C H A N G I N G M E D I A F O R U M

A U G U S T 4, 2010

The Bhutan Centre for Media and Democracy conducted a forum on journalism and
democracy in a changing media landscape. The forum in Thimphu hosted
approximately 50 participants from the media, civil society organizations and
government ministries.

The Director of the Knight Fellowship at Stanford University, Jim Bettinger, set the
event in motion with an engaging lecture that traced the evolving functions of
journalism – from the establishment of the newspaper to the rise of the internet –
and what implications these have for democracy.

Points discussed during the lecture included:

• How old and established enterprises of journalism are being disrupted by

innovative new media forces in a process of “creative destruction”
• The traditional trade of “appointment journalism”—journalism that
aggregated news, packaged it at a particular time, and relied heavily on
advertisers to achieve financial independence.
• The primary democratic imperatives of journalists of:
o keeping citizens informed by bearing witness to the proceedings of
government,
o conveying popular sentiments,
o and setting the agenda of importance
• The challenges for journalism:
o Ignoring those on the fringes or without power
o Falling sway to economic and political interests
o Diminishing spending on the quality of the publication
• How new media:
o Reduced costs and barriers to accessing information
o Led to a decline in audiences and advertising
o Led to a proliferation of publishers—bloggers, independent
journalists, etc.
o Enabled people to disaggregate news according to their preferences
 o Weakened established journalist’s ability to resist government by
smashing the single, big conversation into multiple micro-
conversations
o Enabled political leaders to communicate directly with the people

The changes in new media, Mr. Bettinger concluded, cannot be suppressed

anywhere, including Bhutan; rather, they must be adapted to and used in ways that
enhance the role of Journalism in the service of democracy.

A challenge for Bhutan’s journalism institutions is how they can make themselves
essential reading, and how to make both the government and the people take
journalism seriously. In turn, people must be able to rely on these institutions as
consistently credible sources of information. Journalism institutions must, therefore,
make themselves neutral and not be aligned to any political party.

Immediately following the lecture, participants began to enter into a dialogue with
Mr. Bettinger in an attempt to contextualize his contentions to the contemporary
case of Bhutan. Issues raised included:

• The theoretical possibility of ‘balanced’ media -- neutral, objective and devoid

of ideology
• That journalism is not activism, and that journalists should provide
dispassionate (objective) reporting that is not skewed by any other agenda.
The power of reporters to shed light on weighty, moral issues.
• How to fairly and effectively fund newspapers (e.g. using an equalization
fund) in order to achieve sustainability and politico-economic independence
• Increasing media literacy of Bhutanese citizens to promote citizen journalism
• The need for a planned budget for BBS (a proposed 5 year budget that is not
coincidental with elections
Evaluation

The majority of participants viewed the forum in a favorable light, and expressed
their desire for future forums to follow up on these issues that require careful and
reflective attention to be effectively dealt with.

Comments and suggestions from the participants that could BCMD improve
the organisation of future forums
• To provide better sound system
• To have a bigger audience next time
• Improve the seating and space
• Longer duration for the discussions

Future BCMD events suggested by the participants

• Media and Civil Society
• Investigative Journalism and advertisement
• Reality TV & Copy writing
• New Media & access to information
• Media Rights
• Communication strategies
• Understanding Democracy through media