This paper makes an attempt to provide a glimpse of the evolution of media over the years in response to the changing warrant of times. Then it discusses the scope of media literacy and the importance and characteristics of media and media bias. An attempt is then made to discuss the advent of mass media in Bhutan and their role in the emerging political scenario. The paper concludes by suggesting the need for a more enlightened responsibility for the Bhutanese media.
In the new political environment mass media will play a vital role in sustaining the democracy. In fact the success of the new path, so laboriously and single-handedly forged by His Majesty, will in large part depend on how the media is managed and practiced in the country. This paper looks at the development of the modern mass media in Bhutan and the role that it has played in the overall modernisation process. It attempts to answer the questions pertaining to issues such as press freedom in Bhutanese context, the need for a Bhutanese media model, and the role of the public service and the independent press in the changing political scenario. To simplify the argument presented in this paper, mass media shall mean print, radio, and television.
This paper critically assesses the globally dominant pattern of complex relationship that obtains among mass media, market economics, and both cultural and environmental change. Making use of Buddhist conceptual resources that link the meaning of development, environmental conservation and attentional enrichment, the effects of consuming mass media commodities are evaluated in ways that are compatible with Bhutan's overarching commitments to enhancing Gross National Happiness (GNH). Contemporary media are a complex result of historical processes shaped by the interplay of wide-ranging social, economic, political, cultural and technological forces and systems. Understanding how media affect public culture and environmental quality requires gaining critical perspective on these processes and the multi-dimensional context of their consolidation. The author wants to focus on a particular pattern of connections obtaining among mass media, communications technology and market economics— a pattern of interdependence that has crossed key thresholds of intensity and scale to begin globally transforming the quality and directional character of attention itself, thereby affecting the very roots of public culture and effecting a systematic erosion of environmental diversity. In spite of its complex texture, the broad outlines of this pattern of connections can be relatively simply formulated. As a result of compounding efficiencies correlated with specific advances in transportation, manufacturing and communication technology, by the mid-20th century there had emerged global markets of sufficient reach and density to bring about a commodification of the entire range of goods and services needed for basic human subsistence, including food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, education, sensory stimulation and a sense of belonging. In the early phases of this process, mass media played a key role in coupling markets and consumers by transmitting advertising content specifically designed to manufacture consumer need. In later ...
This paper attempts to establish a coherent role for the Bhutanese media as Bhutan seeks to create an enlightened society through the pursuit of Gross National Happiness. With the debate on the Constitution of Bhutan begun, the paper will discuss the implications of the freedom of media, freedom of speech, and the right to information that will be guaranteed. It will try to portray these vast concepts in Bhutan's context and look at the new freedoms – with their intricacies and contradictions – to find the lines of balance. The paper highlights two critical issues as the basis for the discussions and as foundations for the role of the Bhutanese media. The first is that the media must provide – in fact it must become – the public space for Bhutanese society. The second is that, given the powerful forces of state control and commercial drive that is shaping the global media, the Bhutanese media must not lose focus of its priority in providing – and in being - a public service. This paper provides a strong justification to instil the concept of public service in the Bhutanese media against the tide of media commercialism that has overwhelmed the global media.
Pakistan yet again featured on global headlines when on Tuesday, May 21 2020, a journalist, relatively critical of the country's military and security agencies, was kidnapped in broad daylight by men in police uniforms. Matiullah Jan, who works in Islamabad, was picked up at around 11 a.m. by 10 men after he arrived at a school to drop off his wife for work. The kidnapping became the headline on the country's social media – with journalist associations, civil society and opposition politicians demanding Jan's release. Twelve hours after his kidnapping, and after consistent pressure exerted by civil society on social media, Jan posted on his Twitter account that he was back at home safe: I am back home safe & sound. God has been kind to me & my family. I am grateful to friends, national & int. journalist community, political parties, social media & rights activists, lawyers' bodies, the judiciary for their quick response which made it possible, Jan tweeted. While narrating the ordeal of his kidnapping on his YouTube channel, Jan explained how men in Police uniforms picked him up from outside his wife's school. He further explained that soon after he was picked up, he was kept in a cell in an unknown location with his face and eyes covered. He believed that his kidnappers were the same people 'who have always remained against democracy and the country's constitution'. […]
Significant political, economic, and social developments are taking place in Bhutan. With the coming of democracy and elections in 2008, the impact of media on Bhutanese society is going to be far more increased. Newer challenges are ahead and how to cope up with these challenges is going to be a Herculean task. In most countries, the mass media has moved away from the positive expectations of civil society. Global competition and the profit motive have made the media forget its social responsibility. Instead, it is busy transforming citizens into spectators by offering them entertainment in the name of knowledge and communication. A major challenge for media in Bhutan will be "how to get the people out this whirlpool of consumerism?". What role will the media have in making the people at large rise from their individual selves to the spiritual level of responsible citizenship? To what extent will the media in Bhutan be circumscribed by neutrality, impartiality, security, anonymity, and meritocracy? These are some major issues requiring attention in this paper. With the passage of time, the fourth estate, the press and and the media, has not only become an important factor in Bhutan but is playing a major role in educating the public. Irrespective of age or qualification, the language of a large number of people is being significantly influenced by it. The general use of phrases, syntax, and idiom is often being determined by the way media use them. The electronic media has really made the world a global village. Just by pressing a button one gets to know the happenings in virtually any part of the globe. In the days to come the extent to which the media is going to control people's aspirations in Bhutan cannot be undermined. The political changes that are to take shape in 2008, the general election and democracy, are going to bring a lot more uncertainties about the role of the media. The world over what one sees today is the media is trying to set out a pattern which is held to be sacrosanct. It projects its ...
