"In China, unlike in Western cinema, documentary film, rather than fiction film, has been the dominant mode since 1949. In recent years, documentary TV programmes have experienced a meteoric rise. Arguing that there is a gradual process of 'democratization' in the media, in which documentaries play
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a significant role, this book discusses various types of Chinese documentaries, under both the planned and the market economy. It especially explores the relationship between documentaries and society, showing how, under the market economy, although the government continues to use the genre as propaganda to promote its ideologies and policies, documentaries are being used as a medium where public concerns and alternative voices can be heard." (Publisher description)
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"Media on the Move provides a critical analysis of the dynamics of the international flow of images and ideas. This comes at a time when the political, economic and technological contexts within which media organisations operate are becoming increasingly global. The surge in transnational traffic in
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media products has primarily benefited the major corporations such as Disney, AOL, Time Warner and News Corporation. However, as this book argues, new networks have emerged which buck this trend: Brazilian TV is watched in China, Indian films have a huge following in the Arab world and Al Jazeera has become a household name in the West. Combining a theoretical perspective on contra-flow of media with grounded case studies into one up-to-date and accessible volume, Media on the Move provides a much-needed guide to the globalization of media, going beyond the standard Anglo-American view of this evolving phenomenon." (Publisher description)
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"Foreign correspondent Waghorn compares long-term assignments in China and Israel and observes: "Whereas in China the challenge was engaging the viewers' interest in somewhere so unfamiliar and alien, here [Israel] it is keeping them interested in somewhere they find over familiar. Rock-throwing, su
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icide bombs, helicopter gunships, funeral rallies and weeping relatives - they have seen it all before, time and time again." And in terms of physical obstacles to reporting, he writes, in Israel "they come in more dangerous forms than in China. In Gaza, for example, we operate with the risk of kidnapping and although dodging around in taxis, trying to remain unnoticed, can feel the same as ducking and diving to avoid Chinese police interference, in China a western correspondent can be fairly confident that the worst to fear is detention, losing your tapes and an occasional roughing up. Here there are more mortal dangers and neither side in the conflict has ever shown sufficient interest in the health and safety of journalists in the heat of battle." But in terms of obtaining information, Israel is light years ahead, he believes." (Abstract)
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"In this reader media experts discuss the prospects and problems of program exchange between German and Chinese Broadcasters. They explain that program exchange is not the cockaigne one could assume with regard to the non-rivalry of media content and the huge Chinese TV market (more than 300 million
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TV households and an estimated 180,000 hours of weekly broadcast time across all TV platforms), but that many economic peculiarities of the media that only can be read in the footnotes of economic text books are highly relevant in practice. To trade TV programs with China thus requires a solid knowledge about the TV business in general, but also about the Chinese media order and the Chinese society, and the Chinese way of business." (Back cover)
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"This book is the result of a research project covering eight countries in South and South East Asia examining the role and impact of alternative media. The definition of alternative media depends very much on the political, social, cultural and economic environment you live in. Thus, this book give
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s the reader an idea of the diversity of alternative media sources available across Asia, which is very much a result of the different media regulatory regimes in the countries we have included in this study. While Bangladesh has had alternative media, in the form of community theatre and other artistic expressions for a long time, yet, community radio, which is fast becoming one of the most effective forms of alternative media in Asia, is slow to take off, because the regulations still do not allow it. Meanwhile in Indonesia and Thailand, community radio has taken off rapidly, with regulators struggling to come up with a formula to help regulate the sector while not shutting it down. In the Philippine community radio has existed legally for many years and is thriving, thus, there may be lessons others can learn from this experience. In Malaysia, where legislation tightly controls the establishment of media outlets, there are yet, some interesting examples of how alternative media could be effectively operated via the Internet. Sri Lanka, offers an interesting model where elements of community broadcasting could exist within a public service broadcaster. Thus, this book, gives you interesting examples from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand of how people are getting their voices heard - or are struggling to make that happen - using a variety of media and methods of expression." (Publisher description)
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"Long before the descriptor “citizen journalism” became a topic of research interest in academia, Indonesia’s Radio Elshinta (www.elshinta.com) in Jakarta had already opened its airwaves for listeners, most with no formal journalism training, to call in their stories. This paper contextualises
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Elshinta’s experience with Asia’s top online citizen media portal Ohmynews (english.ohmynews.com) in South Korea to identify their common and divergent characteristics. The case study is complemented by interviews with journalists from Elshinta and Ohmynews. The study concludes that despite relatively unreliable access to Internet facilities in Indonesia, the main catalysts for Elshinta’s engagement with its listeners are (a) the predominantly oral culture in Indonesia; (b) low literacy, thus their reliance on radio as the primary source of information and entertainment; and (d) the popularity of mobile phones for formal and informal communication. Indonesian television and newspapers, however, have been slow in catching up with people-initiated journalism because of (a) fear of losing its reputation and credibility, and thus its commercial base; and (b) conflict between unedited reports by untrained reporters with the professional practice standards and the Press Law. Other obstacles to people-initiated journalism in television and newspapers are the slow uptake of amateur handycam images by TV stations, poor Internet access, lack of writing skills and lack of interactivity in existing online news sites." (Abstract)
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