Media must play role in heading off crisis: Forum<\/p>\n
BANGKOK (AFP): Southeast Asia's media must play a stronger
\nrole in heading off political crises like those that have
\nbefallen Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, press advocates
\nsaid on Monday.<\/p>\n
Representatives from the three countries told a forum
\norganized by an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
\ncommunications thinktank that the region's media was failing to
\nact as an effective watchdog.<\/p>\n
The saga of disgraced former Philippines president Joseph
\nEstrada was the latest in a series of leadership disasters that
\nthe press could have helped to avert, said Luis Teodoro, a media
\nfreedom activist and editor of the Philippine Journalism Review.<\/p>\n
The nation's press could help halt the continuing cycle of
\npolitical turmoil by better informing the population, a task it
\nhad so far failed, he said.<\/p>\n
\"It is the lack of information that has led the Philippines
\nto, and which keeps the Philippines in, its current state,\"
\nTeodoro said.<\/p>\n
\"The Philippine mass media are at best doing a mediocre job of
\nproviding the information on critical public issues the citizenry
\nneeds, and at worst contributing to the dumbing down of vast
\nnumbers of the Philippine electorate.\"<\/p>\n
One of the positive outcomes of the Estrada impeachment
\ndebacle was a realization among journalists that they needed to
\nbeat back corruption and be more vigilant to \"move the country
\nforward,\" Teodoro said.<\/p>\n
In Indonesia, the role of the media had changed since 1999
\nwhen President Abdurrahman Wahid shut down the country's
\ndepartment of information, ostensibly freeing the press of
\ngovernment interference.<\/p>\n
But the new-found freedom had shown that the media needed an
\nofficial framework and self-discipline to be effective, said
\nIndonesian Press Council executive director Lukas Luwarso.<\/p>\n
\"It would appear that the freedom that was so eagerly awaited
\nand celebrated hasn't lived up to the hopes of everyday
\nIndonesians,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"On the contrary, a host of new problems plague the media,
\ncreating intricacies that have muddied already complex
\nsituations,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"In the absence of real government controls, the free press is
\nbecoming chaotic. The media does not present a good prescription
\nfor societal ills,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Wild reportage and sensationalism had undermined the
\nIndonesian media's credibility, Luwarso added.<\/p>\n
Thai Journalists Association president Kavi Chongkittavorn
\nsaid the media in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand tended
\nto ignore public opinion and instead pursued their own agendas.<\/p>\n
\"Sometimes the people on the street can understand better than
\nthe leader. That's the role of the press -- trying to reflect
\nwhat is in the minds of the people on the street so that leaders
\ncan read about it.\"<\/p>\n
\"Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand are similar in that
\nthey are very free, and they tend to report as they please. If
\nwe're not careful, we end up backing ourselves into a corner,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/media-must-play-role-in-heading-off-crisis-forum-1447893297",
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