Asia is experiencing a media boom, from an explosion of somewhat more independent newspapers and broadcast outlets to the emergence of completely different forms of information sharing - the “new media.”
But with that boom comes creeping homogenization of content, the “dumbing down” of programming and an emphasis on entertainment over public affairs.
That was one message delivered at the Center’s Bangkok Media Conference by Sheila Coronel, director of the Tony Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at Columbia University and a pioneering investigative journalist in the Philippines.
“Different platforms means more channels of distribution,” Coronel said. “But with that increasing homogenization of content is occurring. Even public affairs programming has been dumbed down.
“What sells is sex, supernatural stories and small-time corruption.”
In short, the media in Asia today are caught between the “Tiger and the Crocodile,” a metaphor that might be likened to between a rock and a hard place, Coronel said.
The two pressures are the state, which has traditionally exerted strong influence over the media in asia, and the marketplace, with its own dictates and requirements.
Those who hope the best for the news media at this critical juncture, Coronel said, must embrace new technologies, new ways of thinking and changing media regulation regimes. A big change is citizen journalism, blogging, cell phone reports and pictures and other forms of electronic democracy, she said.
“Those (new forms) will not replace, but will take their place alongside the old journalism,” she said. “Journalists as gatekeepers have lost (sole) control of the information flow.”
With the state still trying to control news media in much of Asia, these new community based “viral” forms of communication and information sharing will become more and more important, Coronel said.
So, can the media emerge from the era of state control to become free, independent, useful and relevant? It’s possible, Coronel thinks, but only if those who control the established media freely embrace the technological and social changes that are coming to the information universe.
Is she right?
For a look at an excerpt of the Power Point presentation that accompanied her talk, go HERE
To hear an audio recording of Coronel’s presentation, go HERE