RIS ID
79790
Abstract
Governments in parts of Asia and media scholars have alluded to a form of journalism that should reflect ‘Asian cultural values’ rather than defer to media practices and media cultures of the West. These are commonly attributed to a cultural preference for consensus rather than confrontation, order and stability versus chaos and conflict, community good rather than individual rights, deference to authority, and respect for elders. This book premises that journalism is a product as well as a producer of the environment where it operates. Bridging the perceived journalistic cultural gap between Asia and the West, relies less on asserting one form of journalism is better than the other, but more on how journalism as understood, conceptualized, taught and practised in Asia and the West can be richer through a blending of the essence that makes each form peculiar to its environment. Theoretical explications are complemented by reflective commentaries from Asian journalists and interviews with media trainers. This book aims to show how the values and views of journalists in Asia reflect their counterparts in the West, although the notion of reporting ‘without fear or favour’ needs to be contextualised to the political realities in Asia.
Publication Details
Loo, E. Bridging the Cultural Gaps in Journalism Education and Training in Asia. Singapore: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Media Asia Programme, 2013.