responding to hegemonic media: trends, deliberations and lessons from asia

8/8/2019 Responding to Hegemonic Media: Trends, Deliberations and Lessons from Asia

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and listening to the radio. In some countries, " or example, children already spend more timewatching tele # ision than they do attending school.

R ather than condemn or endorse the undoubted power o " the media, we need to accept their signi " icant impact and penetration throughout the world as an established " act, and alsoappreciate their importance as an element o " culture in todays world. The role o " communication and media in the process o " de # elopment should not be underestimated, nor

the " unction o " media as instruments " or the citizens acti # e participation in society. Politicaland educational systems need to recognize their obligations to promote in their citizens acritical understanding o " the phenomena o " communication.

R egrettably most in " ormal and non- " ormal educational systems do little to promote mediaeducation or education " or communication. Too o " ten the gap between the educationalexperience they o " " er and the real world in which people li # e is disturbingly wide. But i " thearguments " or media education as a preparation " or responsible citizenship are " ormidablenow, in the # ery near " uture with the de # elopment o " communication technology such assatellite broadcasting, two-way cable systems, tele # ision data systems, # ideo cassette and discmaterials, they ought to be irresistible, gi # en the increasing degree o " choice in mediaconsumption resulting " rom these de # elopments.

R esponsible educators will not ignore these de # elopments, but will work alongside their students in understanding them and making sense o " such consequences as the rapidde # elopment o " two-way communication and the ensuing indi # idualisation and access toin " ormation.

This is not to underestimate the impact on cultural identity o " the " low o " in " ormation andideas between cultures by the mass media.

The school and the " amily share the responsibility o " preparing the young person " or li # ing ina world o " power " ul images, words and sounds. Children and adults need to be literate in allthree o " these symbolic systems, and this will require some reassessment o " educational

priorities. Such a reassessment might well result in an integrated approach to the teaching o " language and communication.

Media education will be most e" "

ecti#

e when parents, teachers, media personnel anddecision-makers all acknowledge they ha # e a role to play in de # eloping greater criticalawareness among listeners, # iewers and readers. The greater integration o " educational andcommunications systems would undoubtedly be an important step towards more e " " ecti # eeducation.

W e t $

erefore % all & pon t $

e % ompetent a & t $

orities to:

1. initiate and support comprehensi # e media education programs - " rom pre-school touni # ersity le # el, and in adult education - the purpose o " which is to de # elop the knowledge,skills and attitudes which will encourage the growth o " critical awareness and, consequently,o " greater competence among the users o " electronic and print media. Ideally, such programsshould include the analysis o " media products, the use o " media as means o " creati # eexpression, and e " " ecti # e use o " and participation in a # ailable media channels;

2. de # elop training courses " or teachers and intermediaries both to increase their knowledge and understanding o " the media and train them in appropriate teaching methods,which would take into account the already considerable but " ragmented acquaintance withmedia already possessed by many students;

3 . stimulate research and de # elopment acti # ities " or the bene " it o " media education," rom such domains as psychology, sociology, and communication science;


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4 . support and strengthen the actions undertaken or en ' isaged by U NESCO and whichaim at encouraging international co-operation in media education.

B. U NES CO Youth Media Education S u vey 2001 12

This report presents the results o a global sur ey o media education, ocusing primarily on schools. It summarises the responses made by participants rom3 5 countries, together with extrapolations rom an extensi e re iew o printand web-based materials relating to media education. Excerpts rom theR eport are reproduced below.

3.0 Key Issues

3.1 Aims o ( Media E ducation

Historically, media education has tended to mo ' e away ) rom an approach based oninoculation towards one based on empowerment. These are admittedly loose terms, butthey were recognised and used by many o ) our respondents. The notion that media education

should aim to de)

end or protect young people against media in)

luence seems to ha'

e lostground in recent years. E ' en where our respondents recognised that this approach was still pre ' alent in their own countries (e.g. Hong Kong, U SA), they tended to reject it or suggestthat it needed to be superseded. The more contemporary de ) inition o ) media education seemsto be based on notions such as critical awareness, democratic participation and e ' enenjoyment o ) the media. This emergent approach also a ) ) ords a more prominent role ) or media production by students. In Spain, ) or example, media education is argued ) or in termso ) students becoming critical citizens and gaining opportunities to become part o ) a mediacommunity; in Denmark it is seen as necessary in order to empower students as strongindi ' iduals in a democracy; while in Sweden students engage in media education in order tohelp them in expressing themsel ' es, their knowledge and their ) eelings.

In se ' eral countries, the term media literacy is used more widely than media education.This re ) erence to literacy is partly strategic, since it o ) ) ers a basis ) or including mediaalongside print in the established mother-tongue language curriculum. This is where mediaeducation is most ) requently to be ) ound, e ' en in countries where it is ' ery well-established(e.g. Australia, Canada, England). Howe ' er, this use o ) the term literacy also re ) lects a

broader argument about the changing needs o ) learners in a media-saturated world. Se ' eral o ) our respondents insisted on the need ) or a broader conception o ) literacy i ) education is toaddress contemporary realities (e.g. Japan). It is ' ital to emphasise here, howe ' er, that thisnotion o ) literacy is not a ) unctional or instrumental one : ) or nearly all our respondents,media literacy was ' ery clearly de ) ined as a ) orm o ) cr itica l literacy.

Se 0 eral respondents also maintained that media education necessarily entails a more acti 0 e,student-centred, participatory pedagogy. Media education was, it was argued, a matter o 1 learning by doing; and it was an area in which teachers needed to recognise the considerableknowledge and expertise o 1 their students. This was particularly the case in relation to theneed 1 or students to engage in practical media production, but it was 1 requently seen as a moregeneral requirement. Here again, media education may be at odds with the predominantlyconser 0 ati 0 e ethos o 1 most education systems.

O 1 course, the history o 1 media education is bound to be in 1 lected by local and nationalcontexts and concerns, and should not be completely subsumed under this grand narrati 0 e.For example, the responses and material submitted 1 rom Ireland and R ussia o 1 1 er particularlyuse 1 ul histories which point to the di 0 erse origins and traditions o 1 media education in thosecountries. Di 1 1 erent aims and approaches o 1 ten exist side-by-side, with little attempt to bring

12 Final R eport o Yout h M ed ia E duca tion Survey 2001 , Prepared or U NESCO byKate Domaille and Da id Buckingham, No ember 2001.


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them together. Indeed, gi 2 en the relati 2 e no 2 elty o 3 media education in many contexts, itcould be seen as distinctly counter-producti 2 e to seek to impose a singular model.

Generally speaking, howe 2 er, countries with a less well-established tradition o 3 mediaeducation still seem to be in 3 ormed by a percei 2 ed need to protect young people 3 rom themedia. For example, this aim is clearly apparent in the report submitted by U nda (International Catholic Association 3 or R adio and Tele 2 ision) which was one o 3 the 3 ew

sources we were able to locate relating to A3

rica. Here, the aim o3

media education is to sa2

eyoung children 3 rom unsuitable material; or, in a more directly political 2 ein, to ensure thatthey recognise the di 3 3 erences between imported culture and authentic culture. Howe 2 er,these moti 2 ations are by no means con 3 ined to de 2 eloping countries. The responses 3 rom theU SA, 3 or example, re 3 lect the continuing in 3 luence there o 3 an inoculati 2 e approach inrelation to issues such as media 2 iolence, drugs and sex.

In many countries, there exist clear policy statements 3 rom central go 2 ernment agencies,which require media education to be deli 2 ered as part o 3 mother-tongue language teaching or in social studies (or related areas like political education or citizenship). Howe 2 er, thisrhetorical certainty is o 3 ten undermined by the lack o 3 any 3 ollow-up strategy in the 3 orm o 3 clearly assessed acti 2 ities or models o 3 student progression in skills and competencies (see

below). These di 3 3 erent locations 3 or media education ob 2 iously ha 2 e implications in terms o 3 how its aims are de 3 ined. Media education o 3 ten seems to be used as a pretext 3 or work on

language or social issues, and to be assessed in these terms; and as a result, aims speci3

ic tomedia education tend to be marginalised. In more decentralised education systems (e.g. India,China, U SA), there are o 3 ten signi 3 icant discrepancies between the aims o 3 central go 2 ernmentand those o 3 local educators.

