The four-day media conference brings together a mix of participants, from print, television journalists and photojournalists to civil society, academics and developments, who will be discussing a menu of issues such as changes in the Mekong media scene, new trends, citizen journalism and new media, training, media challenges and reporting on water governance, children, as well as gender and sexuality. 

   Johanna Son, regional director of Inter Press Service (IPS) Asia-Pacific news agency, which is a co-organiser of the MMF along with the Probe Media Foundation Inc (PMFI), hopes that the Forum will capture the uniqueness of this region in ways different from other media conferences in the past. 

   “There are a host of media conferences in Asia each year, but I haven’t heard of one focusing on the Mekong countries in all the years I’ve been working on Mekong issues,” she said. The Mekong countries are Burma, China (Yunnan and Guangxi provinces), Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. 

   Asked why this particular focus on the Mekong, Son said that apart from the fact that the region is bursting with stories “stemming from the process of economic integration and opening borders since the 1990s”, it is also time to hear from Mekong journalists given that the region is often reported by the international media from western news lenses. This often results in limited coverage linked to issues stemming from the conflict in the region decades ago, or stories with inadequate understanding of the region’s nuances. 

   “There has been a lack of a venue where journalists from the region can cross language and news borders to seize the narrative in telling the stories from their region,” she said. 

   PMFI executive director Yasmin Mapua-Tang, who has seen the development of the skills of Mekong journalists through the Imaging Our Mekong fellowship programme that PMFI has run with IPS Asia-Pacific since 2002, said that “the Forum now offers something different”. 

   “It is not too much about the stories to be told but how the media tell these stories, their role and impact in the region,” she said, explaining that the fellowships focused on cross-border issues that required journalists to discover the region — and enhancing reportage skills.  

   The Forum, to be held at the Holiday Inn Chiang Mai, has plenary, parallel and satellite sessions, talk shows, exhibits of Mekong photos and cartoons/illustrations exhibits. ‘Cinema Mekong’, which features screenings of 12 Mekong documentaries, will be on from Dec. 10 to 11.  

   The Forum is being organised with major support by The Rockefeller Foundation and Dutch MDG 3 Fund, which funds the two gender sessions to be held at the MMF on Dec. 11, 2009 as part of the ‘Communicating MDG-3 project of the IPS international news network. 

   Tang is looking forward to the “next steps” after the Forum, including what she refers to as “the crucial part” — the planning workshop that organisers will hold with Mekong journalists at the end of the public part of the conference. 

   “The recommendations, suggestions and input from local journalists, and insights from the Forum sessions, would be very helpful in coming up with concrete and sustainable ways to keep a Mekong media movement alive,” she said. 

   Son thinks that the encouraging numbers of participation alone, send out a clear message. “There is a need, a thirst for information and interaction with journalists of the Mekong countries, which are quite different in terms of political systems, economies and societies, but do have something somehow that binds them into a unit,” she said. 

   The other supporters of the Forum are UNICEF East Asia and the Pacific, Nobel Women’s Initiative, MPOWER, UNESCO and Japan Foundation. Participant supporters are UNDP Laos, Konrad Adenauer Asian Centre for Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University and World Bank Laos. 

   Media partners are ‘The Irrawaddy’ and Lao National Television.

Cinema Mekong features the work of documentary filmmakers and video journalists who have been part of the Imaging Our Mekong Media Fellowship since 2002 — making this unique series of films very much from the lens of local filmmakers — as well as other films that focus on the Mekong region. The works selected for the Forum screenings cover transboundary topics on environment, culture, children, women and cultural identity.

On Dec. 9, Cinema Mekong will feature two views of the Mekong in Thailand’s ‘Mekong: The Untamed’, produced by The Nation Channel, and China Central TV’s ‘Nourished by the Same River’.

The legacy of decades of conflict will be tackled on Dec. 10 with ‘Bomb Harvest’, the multi-awarded documentary by Lemur Films (Australia) that takes a look at the consequences of the war in the region and the continued threat of unexploded ordnance to the people of Lao PDR.

‘Human Zoo’, gives a disturbing look at the Padaung women of Myanmar living in a tourist cultural village in Thailand and ‘Two Villages’, compares the rapid changes of two communities, one Chinese and one Cambodian, in the Mekong region.

The set ends with two light pieces — ‘Taste of Noodles’ and ‘Sticky Rice Container’ — that show how food connects the countries and cultures of the region in various ways.

On Dec. 11, women and children take centre stage with a host of films that tackle issues on sexuality, trafficking and child labour. ‘Lao Youth and Sex Talk’, ‘So Close’, and ‘Displaced Champa’ give voice to women and young people and their views about the taboo topic of sex in Lao society, as well as the dangers trafficked women constantly face.

Children’s voices and viewpoints, meanwhile, come out clear and strong in ‘Children at the Crossing’ and ‘Boy at the Border’, which are set in Cambodia and look into its linkages with neighbours Thailand and Vietnam. Also featured are two films - ‘Laos: It’s Alive!’ and ‘Thailand: Smile Again’ - by TVE Asia-Pacific.
At the Cinema Mekong, sit back, relax and get ready to allow the sounds and images of the Mekong take you on a memorable journey of discovery.

CHIANG MAI -  Community radio’s growth over the years in many Asian countries has had a profound impact on the lives of many communities - and that includes Lao PDR. For many, the medium is a platform for people to voice out their views about issues that affect them. After all, people living in isolated communities in countries in the Mekong Region lack readily available and informative materials, a situation made more challenging by low literacy rates and the variety of different languages within nation-states.