These are difficult days for democratic countries. Among other challenges, advances in technology have allowed the seamless dissemination of manipulated or fabricated text, video and audio. The pervasiveness of social media has facilitated false information to be rapidly amplified to receptive audiences, and geopolitical contexts like that of South Asia are no exception. Within this scenario, with the whole world currently trying to battle an 'information crisis', this paper focuses on the efforts displayed by Europe in recent years so as to combat disinformation. It critically reflects upon what South Asia's approach could be to fight this eminent information crisis. It suggests that for an effective, long-term solution, it is imperative to move beyond tactical approaches that target the "supply" side of the problem. This paper argues that in order to succeed, regulatory policies must be accompanied by offline measures of socio-political inclusivity and transparency: healthy debates, education and knowledge dispersion and socio-cultural conscientiousness.
Managing modern media represents a fundamental challenge for Bhutanese government, society and culture. As a commercialised force, modern media seeks new markets in order to profit from them. The extent to which any local population is genuinely enhanced in the process is a matter of serious debate. This paper considers the downside of commercial media and its intentions in Bhutan by looking at the nature of commercial television and how it might be constructively managed by Buddhist aspirations. Central to the argument that follows is the psychological nature of desire and dissatisfaction and how these states are to be minimised in a Buddhist sensibility but maximised in a commercialised one. Commercial television is driven by a marketing agenda that seeks to embed deep-seated desire and dissatisfaction in order that these be profitably exploited by selling material goods that will nullify these newly cultivated feelings of lack. From a Buddhist perspective this can only be destructive to positive progress when one bears in mind that the Four Noble Truths see desire as constituting the critical entrapment that needs to be overcome if individuals (and society as a whole) are to be capable of meaningful progress towards genuine feelings of fulfilment. Advertising on television aims to undo the pull of Buddhist aspiration and entrap populations within a delusional and harmful materialism. The conclusion reached in this paper is that Bhutan ought to consider an outright ban on television advertising in the same way as it has effectively banned billboard advertising across much of the country.
This paper is a discussion of the role of print media in Bhutan in providing public space for cultural knowledge and discourse. Increased exposure to global cultures and consumption of mass media has spawned the growth of a modern cultural trend that challenges the survival of the material and non-material contents of Bhutanese cultural identity. External threats to indigenous Bhutanese culture must be approached intelligently and wisely. The print media in Bhutan serves as an effective mediator between the persistent winds of an aggressive global culture and the small, vulnerable Bhutanese culture. To the English-using Bhutanese population, and to foreigners keen on Bhutan, Kuensel (Bhutan's print-based national newspaper), and Tashi Delek (Druk Air's in-flight magazine) are a potent source of cultural knowledge and a forum for cultural expression and exchange, both, therefore, supporting the general quest for cultural maintenance. The discussion of the paper will relate the need for cultural sustainability to the development concept of Gross National Happiness. It argues that the maintenance of the Bhutanese literary, spiritual, and folk cultures through dissemination and articulation in the print media will help contain the overriding influence of modernist cultural values based on ruthless egotism and commercialization of human values. The paper also looks at the role of print media in cultural dissemination and maintenance in a democratic setting. The heavy incursion of non-Bhutanese cultural materials through the mass media inside and from outside Bhutan will influence public knowledge, desire, and lifestyle; hence the need for the print media to recognise its social and cultural responsibilities.