3.2 Cu 4 4 iculum F 4 amewo 4 ks

I 5 most practitioners are clear about the broad aims o 5 media education, the extent to whichthese are translated into classroom practice is highly 6 ariable. A clearly de 5 ined conceptual

5 ramework 5 or the curriculum is ob 6 iously necessary, both in order to ensure that teachers andstudents are aware o 5 the speci 5 ic aims o 5 the classroom acti 6 ities they undertake, and in order to pro 6 ide an agreed basis 5 or assessment. Some o 5 our questionnaire responses identi 5 y

5 rameworks that are primarily de 5 ined in terms o 5 skills or competencies, or in terms o 5 content; while others suggest that no clear 5 ramework exists. Howe 6 er, many countries donow possess an explicit conceptual 5 ramework 5 or the media education curriculum; and manyrespondents suggested that such a conceptual 5 ramework was necessary e 6 en i 5 it was notalready in place.

The 5 rameworks de 6 eloped by the Association 5 or Media Literacy in Canada and the BritishFilm Institute in England (which are closely related) ha 6 e been 6 ery in 5 luential internationally,e 6 en in 6 ery di 5 5 erent cultural contexts. Most countries that ha 6 e an explicit 5 ramework usesome 6 ariant o 5 these, while others appear to ha 6 e adopted one or other o 5 them wholesale (insome cases 6 ia the translation o 5 rele 6 ant textbooks). Broadly speaking, there are 5 our keyareas that emerge as the common conceptual concerns o 5 media education, although they areo 5 ten described or labelled in di 5 5 erent ways. They can be grouped as 5 ollows :

y R epresentation : media messages and 7 alues media and society stereotyping selection and point o 8 7 iew

y Language : media aesthetics media as constructions realism narrati 9 e con 9 entions and genres (these issues are o @ ten addressed through student production)

y Production : media industries /organisations /institutions economics / pro A essional practice

y Audience : personal response and in B ol B ement in media consciousness o C ownmedia use the role o C media in identity

Among these, di C C erent areas tend to be prioritised in di C C erent contexts, not least as a result o C the location o C media education in the curriculum. Thus, while issues o C representation are

C airly consistently addressed across the board, language tends to be emphasised in thecontext o C mother tongue language teaching, while production o C ten C eatures more strongly


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in the context o D social studies or citizenship education. With D ew exceptions (e.g. England,Canada, Australia), the area o D audience tends to be addressed through personal re D lection onthe part o D indi E idual students, rather than analysis o D social di D D erences among mediaaudiences.

Some respondents were concerned about the dominance o D Anglo-Saxon or Westernmodels, and expressed the need to de E elop conceptual D rameworks that were more appropriate

to their educational and cultural contexts. In the absence oD

support and resources to undertakethis work, howe E er, it is likely that these conceptual models will continue to be the mostin D luential.

3.3 Lea F ning and Assessment

Predictably, only countries with the most de E eloped media education curricula ha E e clear speci D ications o D the skills and competencies that are expected at di D D erent le E els, and o D howthey are to be assessed ( D or examples, see the extracts D rom New Zealands new technical and

E ocational curriculum in media and D rom the Hungarian curriculum in Appendices 4 and 5).R espondents identi D ied se E eral o E erarching di D D iculties as regards assessment. In manyinstances, it seems that media education is included in curriculum documents, but is notseparately assessed in its own right (or indeed assessed at all). As noted abo E e, media work is

D requently treated as a means to other ends (de E eloping skills in written or spoken language,D

or example), in which case it tends to be assessed in these terms. AssessmentD

requently pri E ileges written communication at the expense o D other modes addressed in mediaeducation; and this seems to re D lect a more general con D usion about how media literacy is to

be assessed in the D irst place. As a result, there is E ery little systematic attention to thequestion o D learning progression.

In se E eral instances, the di D D iculties o D assessment ha E e resulted in considerable D rustration. InChile, D or example, the curriculum documents indicate that students should de E elop criticalawareness and acti E ely participate in creating media texts with a clear message; yet there areno de D ined criteria by which these skills are to be assessed. On the other hand, somerespondents appeared to enjoy the D reedom that came D rom a lack o D such speci D ication. In thelanguage curriculum in New Zealand, D or example, a lack o D prescription is seen to allow D or considerable D lexibility on the part o D teachers; while in U ruguay it has meant that mediaeducation can be an entirely creati E e E enture, rather than ha E ing to be bound by speci D ictheoretical aims.

Some o D this optimism deri E es D rom an understandable wish to sa E our what is possible, rather than continually balking at what seems di D D icult to achie E e. In general, howe E er, there is nodoubt that the absence o D structured assessment procedures has contributed to the lack o D status a D D orded to media education. The D act that media education has largely been subsumedwithin the assessment procedures o D other subject areas has le D t it continuously struggling D or recognition in its own right. One can argue that assessment exerts a much more determiningin D luence on classroom practice than any curriculum document, and as such should be

prioritised. Yet e E en when the criteria D or assessment are explicit, the resources and trainingthat teachers require may be lacking.

3.4 Theo F y and G F actice

In many countries (with the interesting exception o D some Latin American countries), mediaeducation is primarily de D ined as a critical enterprise. Howe E er, practical production bystudents is growing in importance partly as a result o D the dissemination o D ICTs but itremains marginal in the large majority o D cases, particularly where D unding is limited. Many o D our respondents emphasised the need to integrate theory and practice : while theyrecognised that students were highly moti E ated towards production acti E ities, they alsostressed the need D or re D lection rather than creati E e production D or its own sake. The latter wasseen to be a particular danger with the spread o D ICTs, where there is a risk o D encouraging a

purely technical emphasis on production, which is lacking in critical thinking or questioning.


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Ne H ertheless, in some contexts (e.g. U SA, Hong Kong, Canada), the separation betweentheory and practice was not always seen as negati H e; and se H eral respondents were quitehappy to encourage creati H e media production as a H alid acti H ity in its own right. Likewise,whilst the dri H e towards ICTs appears to prioritise technical competence with new technology,certain educators did not see this as necessarily incompatible with the kinds o I practical or creati H e tasks that were undertaken in a media education context. As we ha H e noted abo H e,some argued that the wiring up o I schools could usher in I ar greater prospects I or media

education at a later date, eH

en iI

it did not appear to do so immediately. They argued thatstudents would need some kind o I critical competence in using ICTs ( I or example, ine H aluating in I ormation encountered on the Web); and that enabling them to cope with thenew technology might e H entually accelerate attempts to establish a more I ormal mediaeducation curriculum.

In some contexts, the spread o I ICTs, together with partnership projects with newspapers andTV stations, has led to a growing emphasis on the H ocational (or pre- H ocational) aspects o I media education. This may well be a consequence o I media education needing to account I or itsel I in a new educational context characterised by a strong emphasis on technical skills andcompetence. In others, howe H er, these de H elopments ha H e merely highlighted the di H ision o I skills in media teaching and learning. As one researcher puts it, students ha H e the technicalknow-how, but not the critical sense with teachers it is exactly the opposite. And despitegaining greater access to computers, e H en in industrialised countries schools are o I ten

woeI

ully short oI

other kinds oI

equipment, such as teleH

ision sets.U ltimately, it is possible that the ad H ent o I ICTs will recon I igure the relationship betweentheory and practice in media education; and that it may result in a broader re-de I inition o I thesubject I ield. On the other hand, media education may well ha H e a great deal to contribute tothe de H elopment o I critical educational thinking in relation to ICTs. There is a potential I or dialogue here which seems, at least at present, to be largely un I ul I illed.

