Hidden forces distances media from development issues

They could not stay far from phones, as there was so much they could not miss.

Early in the week, they were busy with tips that Myanmar ’s Opposition Leader Aung San Suu Kyi may attend the World Economic Forum on East Asia 2012 in Bangkok . They had to verify the news, because if it was true, Thailand would be the first venue outside Myanmar that the Nobel laureate would be, after 24 years of detention.

And it came true. Suu Kyi was here, with a long itinerary. And wherever she went, a troop of reporters followed to capture her photos and her words.

It was not surprising that there was a big change in the WEF programme. Myanmar ’s president Thien Sein cancelled his presence at the business leaders-clad event at the last minute and instead sent his energy minister who presented a long list of what the country had to offer that there was no time to take questions from the floor. Planning to visit Thailand this week, Thien Sein also cancelled that, probably due to too much coverage on Suu Kyi.

A source at the Foreign Affairs Ministry was also bitter with WEF’s handling. He said that the ministry was informed of Suu Kyi’s presence at the last minute and it was in the dark as to what she would do when in Thailand . Upon requests, her itinerary arrived at the ministry, leaving it no time for preparation.

“It seems WEF wants to use this forum as the stage to introduce Myanmar and its economic reforms to the world,” he said on the condition of anonymity. That was a disappointment, given that Thailand wanted to use this forum to advertise itself to investors worldwide.

Suu Kyi’s one-on-one conversation with WEF founder Klaus Schwab drew huge audience to the Plenary Hall. Though the audience was smaller for the session on Energy Minister U Than Htay, all there were attentive to what he got to say.

This confirmed another rumour floated a wee earlier that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra opted not to join the WEF’s session on “Asian Women as the Way Forward”. Yingluck impressed the audience of World Economic Forum in Davos with her lessons as a woman was rumoured to be one of the panelists. But as Suu Kyi appeared on the list, Yingluck did not.

Yes, interest in Myanmar is now in high notes. TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel website, revealed last week that travellers have shown significantly more interest in Myanmar, also known as the “Golden Land”, as Suu Kyi won a parliamentary seat in the country’s by-elections in April.    

Media in Thailand believe that they do the right thing in dispatching reporters to follow Suu Kyi. Many were also stationed around Parliament, following the nasty protest in and out of the building. Scenes of violence in the past years returned.That may explain why few were spared to cover another big event, Asia Media Summit, where editors convened in Bangkok last week to review their role in the fast-changing world.

At the event, Noeleen Heyzer, UN Under Secretary-General, urged media to use their skills and resources to create greater impact on sustainable development, the single most important challenge in Asia Pacific, and ensure more people benefit from development.

“I always hear feedback that during slow news days, stories on sustainable development get broadcast. It is time we improve this situation. It is not enough for media to leave sustainable development stories to alternative media or to public service broadcasting,” she said.

She said the media need to take a more active role and write sustainable development stories everyday that connect the dots dealing with climate change, disaster, food scarcity, and energy waste. Media should no longer consider these development issues as jargon, but news that the people need, she said.

Several reporters agree. But how could they get out of the doomsday cycle? It also remains doubtful, given the popularity of TV talk shows that feature mostly latest development in political and business world, if people really need that kind of news. I guess the clip of nasty fighting over the House Speaker’s chair would win greater audience than that of a man inventing an emission-free tree watering method.