East-West Center Media Conference

To hear an audio version of Dr. Orville Schell’s talk, go HERE

Every conference has a moment or two that helps define discussion for the entire event.

At the Bangkok Media Conference, one such moment came during the presentation by China expert and journalist Orville Schell. Schell talked about what is happening in American media and how it relates to Asia. One key message: If you intend to emulate the American style of press and media management, beware of what you wish for. The United States has a lot of journalistic feathers in its cap, Shell said, but it also has some serious failings.

The emerging “business model” in the US, Schell said, is to treat news properties and news itself as a “commodity,” measured only in terms of how much profit can be produced.That, he said, is a long way from the Jeffersonian ideal of a press that acts as a “fourth estate,” a quasi public service that kept the people informed and the government honest.

Is that particular model really what Asia wants? Schell asked.

The “marketization” of the news media, Schell argued is the result of consolidation of news properties into a few giant entities listed on the stock market, where profits rule all.

The road to success, Schell said, is having the right “business model” where neither the government (as has been the case in much of Asia) or the market (as in the case in the U.S.) controls all.

So where does one find this utopian ideal?

The British Broadcasting Corp., Schell said, comes close. Public television and particularly National Public Radio have their virtues, he said, but they have a “lousy” business model of their own, dependent on “begging.” By that he means fund drives.

But here’s the good news. In the vacuum created by a market-driven media more interested in entertainment and sales than news, “an opportunity (is created) for other competitors to move in and fill the space,” he said.These can include “new media” such as the Internet, blogging, and citizen journalism.

But it can also include traditional quality journalism, imported into the United States from Asia and elsewhere rather than the other way around.

For instance, China is attempting to break into the English-language market with informed journalism focused on China’s booming economy and financial markets.And even the Arabic network Al Jazeera might be considered as part of this new model, Schell contended.”As I see it, the challenge for American media today is the question of business models,” he said.

“Can we create business models that use the best of the marketplace but at the same time protect the best elements of the media that embody the Jeffersonian ideal of the public interest?” he asked.”If the US is to regain its ability to lead, it will have to regain its ability to inform its citizens. If they fail, then there are more opportunities to create competitors. But those competitors must be wary of the pitfalls of the marketplace,” he said.

One questioner said he sees the market as a counter-force to the controlling influence of the propaganda department of the government and the Communist party. Isn ‘t this a good thing?

“I’m not proposing that the Department of Propaganda stay in charge of the media in China,” he said. “But before we reform, let go completely of the media, I would like to see a plan to keep better control of the media so that aspects of the broadcast media, in particular, will have quality programming rather than turning it completely to the marketplace.

“The marketplace is a wild animal and will eat you alive if you are not careful.”

And so it went.

So now, as delegates ponder the future of journalism and the media, both in Asia and in the United States, the conversation has a new catch-phrase: What, exactly, would be the best “business model” for success?

Any ideas?