Bangkok and Israel: Maintaining balance
As I write, the centre of the city of Bangkok is in some turmoil as the confrontation between government troops and the opposing Red Shirts protesters appears to have reached a climax.Ìý Who knows what will be happening in the city when you read this.
One of the buildings caught up in the fighting was the state-owned Channel 3 TV station in Bangkok - and it's not the first time in Thailand's recent history that a broadcaster has been attacked by demonstrators.
As Professor Duncan McCargo from Leeds University and an expert in Thai politics explained to me this week, both sides of the political divide have targeted the media in the past, recognising the symbolic value of gaining influence over the broadcasters in Thailand.
But perhaps more important is how local residents receive their information about on-going developments. Increasingly these include tweets and other social media. But in recognition of their power to mobilise support, many websites have been censored or closed down. Ìý
I've been talking this week to a listener, Tracey Martin, who lives and works in Bangkok - and she told me that although many TV stations and the English-speaking newspapers are pro-government, she has learned to see through the spin.
And staying with the issue of bias in the media, some listeners objected to a recent Witness programme, in which two Israeli veterans share their memories of the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.Ìý
Critics argued the edition was not balanced and should have reflected the displacement of many of thousands of Palestinians in order to accommodate the new citizens of this hotly-contested area of land.
It raises the whole question of how balanced can a subjective account of an event be?Ìý And is this what we want anyway?Ìý
Don't we want to escape from the norms of balance when we move away from conventional news and current affairs story-telling to a more immersive narrative.Ìý
As the editor of Witness, Kirsty Reid, points out, she has chosen to reflect the Palestinian experience in a separate programme very soon.
Are there any personal accounts we would deem to be too offensive? I'd be interested to know from you for instance whether it's actually more instructive to learn the motivation of a perpetrator of violence rather than the victim in, say, a civil war or ethnic cleansing programme?
Or would you feel that was unbalanced?Ìý Let us know....
And just to finish off this week's agenda on Over To You - and to show we don't shy away from controversy - do you get frustrated by foreign voices and accents translating non-English-speaking interviewees on news and documentaries?
One listener in London David Corbett, certainly gets annoyed - and he cites the case of his former students in Spain who struggled to understand the translations unless they were spoken by people with "received pronunciation" - or what is sometimes known as "91Èȱ¬ English".Ìý
Would English spoken only in British tones make the World Service a very boring place?Ìý Over to you.... we want to hear your multi-accented opinions on this one!
Rajan Datar is the Presenter, Over To You
Over To You is your chance to have your say about the 91Èȱ¬ World Service and its programmes. It airs at 00:40, 03:40 and 12:40 every Sunday (GMT).
Comment number 1.
At 21st May 2010, Schoviews wrote:Bangkok and Japan. There was a time when the Japan government would change its' Prime Minister ever so often. It just makes you wonder who they want for a leader of their country. Similarly, what do the Thais want ? Isn't it enough that there are some people in this country that are poor ? The money that is used for fighting can be used for their education, for their food, for their everyday lives. Should it become a full blown civil war, who will benefit from it ? Definitely not the Thais themselves. On the spot interviews are great. But they should not be lopsided like they are seen as supporting one side only. And if it is not impossible, in a language which everyone in the world can understand.
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Comment number 2.
At 23rd May 2010, Jodie in Virginia wrote:If there is one thing that brings home the breadth and diversity of the world's people, it is the vast variety of accents that speak English on the 91Èȱ¬. I admit to having been sometimes frustrated with both British and world-wide English accents when initially listening to the World Service years ago, but my ear has adjusted, I can now identify where speakers are from by their accents, and English is much more of a "world language" to me now that I have learned the rhythms of my native language (American) spoken with the lilt of other voices. If folks want to use the 91Èȱ¬ to learn English for themselves, they can listen to the news presenters... beyond that, the rest of us are benefiting hugely by learning to understand each other both phonetically and through first-hand, different viewpoints. Thank you World Service. Keep doing what you are doing. (BTW ~ I was intrigued by Lise Doucette's recent comment that her Canadian accent would not be tolerated if she were a presenter on local British radio. She sounds great to me!! :)
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Comment number 3.
At 4th Jul 2010, pornnapa wrote:Class struggle issue is just aÌýfacing to gain sympathy from foreign community and media many of whom buy into the romantic idea of grassroots uprising. Rachel Harvey, Alastair Leitheada and Vaudine England seemed to be convinced by this gimmicky punchline. No one denied that many of the protesters are genuinely dedicated to their course. But, whether their struggle is the root cause ofÌýred shirts' uprising is still a question. I agree that we never ignoreÌýgrassroots' suffering and dismissed it that it might not real because it is and we must not and cannot pretend that it isn't. Every Thai person have grown upÌýappreciated that farmers are the 'backbone' ofÌýthe nation that we could not survive without. Sadly thatÌýThai farmersÌýare mostly uneducatedÌýandÌýMPs they elected to represent them prefered to keep it that way. Most MPs have been in political all their lives meaning they have no other source of incomeÌýand yet they are insanely wealthy. The same MPs from the same political parties were elected over and over againÌýby the same provinces. Should the grassroots want to blame any one, it should beÌýtheir own elected MPs for not fighting for them. Although I'm not political enough to understand how populist policy works but after almostÌý2 termsÌýof Thaksin's admin., I didn't see any long-lasting benefit for the country only a front for his capitalising from the state which lead to conviction of assets concealingÌýand corruption.
I see that the 91Èȱ¬ has conduct its reports with huge misperception and that I think is extremely dangerous. International correspondants must be equipped with eyes and ears for local culture and history otherwise they can never enlight the public with balanced and accurate info.
91Èȱ¬ must have received quite a lot of complaints regarding their unbalanced reports by now. It's amazed me that you have yet to try defending your point by seeking further the truth and providing more comprehensive account of events and issues they have experienced. The only response from Ms. Harvey was to asked viewers to change channel!
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