diverse and dynamic

The annual conference of the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC), held at the Manila Hotel this year, was an eye opener.

The list of topics and names on the program was certainly exhaustive enough to overwhelm. But to actually be there and see researchers and practitioners sharing their experiences and talking about future directions made one feel how diverse and dynamic the region and the field are.

The session on alternative media was an interesting mix of old and new: Sanskrit writings and their relationship to journalism principles, and a survey of community-based approaches to broadcasting as practised by Church-owned radio stations in the Philippines on the one hand; and citizen journalism as practised by a news organization in Malaysia, and a uses and gratifications analysis of Facebook uses at the University of Singapore, on the other.

It was an interesting session, not only because the presentations were interesting in themselves, but also for the selection of these presentations under the classification of alternative media. Indeed, the term "alternative" is broad enough to apply to old and new -- the traditional and the cutting-edge -- as represented by these topics from the societies of India, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore.

During the conference, AMIC launched six new publications, including the Asian Communication Handbook 2008, Media and Conflict Reporting in Asia, and Media and Development in Asia: Regional Perspectives.

reflections after a workshop

We recently had a news writing workshop with the members of the Providential Youngsters Society (PrYS)-Kiangan in Ifugao.

The young people of Kiangan, I discovered, are a lot more media-savvy than their counterparts from Asipulo -- a municipality where some barangays are not accessible except on foot and have no electricity.

Some participants attended the workshop with earphones glued to their ears.

After the workshop, some participants asked us if we had Friendster accounts.

How does their exposure to media affect them? How do they use it? Do they use it to their advantage? For research? For entertainment?

Do they feel empowered to use it to tell the world about their community? Or do they use it to get out of it?

If they could only feel empowered, think how much richer the national and even global dialogue would be. Citizen journalism is this dialogue, proof of empowerment, an alternative to the established media.

In the end, I believe that these young people can contribute. This is why we do these workshops: to help them contribute. A newsletter isn't just a newsletter -- it's citizen journalism.

Perhaps my hoping they'd be citizen journalists someday is too ambitious, but there are stories only they can write. There is knowledge only they can share. And there is a future only they can create.

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This photo shows PrYS organizer Gerald Puguon, Jr. accepting a book donation on behalf of PrYS. The books were given by the Konrad Adenauer Asian Center for Journalism (ACFJ) at the Ateneo de Manila University to support PrYS's efforts to publish a newsletter.

media and culture

From A Cultural Worker's First Manual: Essays in Appreciating the Everyday, by Felice Prudente Sta. Maria:

Are those in media and education automatically cultural workers?

Whether they know it or not, all companies and institutions involved in media and education provide tools for cultural education, cultural information and cultural attitude formation. Unfortunately, not everyone in these fields accepts responsibility for cultural development. Cultural workers within the fields are those who promote a positive attitude for culture, preferably knowing it.

two books

On 3 May, the Philippine media watchdog group Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) launched the primer Philippine Press Freedom Primer: Quick Answers to Your Questions at a forum on press freedom in Jakarta, Indonesia. The forum was organized jointly by the Unesco, the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Indonesia, and the Indonesian Press Council.

The book contains information on laws that affect press freedom, and the codes of ethics of the country's various press organizations. It should be a valuable resource for students, researchers, and even the general public.

Back home in Manila, another book was launched, also on 3 May. Blood on Their Hands: Infanticide in India and Other Stories was launched at the Diamond Hotel at the Konrad Adenauer Asian Center for Journalism (ACFJ) at the Ateneo de Manila University's Second Emerging Leaders in Asia Forum.

Blood on Their Hands can be described as a book of firsts: it is actually a compilation of excerpts from the Master's Projects of ACFJ's first batch of MA Journ students, and is the first in ACFJ's "Projects in Asian Journalism" series.

With these books, as with books previously published on the topic, it is hoped that the standards of journalism in the Philippines and in the region can continue to be both reviewed and upheld.