3.5 P a Q tne Q ships

In principle, respondents accepted that partnerships o I H arious kinds were a necessity I or theI uture de H elopment o I media education. Howe H er, their past experience o I such partnershipswas une H en.

With a I ew exceptions (e.g. Japan, Canada, New Zealand), there was H ery little e H idence o I regulatory bodies being interested or in H ol H ed in media education, e H en though some wereinclined to express support in principle. Se H eral o I our respondents were uncertain about themeaning o I the term regulator, howe H er.

In terms o I the in H ol H ement o I media producers, there was considerable H ariation. In manyinstances, respondents reported that media companies were indi I I erent or e H en hostile towardsmedia education; and in some cases, this was not con I ined to commercial companies, butextended to public ser H ice broadcasters also. On the positi H e side, se H eral countries ha H eNewspapers in Education schemes; and elsewhere, there are projects in which children work alongside tele H ision or I ilm producers (notably in Latin America). The Australian Teachers o I Media (ATOM) sponsor annual awards which acknowledge a strong and growing relationship

between media pro H iders and media educators. Positi H e partnerships o I this kind o I I er clear gains in terms o I pro H iding access to knowledge, institutional practices and arrangements, interms o I sharing expertise and resources and (in some instances) in terms o I pro H iding

H ocational ad H ice. As most countries appear to be lea H ing behind the protectionist approachto media education, the time is ripe I or greater collaboration.

In poorer countries with a shorter history o I media education, or with less interest I rom policymakers, the de H elopment o I media education absolutely relies on such partnerships, I or example the production-based projects in China and Hong Kong. In some instances, they arenecessary simply in order to ensure the pro H ision o I basic resources (e.g. Mozambique).

Howe H er, se H eral respondents expressed some scepticism about the H alue o I such initiati H es,and others pointed to the dangers o I blurring corporate and educational objecti H es. These


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arguments clearly relate to broader concerns about the growth o R commercial in S ol S ement inschooling. Some respondents argued that such partnerships should not be seen merely as a

R orm o R public relations R or media companies, and that educational aims should be morestrongly emphasised. By contrast, one o R our Canadian respondents o R R ered an extremelyupbeat estimation o R the S alue o R such partnerships.

One issue that was raised by se S eral respondents here was that o R copyright. While laws on

this matter S

ary signiR

icantly, in some countries the work oR

media educators is signiR

icantlyconstrained by the unwillingness o R companies and go S ernments to wai S e copyrightrestrictions on educational use.

3.6 T T aining

The lack o R appropriate training R or teachers o R media education was an almost uni S ersalcomplaint amongst respondents. The lack o R a centrally organised strategy meant that teacherswere either training themsel S es or being trained in S ery ad hoc ways. At best, respondentswere able to cite a U ew examples o U uni V ersity-le V el courses in their country, but the numberso U teachers being trained in this way were considerably short o U the numbers required. It was

U requently reported that centralised resources were being spent on ICT training, and that thiswas superseding any systematic attempt to educate teachers speci U ically U or media teaching.

A high proportion oU

teachers oU

specialist media courses haV

e no training beyond aU

ew pro U essional de V elopment days. A notable exception would be in Western Australia, whereteachers must ha V e a degree in the U ield and a postgraduate diploma in education and whereonly trained media studies teachers are appointed to teach the subject. More commonlyreported was the case in South A U rica, where specialist teacher training U or media education isnegligible. As in other contexts, teachers o U media tend to possess literature degrees andextrapolate their media teaching U rom their experience with working with texts in literature.This is not only inadequate but o U ten lea V es teachers ill equipped to deal with the moresociological or practical dimensions o U media education that most countries belie V e areimportant.

E V en where media education is U irmly established in the U ormal school sector, there isU requently a lack o U specialist training U or teachers. In Canada, a U ter U i U teen years o U concertedlobbying, media education is now a mandated part o U the curriculum. Yet the U act that there isalmost no training means that it is V ery di U U icult to put the mandate into practice. In someEuropean contexts (e.g. Denmark, England, Scotland), specialist media courses are nowde V eloping in schools. Yet this de V elopment has not been met with an increase in specialistteacher training. In England, there is only one specialist course in initial teacher training ( U or Media with English), with places U or a U ew students each year. Gi V en that more than 50,000students U ollow specialist media courses between 1 4 and 18, the le V el o U teacher training is

V ery U ar U rom adequate to meet the demand U or specialist teachers. There are Masters degreesand a number o U distance learning diplomas a V ailable but e V en this is not in line with the le V elo U expansion in schools. In Greece, a new Media Literacy course designed U or SecondOpportunity Schools (a continuing education initiati V e) demands that teachers ha V e initialtraining in journalism or communication studies and be required to undergo a specialisttraining programme intended to prepare them in the speci U ic aims, content and pedagogicalmethods o U media education. Otherwise teachers o U media may ha V e little or no U ormaltraining and U ind it hard to gain access to in-ser V ice training or U urther pro U essionalde V elopment.

This lack o U training is being redressed in all kinds o U di U U erent ways. The world-wide growtho U courses in media and communications at undergraduate le V el means that some teachers willnow enter media teaching with a specialist background. There are a U ew examples o U

postgraduate courses (e.g. U SA) or distance learning (e.g. Spain, England) being establishedto support the pro U essional de V elopment o U media teachers. But most o U ten training is pro V ided

by less U ormal organisations and without substantial support U rom a centralised source. Insome instances, training is pro V ided by networks o U teachers themsel V es: in New Zealand,Australia and Canada, U or example, there are li V ely specialist subject associations which

produce resources, run con U erences and maintain dialogue with practicing teachers on the


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ground W ia newsletters or journals. The dearth o X training in other contexts has been addressedthrough a range o X publishing initiati W es: in Japan, China and Hong Kong, X or example,commercial publishers ha W e begun to address the lack o X resources and training teachers X ace.One o X the most repeated concerns here was that X uture training should X ocus on ways o X applying media education principles to the new technologies, in order to counter theinstrumental and uncritical approach that is seen to dominate much ICT training.

3.7 Needs and Ob

stacles

Our respondents all recognised the importance o X X ormal recognition at go W ernment le W el o X the importance o X media education as a key area X or all students. Most reported that their go W ernment pays some lip-ser W ice to the ways in which students need to be equipped to copewith li X e in a multi-media world. But many X ewer respondents were able to cite go W ernmentmandates which speci X y where in the curriculum and how speci X ically this might take place.

As we ha W e noted, the most commonly expressed need was X or specialist teacher training; andspeci X ically X or media education to be implanted in the X irst phase o X teacher education.Continuous training is necessary to upgrade skills and practices, and to support the ongoingexchange o X resources and strategies. In some poorer countries (such as India), the generalin X rastructure X or training teachers is in need o X a radical injection o X cash in order to impro W eresources ( X or example, access to specialist publications and research). By contrast, in Japan it

was argued that goW

ernmentsX

ocus on technology had brought about a shiX

tX

rom a critical pedagogy to a training agenda; and in this context, a more low-tech approach to medialiteracy work might be appropriate. In most countries, howe W er, there is still comparati W elylittle digital technology in schools, and this hinders the de W elopment o X more practicalapproaches to media education.

One o X the main needs expressed by many respondents is X or an authoritati W e de X inition o X theaims and conceptual basis o X media education. While practitioners are generally W ery clear onthese points, they ha W e been less success X ul in communicating their ideas to politicians; and asa result, politicians tend to W iew media education suspiciously, or at least with indi X X erence.E W en in contexts where media education has quite a strong and established place in thecurriculum, the lack o X clarity regarding assessment o X ten reduces it to a marginal subject thatcan be sprinkled across other subject areas and pro W ided X or without any specialist training X or teachers. Most damning o X all is that in a country like Australia, with quite a well establishedmedia education history, quali X ications in media education are not counted X or uni W ersityentry. The low status o X the subject continues to make it di X X icult to argue X or change, lea W ingeducators in a position o X lobbying X or an area that has no X ormal recognition.

