“Think Global, Act Local” Should Drive Asian Media
By Tharuka Prematillake

Manila, 18 July 2008: Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi’s famous slogan “think global: act local” was echoed many a times during a panel discussion on the role of the media in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) at the 17th Annual Conference of the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre which concluded here on Thursday.

In the panel discussion hosted by the well-known Filipino television talkshow host Cheche Lazaro from PROBE Media and ABS-CBN News Channel here, Aniruddha Bahal, Editor in Chief of Cobrapost.com in India argued that, “there is a necessity to connect to the global world when we deliver news to the local communities because it is impossible to work in isolation”. Therefore, in order to move with the trend, it is necessary to connect with the global media. However, at the same time the media should not forget to emphasise on the local interests and its’ culture instead of moving totally away from localisation. Otherwise the content might not suit the local communities.

In order to be acceptable to the audience it is necessary to ensure that the content provided to the audience is what they are looking for. Therefore, journalists have a huge challenge in ensuring that the information they provide is not only truthful but is also suitable for their audience. Because when one talks about the MDGs it is local action which matters, if the countries are to achieve the goals by the 2015 deadline set by the United Nations. These views were echoed by all four panellists from India, Philippines and Australia .

The MDGs were conceptualized in September 2000, when member states of the UN gathered at the Millennium Summit to affirm commitments towards reducing poverty and the worst forms of human deprivation. The Summit adopted the UN Millennium Declaration which embodies specific targets and milestones in eliminating extreme poverty worldwide to be reached in 15 years.

The MDGs are a set of 8 targets which covers the areas of poverty and hunger; universal primary education; gender equality and empowerment of women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV-AIDS, Malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and develop a global partnership for development.

It was the view of all the panellists that the word MDG is seen by many journalists merely as a UN jargon and most do not understand it in the proper context. Dr Alan Knight, from the Queensland University of Technology, pointed out that most Australians would have no idea of the MDGs and these are not “sexy enough” to grab the attention of the journalists and hence the public. Some members from the audience also stated that the awareness rate about the MDGs is minimal. Hence, it is time for us to look back once again and find ways on how the media can play a role in relating the MDGs to the community.

Lazaro noted that though the term MDG may not be sexy enough, the issues should be sexy to catch the attention of the public. Hence, it is important to provide the audience with the information in a way that suits their local interests yet in an interesting manner. She said that to improve the local media’s capacity to relate the MDGs to the local condiitons, Gandhi’s slogan “think globally, act locally” is perhaps more relevant today than some 60 years ago, when he first recommended the idea in order to get rid of the British colonial masters from India.

Louie Tabing, the founder of the Tambuli community radio in the Philippines agrees that news needs to be localised to address a global issue such as achieving the MDGs. “It is necessary to localize news because that is where the problems are lying” he noted. “Community radio is where the real underlying issues in the communities can be heard about”.

“This could better be done through such community radio programmes, where people in the communities are given a chance to raise their voice to be heard by the people in the community about the community itself” he added.

Yet, it is still arguable whether localizing media will make it forget the larger perspective, which is to link with global community to attract development assistance. Bahal gave an example, where Western media that came to India, tried to use their archives and dub them into local language. However, it has not worked proving the fact that trying to localise in the wrong way kicks you out of the audience because they are not catering to the audience’s needs.

Internet, blogging and forums have become some of the best ways where people express their opinions and views about certain current issues. It could be in order to correct, re-phrase or criticise a news story for its inaccuracies. However, Bahal, pointed out that the quality and the accuracy of such internet posts are doubtful. Hence, he stated that traditional media still plays an important role than new media in terms of qualitative and comparatively accurate content.

Dr Mira Desai from SNDT Women’s University in India predicted that there will be a day, where people would not be able to tackle the globalisation of the media, because though they would still prefer local style to be heard or seen through media, the media may include local talent who think and act like westerners. Hence, the question of how much globalisation the local media should absorb should be tackled now.

Dr Binod Agrawal, Director of Tasleem Research Institute in Ahmedabad responding from the floor, argued that the MDGs have become a topic that is fashionable to be debated among the intellectuals and the elites in luxurious surroundings like the Manila Hotel here. “MDGs are just a way of visualising how rich people see the poor in this world” he noted. Therefore it is important for the media to be localised and debates to be localised, and not conducted in the confines of five-star hotels which are inaccessible to the very people the MDGs are supposed to provide comfort–the world’s poor.