Book Review

GUNARATNE, Shelton (ed) (2000), Handbook of the Media in Asia, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 722 pp. ISBN 0-7619-9427-0. Hard cover

Reviewed by Kevin Engels
World Association for Christian Communication

To describe this book as a ‘Handbook’ is an understatement. It is a comprehensive survey and outline of the media throughout 25 countries of Asia, from Pakistan in the West to Mongolia in the Northeast and the Philippines in the Southeast. Not only are the major nations and economies covered but countries such as Maldives and Macau are included.
Gunaratne has written an introductory overview, which should be compulsory reading for everyone involved with the media in Asia. Using the media profiles of the 25 Asian countries and economies, he questions the suggestion that “Western yardsticks” should be applied to the media in these societies. At the same time, he does not see “Asian values”, (‘another highly abstract term’, to use his words), as a viable substitute for “Western yardsticks”.
I found it interesting that Gunaratne commented on the religious background in Asia in reference to the media. The great political and economic variations cut right across Asia’s major religions. ‘Buddhist-Confucian countries range from the freest to the most authoritarian’.
Gunaratne argues that, ‘what is more important is to make the media system of a country more consistent with universal human values’. He takes the position that, ‘the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the NWICO version of the MacBride Commission provide the framework for promoting a socially responsible press in Asia and elsewhere’.
While this 29 page concise overview together with its statistical charts and tables is extremely valuable, I liked the individual national studies that contain the basic material and local commentary. Gunaratne introduces each of the three parts,South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, with a useful summary.
How can one Handbook that covers an area in which 3.3 billion people, or 55 percent of the world’s population lives, give an objective and balanced presentation? The 36 contributors and Gunaratne have tried to tackle this question by following the same format for each country. Every country, whether as large as India or China or as small as Bhutan or Macau is dealt with in ten sections: National Profile; Development of Press and Broadcasting; The Press; Broadcasting; New Electronic Media; Policy Trends for Press and Broadcasting; Main Issues; Statistics; Useful addresses; References.