The absence o X research was also registered as an obstacle. Most education systems that arecentrally organised or at least centrally assessed are innately conser W ati W e in their pro W ision.R igorous, academic research about the W alue and e X X ecti W eness o X media education isnecessary i X go W ernments are to be persuaded to change policy. Acting internationally wouldhelp local pro W iders to draw on success X ul examples X rom other contexts, adding to the weighto X the lobby X or media education locally. Although such research has been undertaken in somecontexts, it needs to be more e X X ecti W ely disseminated.

4. Recommendation Y o ` U NE S CO

[]

The X ollowing are among the key areas identi X ied as potential arenas X or U NESCO, in a roughorder o X priority :

1. Training . The lack o a training was identi a ied by b ery many respondents as a keyobstacle to a uture de b elopment. It was suggested that U NESCO could pro b idetraining ( b ia distance learning) as well as o a a ering resources and support a or localtraining initiati b es.


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2. Reso c r d es. Here it was suggested that U NESCO should play a role in enablingeducators to share resources, and in supporting those who could adapt and translateresources e or di e e erent national contexts. A website was seen as a key e irst steptowards achie f ing this.

3 . Lobbying . Many respondents expressed the f iew that authoritati f e statements aboutmedia education e rom a body such as U NESCO would assist their attempts to arguethe case e or media education with national policy-makers. Past or existing statements

e

romU

NESCO could also be more widely distributed.4 . Resear d g

. It was argued that U NESCO should e acilitate the sharing anddissemination o e existing research ( e or example f ia a journal) as well as supportingnew research initiati f es, both local and comparati f e.Se f eral respondents pointed to U NESCOs International Clearinghouse e or Childrenand Violence on the Screen, and suggested that many o e the abo f e aims could beachie f ed by establishing a similar institution in the e ield o e media education.

In de f eloping the abo f e initiati f es, respondents pointed to a number o e concerns thatwould need to be addressed :

1. Media and I C T . While many respondents welcomed the possibilities o h digital media, most argued that media education should encompass the h ull range o h media; and they sought to distinguish their own position h rom what they saw as the

uncritical euphoria surrounding ICTs in education.2. A global perspe i ti p e. Se q eral respondents r elt that there needed to be agenuine international dialogue about the r ull range o r approaches to media education,rather than one dominated by English-speaking countries. Any initiati q es in this r ieldwould need to address the issue o r translation; and, in the case o r con r erences or international meetings, pro q ide r unding to ensure attendance r rom de q elopingcountries.3 . C opyrig

s

t . Laws on intellectual property q ary a great deal internationally, but in se q eral countries copyright poses signi r icant restrictions on the work o r mediaeducators. This issue might be addressed q ia international legal authorities.4 . Informal and formal media ed t u ation . As noted in our introduction, thereis a need to pull together in v ormation about in v ormal media education (which wouldrequire a di v v erent approach v rom that adopted in this sur w ey), and to de w elopconnections between this work and that being undertaken in schools.

C. T x e Manila Initiati y e 13

The third initiati e was organised by WACC and SIGNIS World in2002. Twenty-nine participants rom Cambodia, India, Indonesia,Japan, Korea, Malaysia, thePhilippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Sri Lanka,and Vietnam met in Manila in late September 2002 or a six-daysymposium. As a result o six days o deliberations, the gathering cameup with six concrete, do-able initiati es. But be ore presenting theseinitiati es, they deliberated on the context to place and carry out theinitiati es. The whole e ort and the document that was produced hascome to be called T he M an il a In itiative.1

4

1. S ix Initiatives

Collecti ely called T he M an il a In itia tive, the six initiati es are :

(a) An Asian online newspaper,(b) Community radio project,

13 M. Nadarajah (ed.), Pa t hways t o C r itica l M ed ia E duca tion and Beyond (Kuala Lumpur : ACN, 2005)14The document has been edited here with permission.


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(c) Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) at local le els,(d) Gender sensiti ity awards,(e) Study o the status o media education in Asia, and( ) A clearinghouse and centre to collect, recei e, maintain and distribute (Asian) media

educational resources.

While the gathering sought to go beyond critical media education, at the conclusion o the

meeting it was realised, and rea

irmed, that t he agenda o f med ia educa tion and re f orms wasvery much a live and s t rong . Thus, while recognising the need to acti ely build networking,lobbying (directly or indirectly), media monitoring and direct action to bring about re ormsand democratic changes in the media en ironment, the role o critical media education andre orms to contribute to such changes was maintained. Media education has a long-term

positi e impact on society. In this, bo t h med ia educa tion and med ia re f orms are int er-dependen t .

In addition to the abo e, the re- ormation o the media was addressed not only in terms o speci ic re orms internal to the established mainstream media but also media educationalinstitutions or practices. The approach to media re orms adopted was more comprehensi e.The deliberations thus broadly addressed :

a) the more undamental issue o people-oriented and people-managed alternati es to

(undemocratic) mainstream mass media; b) the concern or the nature o media content, i.e. democratisation o the media alsomeant the need to address the nature o media content in terms o its creation andownership;

c) the realisation to build relationships with other mo ements that address critical issuesa ecting the democratic basis and sustainability o societies in general in order toacti ely engage with them or political strength and or sourcing alternati e mediacontent; and

d) the need or an o erall ramework and methodology to guide media education andre orms.

The deliberations at the meeting which co ered a large number o areas and concerns are presented below in greater detail under sel -explanatory headings that re lect the questions theManila Group asked itsel throughout the six-day engagement.

2. Whe e A e We Now?

Media education that is carried out across Asia consists largely o local acti ities or initiati es.Speaking rom an Asian context, they are ragmentary and isolated. Media education has so

ar been an internal and local acti ity. There is no acti e collaboration or engagement withother mo ements struggling or democracy and sustainability. There is e en hardly muchcollaboration across the media education groups working in their national contexts. Inaddition, media education acti ities are not directly or comprehensi ely connected with mediare orms. While there are examples o a number o methodologies to achie e critical mediaeducation (or critical media literacy), there has been an absence o thinking on comprehensi e

rameworks. There is an absence o a common ision o the uture, which has the power to bring not only the media education groups together but also engage them with the other mo ements.

Speaking rom a societal de elopment context, unsustainable trends lourish. Whilerecognising many positi e trends that sustain all li e, the presentations and deliberations at themeeting identi ied the ollowing challenging realities :

y U ndemocratically power ul mega media corporations /conglomerates,y Aggressi e corporate, top-down globalisation,y An increasingly unipolar world,y American-centrism /Americanism,y Commodi ication and homogenisation /standardisation,y Fordism to Murdochism,


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y A belligerent and prescripti e TV (prescribing, not describing, reality /li estyle),y Power ul and globally per asi e brand cultures,y McDonaldisation with the exclusion o other logicsy Indiscriminate and unsustainable consumption patterns,y Inner-city and urban-centrism,y Anti-women, tribal communities, minorities, senior citizens, children and the disabled,y Worsening o social injustice, inequality, po erty, and powerlessness, andy Irre ersible unsustainable economic growth paths.

These realities also indicate a number o critical tensions or example, globalism s.localism, mass media s. community media, broadcast s. narrowcast - that need to beaddressed by ad ocates o democratic media, media educationists and e entually taken up or resol ed collecti ely with those working with other issues.

3. Do We Have a Common Vision?

Where should we be going as a community? The deliberations suggested a common uture based on :

y justice,y peace,y integrity o Creation / Nature,y f reedom o f in f ormation,y f reedom o f communication,y equity & equality (across gender, in intra- and inter-generational relationships and

between cultures),y spatial and temporal inter-connectedness, andy spiritual orientation and sustainable alues.

