Mostly 'men in suits': The ASEAN summit and integration as news in Southeast Asia

Abstract

This article is a preliminary examination of how Southeast Asian media frame the regional integration of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a news topic. Without grassroots engagement, the ASEAN integration will inevitably fall short of its grand objectives, and crucial to building grassroots engagement is media coverage capable of building audience interest and appreciation. Based on articles published during the major ASEAN summit events in 2018, the authors identified resonant themes in the reportage and discussed these vis-à-vis the documented character of the different media environments in the region. It was found that the axis of the reportage is the declarations and actions of the heads of state, with very few human interest and context-building stories that would have built audience engagement in what is otherwise an affair revolving around 'men in suits'. Moreover, the journalistic emphasis on consensus and state initiatives reflects continuing adherence to the tenets of the development journalism framework, but this can also be interpreted as the dominance of 'prominence' as a news value (i.e. stories are framed according to the gestures of prominent individuals). These findings call attention to the need for re-thinking reportage on potentially high-stake phenomena such as the ASEAN integration.

The journalist’s ‘toolbox’ of competencies in the Digital-Global Age: Reflections on the global state of research

“…Journalism guided by a 'critical deliberative paradigm' is a form of development journalism, which continues to thrive in many developing and developed countries with media systems different from those in Europe and the United States (see Estella & Paz, 2019, Loo, 2013Wong, 2004). Development journalism, which distinguishes itself from the Western paradigm of journalism in terms of journalistic roles and norms, is also understood in different ways.…”

Journalism competence and the COVID-19 crisis in Southeast Asia

“…This work aims to address these questions within the context of Southeast Asia (SEA), an environment characterised by rich diversity in political, cultural, and economic conditions (Estella & Paz, 2019) and a rapidly expanding internet market (Google, Temasek, and Bain and Company, 2019, p. 9). SEA has 'emerging democracies' (Chua, 2013) as well as countries in 'democratic decline' (Powers, 2018, p. 307), high-income economies and low-to-middleincome economies, and partly free to tightly controlled media systems (Estella & Paz, 2019, p. 196).…”

“…Perhaps one of the challenges to the integration is the highly diverse array of political, economic, and cultural systems of SEA (Löffelholz & Arao, 2011, p. 17; see also Estella & Paz, 2019). The region has presidential republics (Indonesia and Philippines) and parliamentary democracies (e.g.…”

“…It is not surprising, therefore, that the development journalism paradigm is firmly established in the region (Estella & Paz, 2019). The main premise of development journalism is that the profession should 'play a central role in disseminating governmental or national policies to inform and educate the masses as well as mobilise them for the concerted effort at bringing about economic development' (Wong, 2004, p. 26).…”

“…Development journalism puts emphasis on 'the promotion of unity and state agenda' (Estella & Paz, 2019, p. 198), in stark contrast with the goals of the watchdog-adversarial paradigm that is popular in many Western democracies particularly in the 20th century. Interestingly, although the role 'reporting things as they are' is popular among journalists in Indonesia (Muchdar & Masduki, 2016), Philippines , Singapore (Duffy & Kim, 2016), and Malaysia (Hasim et al, 2016), studies dealing with published content revealed a continuing adherence to the tenets of development journalism (Cenite et al, 2008;Estella & Paz, 2019;Massey & Chang, 2006).…”