Pervez Musharraf & Kofi Annan at News World Asia 2002

Filipinos will be proud to know that at the center of News World Asia 2002 in Singapore on July 31-August 2 is a Filipina, Maria Ronson of APTN (Associated Press and Independent Tele-vision). She worked to get the most difficult personalities to the conference among them Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf through her good friend Major General Qureshi, his strategic media adviser. I know she has been cultivating news resources to get a more independent perspective for news gathering on the war against terrorism.

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But first some background on Maria. She was formerly known as Nimfa Fallarme (I hope her mom reads this because she is getting piqued by all this news about Maria Ronson. Aba, she’s my daughter also.) Maria and I became close friends in London where she worked on the tomb shift (late nights) in what was then ITN. At the height of the first EDSA revolution, between the three of us, Bert (my husband), myself and Maria, we engineered wide coverage of the defection of Philippine Embassy in London to Aquino’s side when the 1986 February revolution seemed to flag and western media were wanting news. The heroism of those days in Europe has still be told but suffice it to say for the moment the world’s TV cameras were at the Carmelite Church in Kensington when it was filled to the rafters with Filipinos, not far from the embassy in Palace Green.

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Both of us went through good and bad times in London and for a time we went separate ways but never forgetting what we went through to push EDSA 1 in Europe while the world’s eyes were on Filipino émigrés in New York and Washington. There were times when we felt bitter seeing the work of those days being frittered away by opportunists. By the time our paths crossed again, Maria was in Hongkong as the regional executive of APTN. It was she who put the organizers of World News Asia 2002 in Asia in touch with me. Apart from being introduced as the mother of Veronica Pedrosa, she persuaded them to look at journalistic work in the last few decades. Happily, I was able to establish my credentials personally at the first News World Asia last year. That came with a tussle with Matt Frei of BBC whose formidable reputation for having the last word on TV coverage preceded him But I had a cause – that the Philippines be reported accurately and intelligently – and that carried the day. I would not give up and journalists from other wronged countries cheered me on making our panel the most vibrant in the conference. Maria was vindicated and I was invited yet again to join a distinguished panel of journalists this year.

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News World Asia promises to be even more exciting this year with UN Secretary General Kofi Anan giving the closing remarks, courtesy of Reuters TV. What had been a calculated move from Europe (where previous conferences were originally sited) to Asia (where the real action is in the world today). In this sense the role of News World Asia is crucial as a non-governmental initiative to understand events as they unfold in our region. I have no doubt that its importance, provided it stays on track in its search for authentic journalism, can only grow.

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Here are some of the important topics of this year’s conference:

The rise of the Arab media. Victor Antonie, Asia News Editor, Reuters TV leads the discussion. Here’s a short recap of what will be discussed. Middle East Broadcasting — the first pan-Arabia channel — has been responsibly reporting the Arabic world to more than 20 million viewers for decades. After September 11, Al Jazeera, the five-year-old Qatar based satellite channel, became a household name as the news breakers of Al Qaeda videotape their audience numbers jumped to 35 million. Why did it take an act of terrorism and war to show the world the importance of the Arabic media, and reinforce the arrogance of the West in ignoring it.

News and national security. Major General Sudrajat, Director of Strategy, Defence Department, Republic of Indonesia (tbc) As Western governments argue for news restraint in the national interest, as the United States imposes detention without trial, as the debate continues on the way to cover religious and ethnic minorities and racial diversity should the media accept wider national responsibilities. To what extent is democracy defined by a free, diverse media? Should there be more soul searching, a greater awareness of double standards?

News and terror. This important topic will be a plenary session with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf gracing the conference through video. Collaborating in Singapore is Major General Qureshi, his strategic media adviser. The Afghan crisis swiftly and dramatically shifted Pakistan’s President to the center of the world’s stage, Islamabad becoming media HQ throughout the first phase of military strikes on the Al Qaeda network. The Arabic media led the world on many stories; the western media often left struggling to catch up on a beat they knew very little about. Although some media coverage was excellent some was of the very worst, potentially undermining a key bulwark against terrorism. To what extent, and how effectively was the media controlled by Pakistan’s leadership when western and Asian journalists fought side by side for the latest scoop.

Journalism powderkegs. Apart from the session with Bianca Jagger I am also part of this panel. As countries in Asia move towards a less restricted press, problems remain where government promises just aren’t being delivered. Journalists in Thailand accuse the government of back-tracking. In the Philippines, journalists have been criticized for not giving more support to the war against terrorism, in Malaysia economic pressure is put on news organizations which do not toe the line. Chris Greene, Head of Asia Pacific Region, BBC World Service chairs the meeting.

The free speech robot. More interesting to science fiction fanciers is a real robot to presented by Ryan McKinley & Kelly Dobson, MIT called The Afghan Explorer. It is as the world’s first robotic war correspondent. The solar powered machine, modeled on NASA’s Mars Explorer is equipped with microphones, two cameras and controlled remotely. It can enter areas considered too dangerous for journalists.

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My e-mail address: [email protected]