4. What A e the C itical A eas o Deli b e ation and Involvement?

The deliberations at the meeting brought to relie f many critical themes and sub-themes inrelation to media education, re f orm and the democratisation o f the media. The f ollowing areaswere part o f the deliberations : networking, approaches to media education

pedagogy /methodology, business /f inance model, alternati e media, media regulatoryen ironment, training and capacity building, new in f ormation and communicationtechnologies f or democratic communication, inter-religious dialogue, engaging withmainstream media, gender equity and equality, critically engaging with di ff erentconstituencies, and examination o f trends, o er iews and f rameworks. []

a) N etworking The discussion on networking reiterated its importance. In addition, it examined :

(i) networking between media education groups,(ii) networking between media education groups and ci il society (non-

go ernmental) organisations that take up other issues like human rights, and(iii) networking at an Asian le el and at a global le el.

b) Media Ed j ationk

edagogy/Met l

odologyAn interesting and important theme that emerged as part o f the deliberations was theone on media education pedagogy or methodology. There were a number o f approaches :

(i) deconstruction o f media texts and the recognition o f multiple readings o f asingle text (promoted by those who use media literacy rather than mediaeducation ),

(ii) conscientisation and action-learning approach based on the work o f theBrazilian educator, Paolo Freire,


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(iii) the audience as an acti m e and critical interpretati m e community, and(i m ) an approach that integrates action and participatory research.

Another related concern that was co m ered about media education was the question o f how to institutionalise it in the f ormal education process. As a speci f iccourse / programme along with other courses or a general one to per m ade all subjectsas a component part? One other way that contributes to institutionalisation is to issue

certif icates, a

m

alue in a highly credentialistic society.

c) F inan n ial Model Among the themes that constantly came up and demanded attention was f inance : How will media education or media re f orm acti m ities be f unded? This was a criticalconcern as f unds are required to carry out many o f the media education /re f ormacti m ities. This concern was not so much a topic co m ered in the papers presented butone that came up as part o f the discussions on the presentations. The deliberations ona business /f inance model included the f ollowing :

(i) obtaining f unds f or projects f rom national and international f undingorganisations;

(ii) social marketing o f products such as books, reports, productions or subscriptions, or social marketing o f ser m ices such as political consultancy,

risk analysis, membership, equipment rentals, or online platf orms(technology-based ser m ices);

(iii) f orming a Trust or a special Fund supported by like-minded people; and(i m ) strategic engagement with business houses f or support, sponsorship or

contracted sales understanding.

This theme seemed to ha m e generated signi f icant discussion. A lack o f f inancialresources makes it di ff icult to undertake a sustained and pro f essional le m el o f mediaeducation and re f orm. There was a need f or a sus t a inab l e financ ia l mode l . A o oiceof caution was also raised regarding engagement with business, or becoming a

business.

For once this is done, it becomes di ff icult to draw a line, or maintain a balance, between the need f or pro f it (i.e. the need to be f inancially independent) and the goalof social de o elopment. Such a situation, it was recognised, may e o entually lead to thecorruption o f the social agenda. It is perhaps worthwhile here to keep in mind theemergence o f a debate within business and management circles - particularly thosewho see the importance o f o alues in business endea o ours - about the pro f it-only

bottomline, with a trend, at least largely theoretical now, towards considering business practices that go beyond pro f it to include social and ecological bottomlines(the triple bottomline initiati o e, with another initiati o e emerging that includesspirituality).

d) Alternati es to Mainstream Mass MediaAnother theme that engaged the Manila Group was the alternati e to the top-down,one-to-many broadcast mass media. This issue was raised and discussed in terms o f two major areas :

(i) de elopment and dissemination o f alternati e content, and(ii) community-oriented media (in terms o f management control, scope o f

technological deployment, and content creation).

An interesting idea that came up in this context was the discussion on the need to ma inst ream a lt erna tive med ia , i.e. work at the scale o f the mainstream media yet besocially and politically pro-people and pro-democratic. The Internet o ff ers a real


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possibility f or this as the experiments in Malaysia and South Korea show 15. In thiscontext, community radio and its immense potential captured much attention.

e) Reg latory En ironment Another major theme was the regulatory en ironment. The regulatory en ironmentcontributes to monitoring, control, maintenance and de elopment, all to realise

greater democratisation of

the media. During the deliberations, a number of

sub-themes emerged :

(i) the a ailability o f comprehensi e legislation but poor implementation anden f orcement;

(ii) the need f or rules /codes o f conduct, rating scales and iewing guides bynational and international organisations f or iewing tele ision programmesand f ilms, particularly meant f or children and teenagers;

(iii) systematic and periodic regional and global media monitoring on speci f icthemes like representation o f women or threatened local cultures; and

(i ) establishment o f multi-stakeholder press councils.

f ) H man Reso r es De elopment

Training and capacity building was addressed directly and indirectly. Buildingalternati es to the mass media and re f orming media in the direction o f greater democratisation in ol es building human capital and astly impro ing thecommunication competencies o f the public or speci f ic constituencies among the

public. It requires an alternati e human resources de elopment strategy. For instance,f or greater gender equity and equality in media or f or the community radio project tosucceed requires impro ing competency le els and knowledge o f managementtechnologies.

g) Dialogi Model of t

e MediaInter-religious and inter-cultural encounters are ine itable in Asia, with so manyreligious and cultural groups li ing in close proximity to each other. Media has amajor role to play in dealing with and shaping a dialogic relationship between the

arious religious groupings to achie e peace f ul and sustainable co-existence. Thiswas a speci f ic but signi f icant concern taken up f or deliberation through two casestudies. They pro ide insight into the processes o f dialogue-building through media

between arious groupings in multicultural Asia. The deliberations pro ided astronger emphasis f or a dialogic model o f the media, a model characterisation thatis an apt description o f alternati e media suggested in the deliberation o f the ManilaGroup.

h) Engagement wit

t

e Mainstream Mass MediaThis interesting engagement led to two possibilities :

(i) Should alternati e (democratic) media engage with mass media or goseparately?

(ii) Assuming that engagement is necessary and use f ul, how does alternati emedia engage with mass media?

The deliberations suggested the second as more practical and politicallyad antageous. Thus, a particular f orm o f engagement to in f luence mass media f or thecause and concerns o f the alternati e media is to o ff er attracti e awards f or particular kinds o f co erage o f issues and reporting in the mass media. Another f orm o f criticalengagement is to issue regular and respected ratings on programmes produced bymass media. There is also great scope in running sensitising and training sessions f or mainstream print and electronic media journalists that acquaint them with criticalmedia issues.

15 M a l ays iak ini in Malaysia and Ohmyne w s in South Korea.


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i) Marginalised Gro ps and T

emesGender equity and equality was a major concern with at least three signi f icant

presentations and one panel discussion co ering the issue. While this is certainly acritical issue in society and the media, there were a number o f questions that wereraised and discussed.

One critical question was about increasing the number of

women journalists in themass media. While an increase in the presence o f women in the media is necessaryand not disputed, Augustine, f or instance, raised a pertinent question : What do theyreport or write on? Or what alues guide their work as journalists or reporters or important decision-makers in the hierarchy o f the media organisation? The euphoriaof seeing a greater presence o f women in the media will be dampened i f we see thatall journalists men and women alike write on f ashion or something thatencourages unsustainable consumption or production. While this is something thatneeds to be addressed, there is also yet another lingering and unsol ed problem : the

participation o f women in their own representation that satis f ies male desire anddominance. While it is a reasonable argument that women are part o f a script thatthey did not concei e or write, it remains an issue to ad ocates o f democratic mediaon how to deal with the problem o f representation o f women as sex objects i f onegroup o f women actually olunteer to represent themsel es as such. The situation is

of

course diff

erentf or those who are economically

f orced to represent themsel

es assex objects.

