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Media and Democracy: The Asian Expe
- Subject: Media and Democracy: The Asian Expe
- From: mizzima@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2000 22:08:00
Media and Democracy: The Asian Experience
The Third Day Press Release: September 20, 2000
The 3-day international workshop on Media and Democracy: The Asian
Experience, jointly organized by Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication
and the Mizzima News Group was concluded today at the Assembly Hall of the
Symbiosis Centre for Information Technology (SCIT). A three pronged vision
statement was declared which envisaged the upholding of ethical standards in
journalism, the networking of media professionals from the South Asian
region to focus on the commonalties rather than the differences and the free
flow of information and exchange of ideas through people to people contact
in the region.
Speaking on the occasion Mr. Siddharth Bhatia, consulting editor for the
Pioneer newspaper stated that the first duty of journalists was to report
what they see. He is not to be weighed down by considerations of ?national
interest? as defined by established institutions like the Army, Govt. and
the like. He was speaking on the theme of ?media ethics.?
The media bias in North America? was aptly explained by Gary Rozema of the
Burmese Relief Centre (BRC) through a verbal talk and a documentary titled
?only news that fits?. He informed the audience that there are basically
four biases in mainstream media in North America namely influence of the
ruling party, compulsion of the media houses to make profits, the influence
of large MNCs and of those who own media houses and their compulsion to sell
their contents. Later Mr. Siddharth Bhatia also made a country presentation.
Mr. Nazmal Ashraf, Senior Political Correspondent, Daily Star, Bangladesh
dwelt at length on ?Media and transitional democracy in Bangladesh?.
According to him Bangladesh today, yet it will take some time before
democracy takes a more concrete shape on that country.
But perhaps the most interesting comprehensive presentation for the day was
that of Prof. U. K. Chowdhury. He lucidly explained the problem of refugees
and the attendant migration problems with the help of a power point
presentation. He spoke of four basic kinds of displacement due to terrorism
such as in Kashmir, migration caused due to ethnic strife like Bosnia, mega
projects like the Narmada Valley project which has displaced thousands of
people and the least talked about rural urban migration. He felt that the
media response to the whole issue of displacement has been very halfhearted
and has failed to reflect the reality of displacement in India. In fact, the
reflection has been selective and sporadic to say the lease.
The workshop was concluded with a plenary session and the proclamation of
the vision statement, which has been enumerated here earlier. Today was also
the final day of the art exhibition on Burma by Sitt Nyein Aye, an exiled
Burmese artist, which as on view at the Ambedkar Memorial Grounds of
Symbiosis society.
Brushes of Burma
The Indian Express - ?Pune News Line?
September 20, 2000
Sitt Nyein Aye fled Burma in 1988. Since then he has been living in India,
and spreading awareness through his paintings, of the plight of the Burmese
under the tyranny of military rule. This week he is in Pune and his
paintings are on display at the Symbiosis Society?s Ambedkar Museum. Nobel
Peace Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, figures prominently in this collection.
Other paintings capture the sights and many moods of Burma, its culture and
customs. Today is the last day of the exhibition.
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