This paper builds on Royal Government of Bhutan's Organisational Developmet experience and holds a plea for developing performance indicators for Bhutanese organisations to measure their contribution to GNH. Organisational performance is a part of good governance, one of the four pillars and nine domains of Gross National Happiness.
In this study, the role of Kuensel in fostering the democratic process is estimated on the basis of four important functions: provider of information, interpreter of the events, initiator of public debate, and as a watchdog. Since its inception Kuensel has greatly contributed to disseminate the information and later in promoting public discussion, albeit on a smaller scale. Findings of this study suggest that Kuensel's regular readership is not very high and also that its news reporting despite its above average quality cannot make an impact on people's opinion. The finding of this sample study suggests that Kuensel is rated as average by the people for its role in fostering democracy. Its aggregate point score is 22.66 out of 40. Its failure to explore and focus the crucial community issues, and consequently its inability to provide alternative solutions to the community problem has resulted in the poor rating. Its role as a watchdog over the public institutions is also rated below average, which is not surprising considering that about 82 per cent respondents believed that reporting in Kuensel is subject to censorship. The regression estimates suggest that issues relating to participatory journalism are vital in strengthening the democratic process. It is relevant for not only Kuensel but also for other media in general.
[.] We therefore decided to conduct a research on this organisation, which is developed in the second section of this policy brief. Created in December 2017, EU DisinfoLab gained full notoriety soon afterwards when it managed to convince French media and French authorities that an internal political scandal was being propagated by a 'Russian conspiracy'. To our knowledge, this was the most obvious and almost successful contemporary disinformation manoeuvre in the democratic world. Although an independent study rapidly managed to debunk 'EU DisinfoLab's Russian conspiracy theory, and although some among the independent press and various observers clearly denounced the manipulation, the fact is that the organisation continued its activities and – as is the present case – even managed considerable success in its disinformation strategies. We proceed, in the subsequent section, to analyse the context of EU DisinfoLab'. We discovered it was part of a sprawl of 'disinfolabs' simultaneously emerging in 2017/2018, originally financed by technology companies. Whereas other, partnering organisations lack a style of aggressive and insulting disinformation comparable to that adopted by EU DisinfoLab, we found the logic of their actions debatable, as they seemed to believe that being sponsored by the biggest players in the information industry provides them with the authority to become some sort of information police. We analyse the 'Information disorder: Toward an interdisciplinary framework for research and policy making' and we see therein an attempt to transform into the doctrine of the democratic world a framework for suppressing pluralism and freedom of expression – increasing the power and influence of the information industry's major players and deviating the State from its crucial role of insuring a level playing field for information providers. Modern disinformation strategies are yet more formidable and dangerous than those classic. They strive in autocratic states; yet are also able to permeate democratic ...
This thesis is a critical political economy analysis of the role played by the broadcast and distribution of the Mzansi Super League (MSL), a T20 cricket tournament in South Africa, in the transformation project of Cricket South Africa (CSA). The case study methodology is based on the four-leaf clover framework developed by Ruth Teer-Tomaselli. Cricket in South Africa is often viewed as a white and middle-class dominated sport, and CSA has been mandated to redress the historical racially segregated sport through a transformation agenda that focuses on changing the demographics of cricket. This paper investigates how the broadcast of a cricket tournament like the MSL on a Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) can have a positive effect on transformation due to the increased access and wider distribution. The broadcast regulations acknowledge this, as is seen in the introduction of ICASA draft regulations seeking to make more sport available on PSBs. The South African sports broadcast landscape is dominated by MultiChoice's SuperSport, which has acquired a monopoly on sports broadcasting. The South African Broadcast Corporation (SABC) cannot compete, given its financial difficulties. A fall-out between CSA and SuperSport meant the SABC broadcast the MSL tournament, which lost CSA revenue but gained it a bigger audience. This thesis uses lived experiences and examples to illustrate that despite a financial loss, the wider media distribution of cricket will have positive effects on transformation that could counter the financial loss, especially if CSA creates new streams of income so that it relies less on broadcast revenue. In the current climate, however, compounded by internal financial and management issues, CSA cannot afford to forego the revenue from a private broadcaster and thus has no choice but to pursue a deal with a private broadcaster and lose out on the potential benefits of a wider audience. ; Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies, 2021