The deliberations on these areas suggested that the issues need to be addressed and astrategy o f media action de eloped that incorporates both genders. An associatedreality that was mentioned but ne er really discussed was the problem o f therepresentation o f other disad antaged and marginalised groups ethno-culturalminorities, indigenous people, the disabled, children and senior citizens.

j) Trends, O z er z iews and F rameworksA critical obser ation was made with re f erence to globalisation and its impact onmedia education, re f orms and democratisation. There was a major concern thatcommodi f ication riding on the back o f corporate globalisation would lead to global(cultural) homogenisation and standardisation. This would result in the culturalmarginalisation o f Asia, as e idenced by a particular aggressi e and cultural f ormthat globalisation has taken Americanism.

The American idiom in f luences not only our tele ision programmes and their f ormatting but also how a news presenter reads the news, and the li f estyles o f theyoung in Asia. A major media agenda co ering education and re f orms is needed todeal with this problem, e en as scholars both radicals and apologists debate o er issues o f globalisation, localisation and hybridisation. One suggestion which dealswith technological trends, is that not only must media acti ists appropriate the newin f ormation and communication technologies but also begin loading contentsystematically into the new irtual space to continue the cause o f media educationand re f orms. A f ailure in both areas will see greater cultural marginalisation in theyears ahead in this millennium, when the print media and traditional broadcast mediawill diminish in spread, use and importance. In the end, we need a new approach toglobalisation, which is democratic and which respects di ff erence and di ersity. []

The engagement with trends, o er iews and f rameworks is to comprehensi ely position democratic and dialogic media ad ocacy in relation to education and re f orm,to achie e both practical and political aims. One o f the most critical issues raised wasthat the proponents o f media education and media re f orm do not just examine issuesemerging f rom an undemocratic and unsustainable media. Such a f ocus will limit theimpact o f the media education or re f orm mo ement. I f these acti ities are properly

placed within the contexts and f rameworks that ha e been suggested, it would then be possible f or ad ocates o f democratic media to


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(i) unders tand that unsus tainab ility goes beyond the med ia,(ii) expand the scope o f the con tent they w ill dea l with and d issem inate, and(iii) engage w ith members o f other mo vemen ts, thus bu ilding up the mo vemen t

f or a sus tainab le soc iety co llectiv ely en visaged abo ve.

5. What Shou ld We Add r ess and Deve lop Fu r the r Ind ividua ll { and T h r ough Ou r

O r gan isat ions?

Wh ile the Manila Group was involved in ne twork ing, research and mon itor ing, med iaeduca tion, de veloping a lterna tive med ia, and med ia re f orms, the d iscuss ion on issues andconcerns y ielded many and var ied themes:

y Network ing be tween groups involved in med ia educa tion,y Sys tema tising pedagog ical methodo logies f or med ia educa tion,y Developing and conso lidating ac tiviti es f or a lterna tive med ia,y Engag ing s trategically with ma instream med ia,y Developing a sus tainab le financ ial mode l,y Regu lating the med ia en vironmen t,y Res isting corpora te globa lisation and g loba l med ia corpora tions,y Monitor ing the med ia,y Fighting cu ltura l homogen isation,y Impro ving and intens if ying f ace- to-f ace commun ication,y Seek ing gender, cu ltura l and inter-genera tiona l equ ity and equa lity,y Tra ining and capac ity bu ilding,y Encourag ing inter-re ligious and inter-commun ity dialogue,y Conf ron ting the cha llenges o f the In terne t and those introduced by I CTs,

y Investing labour in appropr iate med iatechno logies,

y Targe ting groups and f rameworks con texts, andy Building s trategic, long- term a lliances w ith o ther

movemen ts work ing towards sp ir itually vi bran t, sus tainab le f utures.

6. T h | M } ~ il } In iti } tiv| Pl an o f Act ion

[] The Manila Initiative a response to some o f the issues andconcerns the Manila Group ar ticulated was conce ived as an ac tionstrategy to be pursued in the pos t-sympos ia per iod by the Groupcollectiv ely in order to promo te med ia educa tion and re f orm. I t

covered the f ollowing areas:

a) ne twork ing, b) media mon itor ing/wa tch, andc) med ia educa tion.

a) Ne tw

i ng

Initiative I: Asian

nline Newspaper (i) Th is wou ld involve

creating a da tabase (peop le, institutions, resources), and developing a s trategy that will involve a f eas i bility study.

(ii) The f easi bilit y study w ill include a model f or ach ieving financ ial independence, social branding, and promoting the un iqueness o f the ser vice.

Initiative II: C ommunity Radio Project


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(i) This will in ol e an assessment o f the current situation in relation tocommunity needs, f easibility and /or acceptance.

(ii) This would also include a study o f the issues and problems such as licensingand f ranchising within a particular national context.

(iii) There will be an e ff ort to examine immediate opportunities in such areas asTimor Leste ( f ormerly East Timor), Indonesia and the Web (i.e. a WebR adio).

(i

) Documenting successf ul case studies o

f community radio projects as in thePhilippines or those achie ed through U NESCO and U NICEF.

b) Media Monitoring/Media W at

In itia tive III: G l oba l M ed ia M on it or ing Pro ject ( G MM P) a t Loca l Level s (i) Continue the monitoring o f womens issues in the media together with the

local representati e o f WACC.(ii) The local study will be expanded to co er other issues relating to

de elopment. Howe er, the part co ering women will adopt themethodology o f GMMP.

(iii) This will start in the Philippines.

In itia tive IV: G ender Sens itivit y Awards

(i) Gender Sensiti

ity Awardsf or ad

ertising in three media, i.e. TV, radioand newspapers.(ii) This acti ity will be organised Asia-wide in the coming years.

c) Media Ed ation

In itia tive V: S t udy o f t he S t at us o f M ed ia E duca tion in Asia(i) This study will explore the strengths and weaknesses o f media education in

Asia.(ii) The topics explored will include, among others, pedagogical methodologies,

f inancial resources management, existing and required human resources andcompetencies, a ailable capacity, instructional and deli ery technologies,content (issues addressed), national or local spread, whose responsibility,obstacles f aced by media educationists, and de f inite changes /ref ormsachie ed.

In itia tive VI: C l ear inghouse/Resource C ent re (i) A great deal o f resource materials on media education are a ailable in Asia

and other parts o f the world.(ii) We need a combination o f a R esource Centre and Clearinghouse f or

networking, acquisition, storage, retrie al and dissemination o f suchmaterials across Asia f or those intending to build up the cause o f criticalmedia education.

(iii) Such a centre could also encourage exchange o f human resources inaddition to educational resources.

(i ) Since building up a resource centre /clearinghouse would in ol e renting physical space and managing the networking (to sustain the clearinghouseresponsibility), acquisition, classi f ication and dissemination, f inance wouldha e to be raised.

(V) Moving Fo wa d

1) Institutionalising Media E ducation

A care f ul reading o f the three initiati es on media education presented at length abo eseems to suggest that there are some corecommon concerns in relation to mediaeducation. Beyond all the analyses and rich details, there is that urgent need across


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the globe to creati ely institutionalise media education in f ormal and in f ormaleducational settings. This is one collecti e wish that comes through ery strongly.There are di ff erences as to how to go about this, and it is worthwhile examining thosediff erences e en as we keep a f ocus on our commonalities.

2) Media Education in a S ocial S etting

There is one important distinction that comes through i f one looks at the three criticalinitiati es, and that is, media education in relation to media re f orm and other ci ilsociety initiati es. While the f irst two f ocuson media education generally, the third,which is essentially an Asian e ff ort, seems to see media education in a qualitati elydiff erent way. While there seem to be an exclusi e concern f or media education in thef irst two initiati es, T he M an il a In itiative, while recognising the f act that the agendaf or media education is not yet exhausted in Asia (and certainly not in the Paci f ic),locates critical media education in a larger social setting. First, media education isseen in close connection to media re f orm. Second, media education is seen as oneamong other social mo ements which seeks to create a more just, sustainable andspiritual world. Thus, in the process o f becoming sel f -conscious, media educationhas to locate itsel f in critical relationship with media re f orm and with other ci ilsociety initiati es. Otherwise, it will become an isolated e ff ort and f ace the danger o f losing its orientation and its f uture.