The current situation of community radio and its potential for being ‘radio for the people, by the people’ in Lao PDR will be the highlight of a satellite session to be held Dec. 10, 2009 at the Mekong Media Forum, Chiang Mai, Thailand. The session, with the theme ‘Empowering Local People Through Community Radio’, is being hosted by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Laos, tooether with the Ministry of Information and Culture of Laos and Xiengkhouang Province Department of Information and Culture.

It will be held from 11 a.m. to 12:30 on this day at the Holiday Inn Chiang Mai.

In 2007, the UNDP, with the support of Laos’ information and culture ministry and the Xiengkhouang Province Department of Information and Culture, put up the Khoun Community Radio Development (KCRD) in Khoun district in the north-eastern province of Xiengkhouang. The project’s aim is to improve the people’s access to information through local reporting and radio programmes in local languages. It also aims to increase residents’ participation in development-related decisions that directly affect their lives, by involving them in the radio production process.

Members of the KCRD team expects to share their experiences and their views with the Mekong Media Forum delegates on all aspects of community radio in Lao PDR.  The session will begin with a presentation on Khoun community radio – its lessons and successes, principles and plans for the future.  The session will also include a question and answer session and an opportunity to talk about what community radio can mean for the ethnically diverse Mekong countries.

For more information, write to secretariat@mekongmediaforum.net.

Interested individuals who want to join the Mekong Media Forum, to be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, from Dec. 9-12, 2009, may register until Monday, Nov. 30, 2009, 12 noon (Bangkok time). Registration forms and other required documents sent past the cut-off date will not be entertained.

The Mekong Media Forum will gather media professionals from six countries in the region to discuss the state of media and creative space, learn new skills, and exchange experiences and ideas around media as an actor for social change in their societies.

For queries and other information, write to secretariat@mekongmediaforum.net.

]]> http://mekongmediaforum.net/2009/07/mmf-registration-ends-nov-30/feed/ http://mekongmediaforum.net/2009/04/mekong-media-forum-video/ http://mekongmediaforum.net/2009/04/mekong-media-forum-video/#comments Thu, 30 Apr 2009 01:11:03 +0000 MMF http://mekongmediaforum.net/?p=103 How have economic integration and openness shaped the media environment in he Mekong region? What do audiences expect in the age of more openness? What changes in press laws and access to information have taken place in the last 15 years? What is the role of the market in today’s media in the Mekong region? Are all state media for propaganda? What are the differences in policy toward media, say, between countries like China and Vietnam? What hurdles do local photojournalists face in reaching regional and international audiences? What ‘inside’ stories can local journalists provide that visiting journalists cannot have as good access to? These are some of the questions to be discussed and debated at the Mekong Media Forum, to be held in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai in December 2009. Read more > > >]]> Coming in December! Mekong Media Forum

BANGKOK – How have economic integration and openness shaped the media environment in the Mekong region? What do audiences expect in the age of more openness? What changes in press laws and access to information have taken place in the last 15 years?

What is the role of the market in today’s media in the Mekong region? Are all state media for propaganda? What are the differences in policy toward media, say, between countries like China and Vietnam? What hurdles do local photojournalists face in reaching regional and international audiences? What ‘inside’ stories can local journalists provide that visiting journalists cannot have as good access to?

These are some of the questions to be discussed and debated at the Mekong Media Forum, to be held in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai on December 9-12, 2009.  It will be organised by IPS Asia-Pacific and Probe Media Foundation Inc, two Asia and Southern-based organisations that since 2002 have been running the Imaging Our Mekong media fellowship programme for Mekong journalists

Click here to view the embedded video.

A creative, celebratory and unique event, the Mekong Media Forum will bring journalists and interested groups together to take stock of the media situation in the region; to feature among the best stories, photo essays and documentaries from journalists from China, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam; to discuss areas of development of the media as an actor in social change; and to identify future trends and forge linkages and partnerships.

A mix of film showings, photo exhibits and visual presentations, book and DVD launches, as well as panel discussions, skills-building workshops and talk show-format discussions, is expected.

Many of the journalist-fellows who have been with the Imaging Our Mekong media fellowships will be taking part in this event, which is anchored on highlighting media voices from within the Mekong region and on looking at changes in the media since the process of economic integration picked up in 1992 in the wake of peace and market reforms.
There are many Asian media events — but a Mekong media event is a unique opportunity to listen to, discuss with and learn from the journalists of this fast-changing yet often under-reported region. Be part of it!

For inquiries about attendance, and creative ways of participation and partnership, please write to the Mekong Media Forum coordinator.

The MMF will reflect the nuances of the current Mekong media environment with a relevant and genuine ‘Mekong flavour’ — done through a mix of various formats of public discussion, presentations and workshops ranging from plenary sessions, thematic discussions, talk show formats and capacity-building sessions.

Media professionals, members of the academe, development experts and civil society advocates from the region will be asked to speak and share work on various topics related to the theme of “media in the Mekong at a time of social and economic change”.

There will also be visual presentations such as photo exhibits and film showings (and a mix between the two), poster presentations, book launches and a bazaar that highlights the diversity of Mekong cultures and products.

Registration information is available here. All sessions shall have simultaneous translation in English and all languages of the Mekong region.  The Forum would itself also be a venue for capacity-building and reporting, through the production of a daily conference newspaper where the local Mekong journalists would cover the discussions and report on them, through real-time articles and video reports.

The full-colour publication would be called ‘TerraViva’, following the conference newspaper brand (www.ipsterraviva.net). There would be a hard-copy newspaper, as well as a DVD of news stories provided to the participants by the end of the Forum.

• Wanted: Conference Documenters >>> More information here!
• Call for Volunteers >>> Click here to join!
  
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