Media Action 260, April 2005

Bill Best, Community Media Association

I am a big fan of the BBC2 comedy “Look Around You” (http://tinyurl.com/69dd ) which parodies TV programmes like Tomorrow’s World of the 60’s/70’s. These shows would earnestly inform us that by the year 2000 there would be no world hunger; we will all be eating roast beef and Yorkshire pudding flavoured food capsules. Traffic jams would also be a thing of the past as we would all have personal nuclear-powered spaceships. So you can understand why I might be reluctant to make any rash predictions about the likely impact of the latest phenomena in the Internet world on Community Media: podcasting.

Sarayeth Tive, Director of the Women's Media Centre of Cambodia

General Overview

After more than three decades of war, Cambodia has been moving from dictatorship to democracy along a bumpy road. The country has both pro and anti-government media as well as non-partisan media.

In every country of the world, the media tend to ignore the rights of disabled people and portray them as pathetic recipients of charity or tragic but brave victims. The real story, the struggle for equality and freedom is given little space on radio, TV or the print media.

Sean Hawkey

Communication systems can be a matter of life and death - reliable information, danger assessment and safety instructions can, and do, save many lives by preventing and mitigating disasters. But communication systems are not disaster-proof themselves. One expert explains what it takes for communication systems to be resilient.

Norman Solomon

The papacy of Benedict XVI confronts journalists with a key question: How much critical scrutiny is appropriate when a religious leader gains enormous power?