlong — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:23:50 PST

This study examined media bias in covering international conflicts through a comparison of People’s Daily and The New York Times’s coverage of the 2001 incident in which a US surveillance plane collided with a Chinese fighter off China’s coast. Through a content analysis of 137 news reports and commentaries from People’s Daily and 81 from The New York Times on the incident, this study shows that despite differences between the two newspapers in terms of their political and media environments and journalistic traditions, they were not significantly different in terms of journalistic bias in covering the incident. Both papers were echoing their own government’s stand, and effectively facilitating the implementation of the diplomatic and political agenda of their own government.

Commentary: Media in the UAE: The Abu Dhabi powerhouse

Alma Kadragic — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:23:49 PST

On April 17, 2008 the first issue of The National was published in Abu Dhabi, which was possibly the last startup of a major daily newspaper in the world. Top journalists were recruited from the UK, US and Canada. Founding editor-in-chief Martin Newland had previously edited the UK's Daily Telegraph and was deputy editor for the startup of Canada's National Post. Hassan Fattah, former Middle East correspondent for the New York Times, became deputy editor under Newland and replaced him 14 months after the launch. High salaries were paid to attract stars, including GBP320,000 (about USD512,000) annually to Newland, discovered when salaries were leaked en masse to an internet site. A state of the art convergence newsroom was created complete with news management software and a wheel and spoke layout for editors and sections. From the beginning the paper's website included video and additional digital content.

The development reporting outline

Warief Djajanto Basorie — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:23:48 PST

Reporters are commonly criticized for their incomplete reporting. One way to produce a comprehensive report is to approach an assignment with a methodical plan. The reporting outline is such a plan whereby for journalists to think through six components: the theme, the topic, reference material, sources, angles, and questions. The Jakarta-based Dr. Soetomo Press Institute (Lembaga Pers Dr. Soetomo, LPDS) has conducted numerous journalism workshops throughout Indonesia. A common observation from these workshops is that often news stories in the local press are not comprehensive. A tell-tale sign of inadequate reporting effort is the questions readers ask about the substance after reading the report. Not only are major facts missing, but essential details are missing as well. In covering a local fire, for instance, it is insufficient to report where and when it took place, what damage it caused and who were the victims. The report is still incomplete even after learning how the fire started. Beyond the dry and humdrum basic facts, the reporter must be proactively curious and socially sensitive to pursue also the human side of the story. How has the fire affected individual victims and the community as a whole? Have people lost livelihoods and not just living space? What help are the victims getting? Why was the fire not preventable? How well did the local fire department extinguish the fire?

Commentary: Applying Aristotelian rhetoric in teaching ‘social responsibility’ to advertising students

Janice Wood — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:23:47 PST

Advertising is a highly visible business activity aimed at enticing potential customers to try new products and services. In the United States, advertising is monitored by the federal, state, and local governments, better business bureaus, the media, consumer groups, other advertisers, and the advertising industry itself – and criticized by all concerned. Overall, the common goals are to maximize the effectiveness of the commercials for the respective advertisers and minimize the negative impact on the American public. “Social responsibility” in advertising, as defined broadly in a popular textbook, involves “doing what society views as best for the welfare of people in general or for a specific community of people,” distinguishing it from the more specific term, “ethical advertising.” The latter, described as “doing what the advertiser and the advertisers believe is morally right in a given situation,” is paired in this book and others like it with a code of ethics or a list of practices condoned or condemned by the Federal Trade Commission or other regulatory agency.

Commentary: Journalism education and the reality of journalism practice

Judith Clarke — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:23:46 PST

A graduate of our journalism course joined a local Hong Kong paper as a reporter. He was sent to write a story about an elderly mainland Chinese couple who regularly overstayed their two-week tourist permits to run a quilt shop in Kowloon. They would come across the border for the good business season before the lunar new year and go back when things quietened down, with border officials apparently turning a blind eye. A small story, with a little guilt for the reporter because he was instructed by his editor to tell the pair he was actually promoting their shop. But he was as surprised as the couple were when he found himself later assigned, along with a photographer, to cover the “exclusive” story of their arrest – the editor had called the immigration authorities, who swooped on the shop and took them away.

