ASEAN News: A Lot on Politics and Leaders, Too Little on Social ...

Credit: Cheah Sinann

BANGKOK, Jul 17 ? Reportage of ASEAN by newspapers in the 10 ASEAN member countries is Establishment-oriented, has very little in-depth investigation, is mostly about politics and rarely touches on social and development issues, according to a content analysis study done by IPS Asia-Pacific on how the region?s newspapers in report on South-east Asia?s premier organisation.

What comes out as ?ASEAN news? are stories that closely follow high-profile summits and ministerial meetings, quote prime ministers, presidents and ministers, and are usually in the form of event-focused spot news, going by a review of published newspaper articles about ASEAN in the study entitled ?Reporting Development in ASEAN: A Content Analysis?.

?It raises the question of whether ASEAN publics can be adequately informed by this kind of coverage,? according to the study, done by IPS Asia-Pacific with the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

Reflecting the dominance of state voices in the reporting by South-east Asian newspapers on ASEAN, 67.33% of the 1,882 ASEAN-related articles monitored in the study carried quotes from its main sources that were government officials, diplomats, politicians, and ASEAN officials.

Academics and researchers accounted for 18.38% of all sources quoted, and civil society and non-government societies, business people, individuals and labour unionists accounted for only 14.29% of all sources.

?This means that the voices of ASEAN leaders are the ones most heard in media reports, and that top-level state policies dominate the news agenda, while the views of individuals from the ASEAN constituency and groups like labour unionists rarely got space,? wrote communications professor Ubonrat Siriyuvasak, who analysed the research data gathered by IPS Asia-Pacific?s team of journalist-researchers.

?The intelligentsia, academics, think tank analysts, civil society and business people, who are equally important stakeholders in the development of South-east Asian societies and economies, seem to be overlooked as key sources in news articles, analyses and commentaries,? she added.

While there was a good amount of coverage on the political and foreign-policy aspects as well as economic issues around ASEAN, there was a ?severe lack of reportage on social issues that included poverty, education, unequal development and gender ? even as ASEAN pursues its goal of becoming a community with deeper links among its member countries,? Ubonrat said.

The ASEAN articles did not show much discussion of other development issues, which are key to strengthening the foundation of the ASEAN Community due in 2015. ?The inclusion of commoners? voices would make the ASEAN news agenda more people-oriented,? she added.

The content analysis study reviewed 19 newspapers in ASEAN countries, both English and local-language ones, and coded each ASEAN-related article according to nine indicators developed by IPS Asia-Pacific, ranging from format and topic to time frame of publication. The analysed articles were published during the periods February-March and July-August in 2009 and 2010, for a total of eight months.

The content analysis showed that the most prominent subjects of focus in the ASEAN articles were territorial disputes and conflicts, foreign affairs and diplomacy, which accounted for 22.03 percent of the ASEAN articles reviewed. The least-reported topics ? with less than 2 percent of the total ? were poverty, health, emergencies and natural disasters, education, unequal development and gender.

In terms of placing in the newspapers, majority or 51.49 percent of ASEAN-related stories appeared in the inside pages, while 17.27 percent were classified as foreign/international news.

?The articles were rarely published as banner stories on page one and full-page stories, those being deemed most important or attention-grabbing,? the report noted. Ubonrat suggested that there might be a perception by news desks that ?ASEAN stories are ?foreign news? and not ?our news?, or that their readers may not find news about ASEAN highly relevant to them?.

The study also found that a nearly equal amount of reportage about ASEAN was done during ASEAN?s summits and meetings, and outside these. However, it noted that ?the key messages found in these articles concurred with those reported during ASEAN-organised events?.

More than 70 percent of the studied ASEAN-related articles were in spot or straight news format. A little over 40 percent of the stories were of medium length (10 to 20 column inches). A little over half of the reports were done by staff journalists, followed by 22.32 percent by foreign wire agencies or syndicated news services.

?Western wire news agencies, syndicated services, regional news agencies and national press reports were important news sources on ASEAN-related issues,? the report said. ?They filled the gap where some reportage was missing, or presented a different perspective from local reports. Likewise, local media?s picking up a story from a foreign press report can be a means to speak the unspeakable. This is because media freedom in ASEAN varies considerably from country to country.?

The results of study are included in the book ?Reporting Development in ASEAN?, which IPS Asia-Pacific published in July 2013 as part of the ?Reporting Development in ASEAN? programme with the IDRC.

After looking at the kind of news reports on ASEAN, the study made suggestions on how more space could be created for more in-depth and development and socially relevant subjects, going beyond the usual practice of following ASEAN-organised events and looking into more of what the organisation does and the kind of regionalism it pushes.

These included encouraging news desks and journalists to pursue more independent reportage, ?probe into crucial and diverse news agenda(s) that differ from top-down official reportage, and provide more creative editorial space for such work?.

It suggested that news desks and editors ?expand the range and definition of the news agenda around ASEAN to go beyond ASEAN official meetings, summits and events, to include human interest stories and the voices of those who are under-represented in articles relating to ASEAN?.

It encouraged newspapers and journalists to give more space to doing commentaries and analyses, include more diverse news sources in stories and use more infographics to better inform audiences about ASEAN.

At the same time, the study pointed to the opportunity for more creative and relevant coverage of ASEAN issues given the greater interest in then with the coming of the ASEAN Community in 2015.

?Now that ASEAN is working on building an ASEAN community beyond the oft-reported diplomacy and trade, there is thus an opportunity to raise the issue of what discourse and priority on development can be found within ASEAN, and how its kind of regionalism can be more relevant to the human development of its societies,? Ubonrat noted. ?(Abigail Lee)

Read also:

http://www.aseannews.net/reporting-development-in-asean-2/

Source: http://www.aseannews.net/asean-news-a-lot-on-politics-and-leaders-too-little-on-social-issues/

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