[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Media and Democracy: The Asian Expe



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.



_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at 
http://profiles.msn.com.