International Voices
When the Masterchef finale can make the front page of both major Sydney newspapers, it is easy to bemoan parochial news values, and tempting to lay the blame at the feet of a faceless behemoth known as “the Australian media".
At the popular free daily mX they seem to have their finger on the pulse of public attitudes, featuring snippets of serious international news stories in tiny boxes under the banners “Boring but Important” or “Doom and Gloom”.
In a recent seminar as part of a Masters course on political journalism at the University of Sydney, Dr Antonio Castillo asked the class to name the big stories dominating the news where they lived.
Unsurprisingly, economics, the global financial crisis and carbon trading schemes were on top of the list.
There were, however, a few international students in the group, with rather different perceptions of newsworthiness. Corruption in Cambodia, land-grabbing in Kenya, and censorship in China were on their list. Some commented at the lack of coverage in the Australian media about important events in their homelands.
What do YOU consider newsworthy? What do YOU read about? Are they the same?
As a platform for citizen journalists, the stories featured on Open Forum are in large part responsive to the issues you write in to tell us you care about.
It is surprising that over the last twelve months Open Forum has not received one single contribution that dealt with Australia’s foreign policies or military engagement in Iraq or Afghanistan.
If there was ever an area of government expenditure and public policy debate we expected to incite some passions – Iraq was it.
During September, Open Forum will be showcasing International Voices. Expect perspectives on some of the big issues affecting our neighbours, bloggers from around the globe, and articles from foreign citizens living in Australia.
As Murdoch pushes ahead with plans to charge for online content, an unexpected consequence is that members of the public will soon decide not only what publications (or websites), but individual authors and stories they are prepared to pay for.
The consumers’ role in the demand and supply chain of financing “content” is about to shift towards a more explicit responsibility.
As a multicultural society in the age of the internet, is there really any excuse for not including opinions and news from around the world in our media diet? International Voices are all around us, if only we make the effort to hear them.
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Can you share your voice? Got a contributor suggestion? Want to hear from a particular country? Email us all suggestions, pitches and contributions.
Blogs should be between 350-600 words. If you are new to blogging, check out our Top 10 Blogging Tips for a headstart.
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RELATED CONTENT:
- Xinjiang: Where the Truth Goes to Die – by Erland
- How History Has Been Erased in China – by Weiwei Tian
- The Seven Lies of Kadeer – by Xiaonan Liu
- German Climate Politics: All that Glitters not Gold – by Nina Drewes
- Cambodian Land-Grabbing Epidemic – by Katie Scott Aiton
- Kill a Chicken to Scare the Monkeys – by Sonia Han
- China Already Stepped Back but Australia Misunderstood – by Xue Han
- NATO Air Strike Leads to Restructured Western Alliance – by Uli Kammerer
- Frogs in the Melting Pot – by Gang Shen
- Drawing the Political Curtains in Myanmar – by Monica Schubert
- The Dangers of Karzai’s Re-election – by Tomas Valasek
- Kenya’s Mau Forest Swindle – by Lynette Mwangi
- Typhoon Morakot the Aftermath – by Yao Tong
- Clinton’s Pyongyang Visit Rescue Mission: No Change to US Foreign Policy – by Andrew Wilson
- History Vindicates Treatment of the Red Dragon – by Tim Matchett
- A Tsunami of Silence – Marie Nydam Jensen
- Little Reporting for Queers – Monong Rao
- GFC Breeding Ground for Xenophobia – by Magdalena Rojas Infante
- Sanctions No Help to Suu Kyi – by Richa Sharma
- Diplomacy of Opportunism – by Sikni Hamka
- At Home in Iraq Since the Invasion of 2003 – by Faiza Alaraji
- The Committee to Protect Bloggers – by Andrew Ford Lyons
- All the President’s Women – by Leila Mouri
Open Forum is an interactive policy discussion website hosted and moderated by Global Access Partners (GAP).