3 ) S igni icant Conce ns: E xamining O ientational and hilosophical Bases

The obser ations below pro ide f or some orientational and philosophical basis f or critical media education in Asia and the Paci f ic. They are o ff ered as perspecti esinthe continuing discussions and debates on media education by concerned institutionsand indi iduals the world o er.

a) Media Education as a t o Values Education

A care f ul examination o f the studies presented here suggests that media education hasto be seen as part o f a bigger educational e ff ort, i.e. alues education. Through alueseducation, we want to f orm a character o f desirable qualities such as respect,compassion, integrity, tolerance, diligence, responsibility, honesty, altruism and

justice, among others. We want to do this through a process o f alues clari f ication tounderstand the implications o f choices we make (in the market, f or instance) and their impact on people, relationships and nature. We would like to see that our children andyoung adults possess alues that contribute to sustainability. We want our f ormalschooling system to acti ely promote these alues. Media education is seen as

contributing to character f ormation and there

f ore to alues education.

With this de elopment, it is not di ff icult to make a connection to spirituality. Perhapsit is possible to concei e o f media education as supporting a process o f sel f -disco eryand coming to terms or handling ones spirituality (in this case, f oryoung persons). Itcan also helpintroducethe notion that media education is social communication withinthe concerns o f sustainability and spirituality. Forming such an opinion is supported

by the studies here since they show that in Asia and the Paci f ic, the Church has beenand is in the f ore f ront o f media education initiati es. T he rou t e f rom t he hard agenda


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o f med ia educa tion t o t he so ft and deep agenda o f spir it ua lit y i s d ifficult but t ha t poss ibilit y opens up as a pa t hway f or t he progresso f med ia educa tion in Asia and t he Pac ific.

b) Media Education as Cont i b uting to S el Identity (Cultu al Identity)

Another issue that comes up f rom a care f ul examination o f the arious studies here isthe issue o f the identity o f indi iduals and nations in Asia and the Paci f ic region andthe critical role played by media education. Does media education ha e such a role atall? Can it contribute to addressingsuch a massi e and di ff icult concern? Yes, it seemsthat it is one o f the aims o f critical media educationists in the region. This is in sharpcontrast to the obser ation made in the U NESCO study. To reiterate :

Historically, media education has tended to mo e away f rom an approach based oninoculation towards one based on empowerment. These are admittedly loose terms, butthey were recognised and used by many o f our respondents. The notion that media education

should aim to def end or protect young people against media in

f luence seems to ha

e lostground in recent years. E en where our respondents recognised that this approach was still pre alent in their own countries (e.g. Hong Kong, U SA), they tended to reject it or suggestthat it needed to be superseded. The more contemporary de f inition o f media education seemsto be based on notions such as critical awareness, democratic participation and e enenjoyment o f the media.

This seems like an unbuttoned and careless statement, gi en the experience o f Asiaand the Paci f ic in this study. The impact o f global media in Asia has o f course

brought in a great many bene f its. But, in the same cocktail o f bene f its, the globalmedia sets the agenda to marginalise and /or destroy local cultures. The mass media

promotes unsustainable li f estyles and alue orientations that celebrate money andmaterialism.

The Paci f ic Islanders, in this context, are worried about two kinds o f dangers. 16 Theaff luent li f estyle around the globe, and particularly the de eloped nations, iscontributing to climatic change, which is raising the sea le el and threatening tosubmerge their homes. While this real danger is lurking behind, the li f estyle thatcontributes to such a danger is being transplanted into these beauti f ul islands throughthe global media, threatening to submerge their cultures. This is double ictimisation.How could anyone tell media educationists in these islands not to de f end their youngand to critically examinethe alues they acquire through the global media? And tosuggest that such an analysis has lost ground seems e en f urther away f rom thetruth.

Media educationists in Asia and the Paci f ic certainly see the importance o f beingcritical but see such a critical attitude playing a major role in building a locally-inf ormed, historically contextualised sel f -identity. Such a critical sel f -identity hasimplications at se eral le els. It has implications f or national identity, what goes inand gets circulated as content, creation o f that content and ownership o f it.

c) Media Education as Epistemological C itique

16 M. Nadarajahs con ersation with media acti ists in Fiji.


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The whole f ield o f knowing has been challenged by the mass media. While our knowing was once experiential or based on our historically contextualised culturalsources, today our knowing is chie f ly through the inter-locked national and globalmedia. While in a small and less complex society, direct experience is possible, thenature o f society today, because o f its largeness and its complicated systems, require

the media. Knowing and arri ing at the truth is today a media-ted e ent. Thiscreates a serious problem in epistemology and has a wide range o f implications.

i) Media Rep esents Reality

First, media does not re f lect reality; it represents it. The representation process isgo erned by selection and narrati ising con entions and strategies, which isgenerally moti ated by politically, economically or culturally-power f ul interestgroups. Gi en this situation, what is it that we are consuming as media content? Andwhat kind o f truths are we arri ing at? What kind o f subject are we being made intothrough the in f ormation and the explanatory narrati es that are being consumed ianews programmes, sitcoms, serials, soap operas, etc? This is certainly a concern o f media educationists here. One o f the issues coming out o f this directly is the issue o f sel f -identity (cultural identity) addressed abo e.

ii) Vested Ve sion o Reality

Second, stories o f the world are presented by power f ul interests, projecting a particular ersion o f reality. We tend to see one side o f the story and arri e at ourtruth. People do not necessarily re f er to multiple sources, and not all will be able tocriticallyread media messages. That is an ad anced competency, and one that is partof the agenda o f media education. But to expect children and youth to be masters o f interpretation is not realistic. So, arri ing at the truth in todays context is really amuch more complicated process f raughtwith all kinds o f agenda, put out there bydiff erent interest groups, crowding our thoughts and f eelings. It requires one tode elop media education as a means to critique in f ormation and knowledge that are

being presented to audiences nationwide or worldwide in the name o f mediaprof essionalism and objecti ity.

iii) Ente tainment Fo mat

Thirdly, there is a tendency to create an epistemology o f entertainment by presenting the world largely through an entertainment f ormat, whether this is pureentertainment, edutainment and /or in f otainment. This entertainment-ising o f theworld is a serious matter and a ff ects the young ery intimately while they are still in

the play stage of

their li es. This entertainmentf ormat is a great way to deli er cultural goods that are alien and which are highly re f lecti e o f a consumeristic

culture, both o f which media educationists in this part o f the world are f ighting.Thereality being constructed is that the world is a place o f entertainment and allother realities are f leeting ones; that which is entertaining is what is real and

permanent. This is certainly a concern o f media educationists here and is one o f the basic problemsrequiring engagement. It is a problem that seems to articulate the needf ormedia education as a critique o f mass media and the worlds it creates.


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(VI)Concluding Rema ks

Many o f the conclusions that are part o f the report o f the U NESCO study are also theconclusions o f this study, and some are elaborated below.

a) Conceptual U nde standing and Methodologies

The countries in the study are operating f rom three le elsin the area o f critical mediaeducation : beginner, intermediate and ad anced. Conceptual understanding andmethodological consideration ha e reached an ad anced le el in countries like Indiaand the Philippines. It is at anintermediate le el in countries like Malaysia, Thailandand Fiji. The Solomon Islands and Pakistan are generally at the beginners stage.Di ff erent concepts are used media education, media literacy or edu-communication.Though groups in the Philippines, India and Malaysia show e idence o f work onconceptual clari f ication and methodological emphasis, this is still a low-key area. Thetendency has been to adopt de f initions o f those in alien cultural settings. Taken

positi ely, the situation as it exists allows f or inter- and intra-regional partnerships onthis matter.

b) Implementation Methodology

Comparati ely speaking, implementation, particularly in the f ormal educationalsetting, is high-key in India and the Philippines, and it is low-key in Malaysia,Thailand, Pakistan, Fiji and the Solomon Islands. Generally, howe er,critical mediaeducation has not recei edthe go ernments attention, and there f ore has not beenincorporated into the f ormal educational curriculum (at the primary and secondaryschool le els). Gi en this situation, the best possible approach seems to be theintegration approach, i.e., integrating media education with other subjects, f or instance, moral studies. It will certainly take a while to ha e it as a subject at theschool le el, though it means more lobbying work needs to be carried out.

