Globetrotting

I happen to be globe hopping during my blogging days which means that you’ll get to hear about my observations on media outside the U.S.
 
Some of you may have read about my adventures with other fellow SPJ members at the annual Asia Journalists Association meeting in South Korea. In case you missed the coverage you can find it on the website. Read about how Robert Ledger, Todd Gilliam, Neil Rackers, Kevin Smith and I exchanged ideas with other journalists across Asia and did a kimchi tour with pics. Aside from the gastronomic pleasures, it was valuable to learn the challenges journalists face across Asia. We all agreed that many of the issues reminded us of challenges we face now in media in America.
 
From Cambodia to Nepal to Malaysia, journalists are being harassed or jailed for being critical of their government or simply doing their jobs. We have Josh Wolf, but there are countless Josh Wolfs in Asia, yet we rarely hear about them in the United States. In Nepal, where they are celebrating peace and a new democracy after a long period of civil war between the government and Maoists separatists, press freedoms still lag behind. The newly installed Maoist representatives are threatening journalists who are or have been critical of them. There are other extreme cases across the region. Journalists are getting beaten and raped in Mongolia. In the Philippines, 28 journalists who have spoken out against the government have been killed since 2001.
 
After I bid farewell to my SPJ crew, I left for my native Thailand. In September a military coup ousted the leadership of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who among other things, gagged the press heavily in the country.  I learned that despite new leadership, media in Thailand continues to be heavily controlled and censored by the former regime. The majority of TV channels in the country are owned by the Prime Minister or his associates. This makes the process of informing Thailand’s population about the excesses of the former government still difficult. During the AJA conference SPJ members reported to the other Asian countries about this type of government-influenced media that tainted the U.S. after the Armstrong Williams scandal. Most understood this problem well. For example, in Cambodia we learned about how most Cambodian media serve political parties and rich and powerful politicians despite the promise of being free press.
 
 As Western and Eastern journalists together we talked in depth about ways to publicize and combat these attacks to press freedoms.
 
The good news? Citizen journalism. Bloggers and the like in countries like South Korea and Singapore have been able to break through government influence of media and change the tide of elections. A good Internet connection or just plain text messaging is keeping democracy alive in this region. Even heavy-handed countries like Singapore are realizing that they must give some concessions to citizen bloggers and the youth who are growing in number and influence. Could other Asian countries not be far behind?
 
Next stop: Berlin and a conference on how their media is trying to integrate ethnic media  from its growing immigrant population.