Sri Lanka faces enormous challenges, not only in the areas of conflict resolution and national integration, but also in the face of the crisis of governance and challenges which need to be addressed to ensure Constitutionalism, the Rule of Law and participatory democracy. One of the major weaknesses in governance in Sri Lanka is the absence of transparency, under a strong culture of authority and secrecy rather than a culture of justification and transparency. When the 2004 draft bill on the subject was endorsed by both major parties, the general assumption was Sri Lanka would be among the...
Regions: Asia and the Pacific
Media in Pakistan is passing through a critical juncture where security and safety of media and media persons have become a serious question. On the one hand, the media landscape is expanding – with over 70 television channels and over 130 private FM radio stations in existence today, and over 17,000 working journalists. On the other hand, the safety and security of journalists have emerged as major issues during this period. More than 80 journalists have lost their lives during past ten years in the line of their duty. Intimidation, harassment, threats and arrests of journalists have...
Based on a number of informal meetings and discussions with lecturers and students of journalism schools as well as with media practitioners and through direct observations, a clear need has emerged to strengthen and improve the quality of journalism in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. One of the entry points that can be used for this effort is journalism education, especially through the development of curricula to make it competency-based and up-to-date with new trends and challenges taking place in recent times.
Within the above context, UNESCO's Tehran Cluster Office planned...
Many countries in the Asia-Pacific Region present serious concerns in gender imbalances and inequities in employment opportunities, female participation and the portrayal of women and girls. This project designed in line with The Beijing Platform for Action for Equality, Development and Peace, which places specific obligations on the media, both in the way women participate and in how they are portrayed and has objectives that require signatory nations and their citizens to ‘increase the participation and access of women to expression and decision-making in and through the media and new...
CRST FM104 is the only radio station licensed to broadcast from Tafea Province (which includes the 5 most southern islands of Vanuatu) to the people of Tafea Province. It is the only licensed community radio station in the country. The national broadcaster, the VBTC (Radio Vanuatu and Television Blong Vanuatu), commercial FM radio stations, other national media outlets including newspapers are generally not able to be seen or heard in Tafea Province which results in its people being unable to receive updates on events taking place across the Province, as well as nationally and globally....
Although provincial radio stations exist in more than ten provinces in Cambodia, most of their main contents or programs are the relayed programs from the Radio Nationale Kampuchea (RNK) in Phnom Penh. Therefore, most of the programs do not serve the needs of the community people since the information needed by provincial people are different geographically. It is important that community people who are the target listeners of those provincial radios get the most from the local programs. Provincial radio stations generally lack professional capacities of media workers / program producers...
Myanmar, a developing and war-torn country, is currently undertaking a comprehensive democratic reform process initiated with the appointment of a civilian government in March 2011, which continued with the parliamentary election held in April 2012. The transformation towards a democratic setting is also involving the media sector, for which the Government has embarked into a substantial legal reform and announced that it will take necessary measures to enable a free, pluralist, professional and diverse media to flourish. In this context, during the International Conference on Media...
The safety of journalists is not only about physical wellbeing. Safety extends to protection against impending psychological injury resulting from exposure to violence, conflict, disaster and tragedy. Both psychological safety and physical safety are inextricably linked. Research shows¹ that people who experience psychological trauma may have impaired decision making processes and take more physical risks than non trauma affected persons. Further studies show that people who are educated about ‘emotional (trauma) literacy’ are able to change their behavior and understand the emotional...
China is a country with numerous ethnic minorities. The Chinese government has paid attention to the development of the broadcasting and television industry in the minority areas. In 2011, the coverage rate of broadcasting and TV in these areas has reached 98%. Yunnan province has inhabitants altogether from 26 distinct minorities living in eight autonomous prefectures. Each prefecture has its own TV station. In the past, these TV stations have gradually developed from relaying the programs produced non-locally by CCTV and by the main provincial TV station of Yunnan, to producing content...
In Mongolia, a long overdue Law on Gender Equality was passed in February 2011. The law is explicitly prohibiting any act of exclusion, restriction and discrimination against women in every sphere. The legislation obliges central and local governments, political parties, private employers including media organizations to install regulations and mechanisms to ensure gender equality and to fight sexual harassment, and introduce penalties to those who break them. The government has also set up a task force to draft a new Gender Equality Action Plan for the next 5 years.
In spite of ...
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