Asia Pacific Media Educator

Commentary: Educating journalism students to do comprehensive reporting

Bella Mody — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:23:50 PDT

Citizens of every country need the news as information disseminator, interpreter, and public mobilizer. We cannot make sense of continued hunger, disease, and mass murder without knowledge of the (in) action of major governments, their multinational corporations, financial institutions, and representatives in the United Nations. Unfortunately, news coverage is often late, episodic, and inadequate in terms of historical and systemic background. When it addresses crises involving national minorities and foreign others, it is sometimes loaded with ethnocentric, racist, and pornographic descriptions of victims, with heroes mostly from the majority community or the global North. It is a truism that representations of crises in the news are the only access to distant events for most of us. In the absence of travel experience or first-hand knowledge, the representation is the only reality. Hitler would not exist for most people without the news. But, how many know the factors and forces that allowed the rise of a genocidaire like Hitler in the much-touted form of government called an electoral democracy, someone who was allowed to kill 6 million other humans? Such knowledge makes a difference on how we understand matters of life and death. The lack of explanation of causes is a longstanding complaint against journalism. Reasons include the pressures of a 24-hour news cycle, issue complexity, ideologically explosive content, and the format, platform or craft focus of news writing. Writing for daily news deadlines permits description of What and Where but only allows limited explanation of the Why and How of an event or issue. Good

Dilemma of course content and curriculum in Indian journalism education: Theory, practice and research

C.S. H.N. Murthy — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:23:48 PDT

Journalism and mass communication education in India has for a long time been stagnant and isolated from industrial needs and technological developments. One of the perceived deficiencies in journalism education is absence of a direct link between journalism schools and the industry. Another problem is universities—state, central and private institutions— have failed to formulate a common core curriculum to keep pace with the fast-changing media industry. Thus, media education continues to suffer from poorly designed courses, lack of rigorous contents in theory, practice and research. This paper examines the current state of journalism education in India based on an opinion survey of media educators and professionals. It concludes with suggestions on how the curriculum can be revised to remain relevant to the media sector.

Framing religious conflict: primordialism writ large

Steve Sharp — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 16:56:26 PDT

Is there a dynamic correspondence between the unfolding of media narratives about conflict and how that conflict plays out on the ground? In particular, can this question be applied productively to the Maluku wars, an outbreak of religious violence at the end of Indonesia’s long developmentalist epoch (1966-1998)? This paper argues that far from being disinterested purveyors of unproblematic truths, media workers are implicated in the creation and spread of ideas and images that shape the political discourses which exacerbate violent conflict. Its method is discourse analysis of a canon of journalism that reported the conflict in its first few years. Despite their papers’ diverse origins, news reporters from both metropolitan dailies under study – Kompas and Republika – employed storytelling conventions that produced ‘primordialist’ readings of this violence. This textual strategy on top of an analytic failure to track shifting power relations between political elites in Jakarta and Maluku did nothing to assist a negotiated peace and may have contributed to the war’s significant escalation.

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.