Q&A with John McManus, media ‘bull detector’

Eric Loo — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:23:45 PST

MSNBC is pro-Obama, Fox News is anti. ABC is ‘neutral’, CNN is less so. Fox supports the war in Iraq, MSNBC opposes it. The Obama Administration prefers MSNBC to Fox, just as Bush prefers Fox to the New York Times. Indeed, the media are as politically biased as their editorial contents do not align with one’s politics. Hence, the liberals’ preference for PBS, CBS and New York Times in the coverage of the Obama presidential campaign than Fox News. Or, in my case, Malaysiakini, Malaysian Insider and Malaysia Today for critical coverage of Malaysian affairs than the mainstream papers, such as The Star or the New Straits Times Group. One’s preference for particular media outlets depends on how they reinforce our political views and affirm our beliefs. Thus, slanted reports are ‘facts’ and ‘substance’ to some, but ‘bull’ and ‘schlock’ to others. Where stories written by armchair journalists are generated from public relations materials and government releases, “bull” and “real news” are becoming more similar by the day. ‘Gonzo journalism’ might even become ‘respectable’ and a popular elective in journalism schools with students, the ‘digital natives’, carving their niche through their blogs. How far will students, consumed by a culture of Googles and Tweets, stretch and test the principles of ethical and truthful journalism?

Anti-terrorism, climate change and ‘dog whistle’ journalism: Restraints on the public right to know

David Blackall — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:23:44 PST

The original message on the ‘paradigm of prevention’, which obliges government to address the emergency from terrorism, was first coined by former US Attorney General John Ashcroft. Soon after, Australian Prime Minister of the day John Howard was to follow Ashcroft’s call. The new Labor government in 2007 deployed a fresh strategy: ‘the precautionary principle’ where government justifies further intrusive measures to confront the emergencies of climate change. This silent messaging as placed in the news media, by inclusion or omission of certain facts, can be traced and exposed to reveal a quietly agreed process to influence the public to imagine the worst without solid evidence. While such hidden messages will continue to shape public opinion and cause obfuscation, journalism educators can develop learning experiences so their students can notice the detail. This paper explores how journalism educators can work with the realities of the news media, which fan public fear of imagined catastrophes on behalf of governments. Students can very quickly learn to join the dots through meticulous discourse analysis coupled with simple computer assisted research - something the compliant mainstream news media seems unable to apply in its normative role as a ‘watchdog’ of government.

Commentary: Whetting a journalist’s appetite for investigative reporting

Yvonne Chua — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:23:42 PST

Interest in investigative journalism has spiked in Asia and elsewhere, especially in new democracies, and along with it the demand for training in this field. The challenge for trainers in investigative reporting is to help journalists nimbly navigate what is often uncharted territory that demands dogged pursuit and unraveling of the truth. How to do it? This article shares with journalism trainers a few useful tips on getting journalists hooked on muckraking.

Profile Interview: Stories that need to be told in India

Eric Loo — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:23:42 PST

Investigative work by some of India’s renowned journalists, despite their limited access to the internet in remote areas, is still conducted in the tradition of working the streets, tenacious research, going undercover, negotiating the multi-layered bureaucracies, and engaging with the grassroots and often inaccessible sources. Among the well-known investigative journalism in India is the exposure of entrenched corruption in the Ministry of Defence by the English-language news site, Tehelka.com in 2001. A team of Tehelka journalists, disguised as arms dealers with hidden cameras, met with senior politicians and army officers to do a deal on procuring ‘thermal imaging binoculars’. Known as ‘Operation West End’, 1 Tehelka exposed the culture of corruption among senior defence ministry officials and army officers. The exposé led to the resignation of the Defence Minister. A significant journalistic and public interest outcome. But the investigative methods by Tehelka, which was re-launched as a weekly print publication in 2003 with the support of its subscribers and donors, stirred criticisms of its ethical practice. Does Tehelka’s journalistic motives justify its methods, the spycams, the entrapment?

Commentary: Keeping best practices in journalism alive

Chay Florentino-Hofilena — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:23:41 PST

Public regard for journalists or self-acclaimed journalists has not improved in the past few years. Newspaper readership continues to decline even as cable television, the Internet, and even pirated DVDs are offering a disgruntled public other information and entertainment options besides television or radio. The media get their much-needed shot in the arm whenever there are disasters or crisis situations in any part of the world. Suddenly, there is a sharp rise in news consumption as the public’s appetite for information reaches abnormal proportions. Even for just a few hours or even days, the media get to feel good about being relevant and needed again. And depending on how well they do their jobs, public contempt either worsens or diminishes.

Commentary: Teaching ‘best practices’ of journalism in Malaysia

Mustafa K. Anuar — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:23:40 PST

Journalism has over the years invited distrust, scorn, cynicism, even sheer revulsion, from the general public. This is especially so with fraudulent reporting on the rise, such as the one committed by New York Times reporter Jayson Blair in 2003. Investigative journalism of the ‘Watergate’ type seems to have faded to the extent that it would take concerted effort by journalism educators to ‘excite’ students into taking up journalism as a career. In Malaysia, journalism ethics, standards and credibility have long been compromised at the altar of political expediency and corporate interests particularly within sections of the mainstream media. This situation is aggravated by the fact that the media are also controlled by the state through illiberal laws such as the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA), Official Secrets Act (OSA), Sedition Act, Communications and Multimedia Act, and the Internal Security Act (ISA).

