IT WAS a two-day event of debates, intellectual discourse and sharing of ideas as academicians and industry players came together at the International Conference on Media and Communication (Mention 2011) held at the Equatorial Hotel, Bangi recently.
Mention 2011, organised by the School of Media and Communication Studies under the social sciences and humanities faculty at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), is a biannual conference providing a platform for academics to discuss current issues related to the media and communication. Here is where they also seek alternatives, while creating avenues towards an integrated solution.
In this day and age, the field of media and communication is undoubtedly very progressive and dynamic in tandem with technological advancement.
Social media sites such as Facebook have been credited for playing key roles in the uprisings in Nepal and Eqypt. However, Prof Ang’s findings says that ‘social media is not as popular as the media might suggest’. Journalists may also use social media for their advantage, but ‘that is not necessarily a good thing’, according to Yong. — File photoAccording to Mention 2011, the advent of new media with practical and ideological changes of traditional media has impacted social change and subsequently transformed the world communication unification landscape.
This was exactly what Singapore Internet Research Centre director Prof Ang Peng Hwa addressed in his keynote speech. He cited case studies in Nepal and Egypt on the recent downfall of long-standing governments due to technology.
What was interesting to me was the question he raised and attempted to find answers to:
1. What is the role of social media in social and political change?
2. If social media is so important, why should governments not simply cut it in times of crisis?
3. What happens if you cut communications?
Anyone interested and who followed the changes in the media and political landscape, would probably come to the simple conclusion that the technological impact was big. But according to Prof Ang’s findings, social media is “not as popular as the media might suggest”.
He further found out that by cutting communications, “you lose the opportunity to warn the population and you may aggravate the crisis”.
The conclusions for both countries were somewhat similar. For Nepal, cutting off mobile phone services made citizens angry and undermined the king’s political support, whereas for Egypt, it was the absence of social media that triggered greater public disquiet and eventually protests.
The cuts in media meant that the government could not warn the public not to protest. Nevertheless the public were angry enough to take risks in the absence of news and information.
In another interesting discussion by Prof Dr Samsuddin Abdul Rahim, the topics of communication and social change are revisited.
Prof Samsuddin questions whether we are doing things the “old” way or rather just doing it differently with news technology.
He argues that the emergence of the Internet and its extensive global networks have given traditional, interpersonal face-to-face horizontal communication a sizable boost.
The masses who found it difficult to make themselves heard can now depend on the Internet as a method of expressing their views and initiating change in society.
Intellectual discourse
It was definitely a morning of intellectual speeches, discussions and questions under different sub-themes, including audience analysis, intercultural integration and social change, and cross border communication.
A total of 120 papers were presented by professors and students alike, on the above sub-themes that were equally divided into 20 sessions with local and international participants. The parallel sessions ran in its allocated rooms, with a few interesting presentations happening at the same time in different venues.
It was the first time this writer actually observed topics such as From ‘I love you’ to “SarangHaeYo’: The media are now Korean by Assoc Prof Fuziah Kartini Hassan Basri; Breasts, bags, clothes and shoes: Constructing motherhood and images of breastfeeding vs. formula feeding women by Emma Mohamad, and a catchy title like Wayangcine: Rethinking vernacularism presented by Badrul Redzuan Abu Hassan. Talk about diversity in communication!
Everybody got a break from the serious seminars and let loose that night with the dinner held at the Grand Ballroom where academicians and scholars danced and sang to popular traditional songs.
The dinner was attended by Tun Abdul Razak Institute for Broadcasting and Information (IPPTAR) director Datuk Adilah Shek Omar as guest of honour and also the main sponsor for the conference.
As the delegates enjoyed the dinner, Combo RTM took to the stage withSway as the opening number by Azhar Sharif. The versatile singer sang a medley of English, Malay, Arabic and even Hindi songs that had the audience singing along.
Final-year communication student Nik Husna Nik Ali also entertained the audience with her rendition of Aryati and Kasih.
These performances were interlaced with lucky draws with much hilarious results as there was a mad scramble to unearth the hidden numbers.
Lecturers and students alike then enjoyed the rest of the night with songs and dances.
On the second day of the conference, participants looked either exhausted or refreshed as the parallel sessions continued as early as 9am with the plenary session. Distinguished speakers for the second day were Bernama editor-in-chief Datuk Yong Soo Heong, Assoc Prof Dr Latiffah Pawanteh and Assoc Prof Dr Faridah Ibrahim, both from UKM.
Yong, a seasoned journalist and editor spoke on challenges and issues faced by today’s mainstream journalists. He spoke on the Internet and its wide usage for citizen journalism.
He also cited examples of how journalists use Facebook for their advantage and that is not necessarily a good thing.
As a closing remark, he reiterated that the traditional media editors should embrace the new technology but also be wary of news accuracy.
Timely topics
Dr Latiffah on the other hand talked about Enclaves and Marketplace Interactions: Cultural adaption in a globalised world. She touched on sojourners and why migrations on massive scales have happened, and offered the explanation that they are due to push and pull factors such as domestic and foreign conditions, political environment, cultural proximity and also technological advancements.
The last plenary speaker, Dr Faridah presented a talk on War, conflicts and the media: Perception of media gatekeepers versus the audience.
This topic was timely as we had just lost Bernama TV cameraman Noramfaizul Mohd Nor, who was killed while on a humanitarian mission to Somalia.
Dr Faridah used this example as part of her presentation and shared that there had been talks to train local journalists to enter and cover warzones in 2003 — unfortunately, there was no follow-up and nothing came out of it.
Although war news is currently supplied by international news agencies, she said, they may have a negative slant.
“Ideally, we should send our own reporters for these assignments,” said Dr Faridah, adding that that was the consensus of news editors she spoke to.
Through the Mention initiative, current issues such as this and the role of communication media in proliferating cultures means we should take a moment to pause and reflect.
The advent of new media and communication technologies have brought about a profound transformation in the way people communicate and share knowledge and information. These new technologies offer vast new opportunities for public participation and engagement and have the potential to expand media use even further.
The best place to start this epistemological journey is by looking at the paradox of this transformation. And what better place if not in the midst of academics, scholars, media practitioners and students, who would be in time media people themselves.
No doubt the feedback and discussion that followed during coffee breaks were more interesting and in depth. Thoughts and ideas were shared on how the topics could be improved or expanded for further analysis and dialogue.
Against a backdrop of rapidly accelerating globalisation, communication further pushes the envelope of this transformation.
It is with this regard that Mention 2011 provided a critical space for all to exchange knowledge and share experiences on the progress and paradox of transformation in media and communication to bring about awareness as well as positive changes and development with a spirit of common goals but with different approaches. And share they did!
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