Media A ‘Distorted Mirror’ of Society?
| Posted: 2009-03-26 |
|
By Lynette Lee Corporal BANGKOK, Mar 26 (Asia Media Forum) - "The media have to stop perpetuating the false notion that they are a mirror of society. They are not -- and if they are, then it's a distorted one," remarked journalist Kumar Ketkar, editor of India's 'Loksatta' newspaper. Though he did not want to sound alarmist, Ketkar said that history shows that most economic crises "have led to war, anarchy, and catastrophes”. The roots of the first and second world wars were also economic crisis, he added. "Anarchy, resulting from the loss of existing political order, could take many forms on many different levels. Even depression and aggression on the individual level are forms of anarchy," he said. Thus, the media have to generate more intelligent debate in these difficult times, he added. It's time to chuck out the overdependence of the "entertainment and lifestyle cultures", which while having value too, take readers' attention away from reality, Ketkar explained. But Saman Kelegama, executive director of Sri Lanka's Institute of Policy Studies, said the unpredictable nature of events makes it hard for media to see the crisis coming. "The whole globalisation process is driven more by financial assets and this system became very complicated which made accurate prediction, even by economic experts themselves, extremely difficult," he said. What began as a subprime mortgage crisis in 2007, which exposed weaknesses in the financial industry regulations, became a full-blown financial crisis that saw the United States ending up with a 2.6 trillion U.S. dollar deficit in 2008 – and the rest of the world reeling from the financial crisis stemming from this. While the impact on Asia varies and has not been as bad as in the United States, many countries are expecting slower exports and growth rates this year. "Asia is known as the home of the largest foreign reserves in the world and the depth of the crisis is far more than expected earlier," said Kelegama. Kelegama, however, suggests that all is not lost as there are indications that, due to different factors including steady South-South cooperation in countries in the region, the global economy could bounce back beginning 2010. "There are indications that Asia will become an economic powerhouse and will emerge much stronger after the crisis, given the fact that the second and third largest economies in the world — Japan and China respectively — are located in the region," he added. All of this is also why Asian journalists should cover the economic crisis better, he said. "If you take one news magazine, you'll be able to see how the media are dealing with the crisis. For example, 'Time' magazine alone has done seven cover stories on the crisis since it began, which shows you the level of interest within the media," Actionaid Bangladesh head of policy Rashed Titumir pointed out. Inside media organisations, Ketkar suggests that their management and employees discuss how best to cope with financial pressures brought about by the current crisis. He does not think that Asian media publications will be closing down in huge numbers, as in the same way print publications in western media have been folding up. Among the casualties of the crisis have been the 146-year-old 'Seattle Post-Intelligencer' and the 101-year-old 'Christian Science Monitor', as well as several community newspapers in various U.S. states. "Let us not ignore the lessons from history and let the media look at the order likely to be built in the collapse of the present economic system. One thing is sure, the crisis is going to change our life completely," said Ketkar. (END/AMF/IPSAP/LLC/JS/260309) |