Orientalism in reporting religion: Approaches to teaching journalism and Islam as a civilization

Ahmad Murad Merican — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:23:39 PST

After years of discourse on the distortion of Islam by the media, this paper suggests that the link in understanding the (mis)representation of Islam is in the corpus of Orientalism. It argues that reporting on religions, or reporting on Islam, be adopted as critical components in the curricula of journalism education. It notes that in Malaysia, despite a proliferation of journalism/communication schools over more than three decades, there is no course on the reportage of religions/Islam. Such a course could be embedded in the historical contexts of encounters between the West and Islam and the assumption that the language of news and the language of religion are two incompatible paradigms. This paper calls for overcoming this incompatibility. In what has been neglected as an important component in intellectual production having spiritual and emotional ramifications, this paper argues for re-examining the conceptual and ontological aspects of the reportage of Islam/ religion, the journalism curriculum and the intellectual production process in the university.

Student journalists learn about Aboriginal communities and culture in Western Australia

Trevor Cullen — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:23:38 PST

Non-Aboriginal journalists seldom get to meet and talk with Aboriginal people about their life and beliefs, and this often results in narrow and misinformed reporting. This paper reports on a new initiative between the Combined Universities Centre for Rural Health (CUCRH) and the journalism program at Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Western Australia to help journalism students achieve a better understanding of Aboriginal communities and culture, and, consequently, a more informed approach to their reporting of Aboriginal issues. In July 2008, eight final-year ECU journalism students spent a month with Aboriginal communities in two Western Australian towns. The placement was offered again in July 2010.

Travel as a teaching approach for new media skills and writing courses

Bruce Garrison — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:23:37 PST

In today’s global community, local and overseas travels are essential to student learning. This paper posits that travel enhances students’ journalism experience and can be used to facilitate their education in new media and digital technology. Portable digital media technologies, which students are highly familiar with, create opportunities to teach them hands-on convergence and multimedia skills in travel-based journalism courses. The paper concludes with examples of how travel and new media technologies are combined to teach traditional news reporting, feature writing, travel writing, and other courses regardless of whether the program has an international or multimedia-convergence emphasis.

Teaching journalism students and regional reporters how to work with cultural diversity

Kristy Hess — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:23:37 PST

This paper examines the effectiveness of a set of curriculum materials developed for a Reporting Diversity and Integration Project tailored for Australian journalists and journalism students. The materials take a problem-based learning (PBL) approach to a hypothetical case study that involves Muslim netballers being banned from competition because they want to wear headscarves during play. Deferring to ideas developed by Russian psychologist, Leo Vygotsky, we proposed a few ‘scaffolding’ strategies to support student learning. The material was trialed with 30 first-year Deakin University journalism students and 30 regional journalists. The responses showed that both groups felt the materials we added to the curriculum resources, which provided information on Muslim women and the headscarf, affected how they would write the story. They also thought it was important to provide this kind of information for readers. This paper argues that providing cultural information in an accessible format for students and journalists in newsrooms should be integral to education and training materials designed to improve media coverage of cultural diversity issues.

Commentary: Teaching media convergence and its challenges

Serajul I. Bhuiyan — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:23:36 PST

Many of my colleagues from journalism schools in the United States have for many years been bulking up on convergent media courses to prepare the next generation of reporters for an industry that is being reshaped by digital communication technologies. Concepts and theories of internet journalism were first taught during the days of HTML programming in the early1990s. Some have embraced the need to teach ‘new media’ skills wholeheartedly, some gingerly, and some not at all. What are the plausible reasons behind these mixed sentiments towards the teaching of convergent media courses? Are academics’ multimedia skills keeping pace with their students who are commonly referred to as ‘digital natives’? Is the emphasis on technology-oriented production courses overlooking the imperative of teaching students the fundamentals of clear, succinct reporting?

Journalism students’ experience of mobile phone technology: implications for journalism education

Paul Bethell — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:23:35 PST

This study investigates journalism students’ usage of mobile phone technology when they begin their university studies and considers the implications of these baseline data for journalism education. This paper reports on the findings of three consecutive annual surveys of first year journalism students about their use of the applications available on their mobile phones. The surveys confirm that as well as using their phones to text and call, many are making video calls and most have shot photos and videos on their phones by the time they arrive at university. Many are using their phones to send or publish these images. More than half of the students now go online on their mobile phones. This evidence will inform journalism educators seeking to update their teaching practices and curricula.