Meanwhile, the responsibility o f ci il society groups is important to sustain theagenda o f media education and work on this at a community le el. In this, it is a f actthat in Asia and the Paci f ic, the Church has been in the f ore f ront o f media educationin the non- f ormal sector. Implementation o f media education programmes has been

inf luenced by this,

f or instance, it determinesto whom media education reaches.Incomparison, M ed iac t , a secular organisation in south India, seems to ha e been able

to de elop media education programmes comprehensi ely, and on a long-term project basis, reaching out to all.

c) Media E ducation Cu iculum

Here too, there are two groups : ad anced le el operators and beginners. India, thePhilippines and Malaysia show e idence o f curriculum thinking, while the other


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countries are really struggling to get at least one-time programmes organised. Theimportance o f curriculum thinking is that it allows f or more creati einstitutionalisation o f media education concerns and topics. And this, o f course,allows it a longer li f e span.

Comparati ely speaking, the topics co ered are orientational topics touching on how

to read media in its social contexts and how to produce media products. In Malaysia,as part o f a course on social communication, there is an e ff ort to go beyond mere

production o f high- alue communally-oriented media products to include a topic onmarketing such products using the principles o f social marketing.

d) Resou ces o Media E ducation

This is really a serious problem across the board, andco ers two critical areas human and f inancial resources. Both are matters o f considerable concern in the Asia-Paci f ic region. As f ar as human resources are concerned, it is rather di ff icult to f indcompetent persons to carry out media education work. Asia, at least,is trying to mo e

beyond the oluntary stage o f gettingacti iststo work on media education. Thismeans employing experienced persons and /or graduates f or the job. U nf ortunately,media educators who are just looking f or a job do not ha e the commitment o f thosewho work on a oluntary basis. The challenge is to mo e f rom the oluntary stage toengaging paid pro f essionals without losing outon the commitment. That is a di ff iculttask and it is a process in progress. The challenge is in getting the commitment o f

pro f essionals.

Financial resources to carry out media education work are meagre in the region thatneeds to be co ered, i.e., the countries o f Asia and the Paci f ic. Inno ati e approachesare also not acti ely sought. In T he M an il a In itiative particularly, there was a major discussion on a sustainable f inancial model. Howe er, the studies here indicate thatno such models were e en thought o f and the traditional dependence on internationalf unding organisations is still ery much in place. M ed iac t has been trying a number o f ways, including working closely with well-established educational institutions f or research f unds. This is de f initely an area that needs a lot o f attention. A closer examination o f the possible relationship between local philanthropic e ff orts andcritical media education would be help f ul.

e) Vision and Mission o Media E ducation

Whether stated explicitly or implied, ision and mission notions, to a good extent, arewell articulated. Howe er, mission statements are a lot weaker than the isionstatements, implying the need to f ocus on themission that li es the ision. Also, there

seems to be ery little thinking about media education as social communicationsoperating within the notion o f sustainability and spirituality. But this is not the real problem f or the whole region o f Asia and the Paci f ic. The deeper issue is that in the isioning and missioning process, there is no sustained attention to buildingmembership and leadership, nor is there a serious concern f or partnership andnational, regional and inter-regional networking. Media education initiati es operatealmost in national isolation. So in e ff ect, there is no movemen t o f med ia educa tion inAsia and the Paci f ic. This is a serious condition when the challenges be f ore mediaeducators and media education organisations are so aried and di ff icult. The e ff orts to


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build a mo ement are o f course restrained, among others, by the lack o f resources. Butthere are also many negati e organisational cultures particularly in relation toleadership, personality cults, cornering o f f inancial resources, entrepreneurial

NGO-ism, etc. that need to be gi en up f or the bene f it o f building a mo ement inAsia and the Paci f ic.

Gi en the realities o f critical mediaeducation in Asia and the Paci f ic, what issupposed to be done? Many o f theguidelines are already captured in theconcerns o f the U NESCO documents andT he M an il a In itiative. The f ollowing aresome concerns generated by the studieshere.

(VII) S ome Guidelines o CounteHegemonic Action

a) C itical Media E ducation Cu iculum

The need is to build a curriculum that hastwo components one, a general section,and the other, a section f or contextualising

and localisingmedia content. Such a curriculum can be f ormulated, not necessarily f or consumption in the f ormal educational process, but f or all groups that are working oncritical media education on a community le el. This will help to

i) achie e some commonality among media educators in Asia and the Paci f ic,ii) institutionalise media education as an inter-regional initiati e, and

iii) initiate a process o f working towards an inter-regional social mo ement. Thecurriculum must be based on the notion o f critical media education as spelt out in theintroduction.

b) Lo bb ying o C itical Media E ducation

The go ernments in the Asia Paci f ic region ha e not addressed the reality o f criticalmedia education and helped in its incorporation into the f ormal educational process.The reality is that they ha e been more connected to the media corporations than tomedia educators and their organisations. This situation has to change signi f icantly sothat critical media education is co ered at the primary and secondary le elsimmediately. The lobbying f or critical media education must be an urgent agenda, and

should be directed in a concerted manner at the inter-regional, regional, national andlocal le els.

c) S ustaina b le Financial Model

One o f the serious problems f aced by the critical media education initiati es isobtaining f inance to carry out work in the local community. The popular model is towrite a project proposal and apply f or f unds f rom big f unding agencies, usually inEurope. To o ercome this, there must be some inno ati e mo es by media education


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organisations in the region. There is, f or instance, a growing awareness o f building a philanthropic mo ement in Asia. Media education organisations could, f or instance,work towards building bridges with those in ol ed in the philanthropic initiati es inAsia. This may lead to some producti e relationships. There may be other f orms o f f inancial resources a ailable locally or regionally. A iable model needs to be built sothat f inancial resources do not f orm the one major obstacle to critical media education

eff orts in the region.

d) Netwo king and a tne ship with Othe O ganisations

Media educators and media organisations in ol ed in critical media education mustdrop their exclusi e mentality, and begin the process o f understanding that mediaeducation is key to the success o f other ci il society organisations in ol ed in

building a just and sustainable society. Through the work o f other organisations,media educators can access alternati e sources o f inf ormation and narrati es and usethem in their work. They can help broadcast alternati e sources o f inf ormation. It alsohelps build the collecti e strength o f all ci il society initiati es, which will bene f itcritical media education.

e) Building a C itical Media E ducation Movement in Asia and the aci ic

This is an urgent need. Many o f the problems associated with media educationorganisations can be addressed through a well-organised regional mo ement with anorganisational setting. Such a mo ement can help de elop competency dictionariesand build competent human resources, build capacities o f organisations and addresstheir isioning, missioning and leadership issues, hold meetings f or coordination,sharing and partnering, create and sustain intra-regional and inter-regional networkswithin media education organisations and between media education organisations andother groups, be a documentation centre and clearinghouse o f resources produced inthe region, and help build the f inancial iability o f national organisations.

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Ab out the Autho

Dr. M. Nadarajah is a sociologist by training. He belongs to the Asian PublicIntellectuals (API) Community, a community o f f ilmmakers, theatre people,songwriters, poets, acti ists and academics working in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia,Philippines and Japan f or a sustainable Asia and World. His work is now f ocused on

culture, communication /critical media education, spirituality and sustainability. He isalso presently in ol ed with organisational de elopment processes.

Nadarajah holds a Ph.D. (sociology) f rom the Jawaharlal Nehru U ni ersity (JN U ), New Delhi, India. He li es and works f rom Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (and sometimesf rom Chennai /Bangalore, India). His email address is [email protected].

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