Media in Laos and Thailand - Essay Example

Media in Laos and Thailand Media and journalism has a very important role in conveying informationin the society, other functions may include educating the people in the society besides providing major platforms for the people in the society to convey their grievances most so to the government. Media has normally played a role in guiding the relationship between the government and the citizens by highlighting the citizens on their rights as the citizens. Due to the significance of the media in the society the government has always intervened in issues concerning the functioning of the media. These have been done by establishing and enacting laws to guide the operation of the media in the country. Some of the government policies have brought bigger conflicts between the government and the media houses. In Laos and Thailand, the media have been depicted on similarly and difference ways, these in terms of the trend in media, issues covered, and the application of technology. Thailand has an approximate population of 62 million, with the addition of 60 million by the first quarter in the year 2013 (Singh & Lorraine, 27). The majority of Thai population can barely read and read English, therefore, major media is targeting the locals who has attained the basic level of education of reading and writing the local languages. The people who understand English are the few learned and the foreign who are the expatriates, they can both read and write .So far two English media houses have been established for nationwide coverage, one by the new media group in 1971 and the media established by Bangkok in 1971 (Singh & Lorraine, 29). In Thailand, there have been significant changes in the media; these are in terms of the freedom, issues, and the use of technology. Starting from the freedom, initially Thailand had been enjoying greater freedom of expression, due to the unity that had been existing between the societies in Thailand. The situation has recently changed due to the recent war that started in 2005. The war has created indifferences among the different societies. The government also controls the traditional taboos and monarchy in Thailand. The changes have occurred because of tough political period ruler in Thailand. There has been existing changes in the platform trend used by the media; many social sites have come up to provide a common platform for the media and the journalist to use, initially it was most so through radio and television broadcast, other platforms such as the social media sites like face book, and twitter has emerged. The research shows that there are about 18 million users of face book one the social site. The trend has been changing as new social media are coming up; Instagram notified to have more sheets in Thailand than the face book sheets. It has a growth of 163 percent compared with face book, which has a growth of 28 percent. Face book has maintained the number of users estimated to be 18 million compared to Instagram estimated to have 600,000 (Millward, 1). There have been increased usages of the internet and the online users, as some owns laptops and internet enabled phones, in facts the Thai capital cities Bangkok has been known as the place of inventories. The media has invented new technology through the use of internet, for instant the use of sites as YouTube to convey their news. The media are also able use the internet to acquire different opinions from the locals; also they receive international news via the internet and pass it to the locals. These have enhanced international awareness among the citizens in Thailand. With the internet, the area coverage has increased, since the majority of people may easily access the information via the internet (Bhatta & Joaquin, 13). There have been changes in the views and issues covered in the media in Thailand, these depend on the targeted audience and the platforms. The issues discussed in media and journalism revolves around the gender issues, political, race and the social issues. Due to the recent political instability such issues has emerged; therefore, there is a need to address such issues. The war brought much hatred among different societies in Thailand; the media has conducted many forums to bring unity among the societies who were once leaving in peace. The war has increased racism and increased gender issues in the country. The most common issues which are currently emerging in Thailand media is the political issues, which is the issue on the ground. The country has been going through war since 2005; it is the role of the media to play a major role to intervene the situation by providing relevant information to the citizens to update them on the on goings of the war. Initially, political issues were not the common issues discussed in the media (Bhatta & Joaquin, 31). Pending on the audience and the users of media, the internet has been widely used for social issues, such as the interaction and for research purposes, social sites have higher percentage users who are youths, using it for their personal interaction at both the local and international level. The internet users may access the social site through internet-enabled phones. The major media platforms in Thailand are the use of television and the radio program, the radio user are more compared to the television; most radio programs are conveyed in Thai (Vongchavalitkul, Singh & Neal, 514). In Laos in the press has another dimension, which may be quite similar and also unique compared to other developed countries. The country is a third country with the majority leaving below the poverty line. The press in the country has developed as partisan and political organ for fighting for the independences; this is similar to the neighboring countries like the Indonesia and Malaysian. In the case of Thailand, mobile penetration is higher as compared to the Laos. This is because Thailand has a better mobile infrastructure. Most parts in Thailand can access 3G networks. This has led to improved internet connections within than areas. The number of the mobile users in Thailand is higher as compared to the ones in Laos. Use of smartphones is very high in Thailand. More than of the population use the smartphones (Vongchavalitkul, Singh & Neal, 515). Smartphones have increased the rate at which people use the internet due to their capability to connect to the internet. The number of the smartphones in Thailand outdo the ones in Laos. This has been because Thailand has better mobile technologies like 3G networks than Laos. The increase in the number of the smartphones has led to an increase in the mobile data. This is because many people in Thailand access internet using their phones. The mobile data is widely used by these users. Mobile data usage increased by 160% in 2009. This increase is facilitated by the increased number of people who access social sites like twitter, Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube, etc. using mobile phones. The Laos media has remained highly constrained in spite of advances in telecommunications infrastructure. The state has control of nearly all the broadcast news and print; this has hindered the development of the independent press. A according to countrys article 44 of the year 1991, it states that, the constitution allows the freedom for the press. In partnership with international donor, a new press was passed out in 2008; the law has fewer impacts on the state of the media people in the country (Savada, 31). Under their criminal code, someone can be jailed for about one year for reporting the news that might weakens the national culture, misinformation and the denouncement are considered criminal offense, which carries lengthy jail terms and even the likelihood of execution. Due to high levels of the official censorship, permissible cases against the journalist have become extremely rare (Vongchavalitkul, Singh & Neal, 513). The Lao media has remained under tight influence of the ruling Lao people’s revolutionary party, whereby the media employees are appointed within the party. Any publication by the media must undergo an approval by the ministry of information, culture and tourism. The government officials have the power as the authority to also review the content of the private publication, and the officials have been given the power by the government to censure out the outlet (Ure, 41). The country has rare physical scarce extra-legal intimidation and attack aiming at the Laos journalist, since the reporters normally avoids covering and airing the political susceptible topics. The foreign media might be allowed to cover specific stories in the country, even though may face some barriers in finding permanent existence, in the country. The situation was evidenced, by the government denying several international journalists from entering the country. This was a head of ninth Asia-Europe Forum; the foreign journalist also experienced harassment and intimidation for the coverage of the event. Many media outlets are growing in Laos; the country has around 24 usual printed newspaper where all are government- affiliated. The private media owned by Chinese are only allowed to cover the general interest such as health issues and other nonpolitical matters. The distribution of magazines and other media prints has remained extremely weak due to low literacy level, and the poor infrastructure outside Vientiane, the capital city. The government has tried to enhance the information the communication technology and the advancement of the communication sector in Lao (Anderson, 34). This government effort has resulted in a rise, in the television and radio stations. Currently, the 32 television station and the 44 radio stations are controlled by the government, and some companies are now permitted to purchase airtime to run private media. Through the international help, the foreign organization with radio services has come up to cover the local interest stories, such station includes the voice of America together Free Asia, broadcast. Some wealthier individuals are now able to access to satellite. In 2012, only 11 percent of people were able to access internet with Lao language content. 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