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The
Challenge of Culture and Creativity in Media
BY
THOYYIB MOHAMED
Asia
Media Summit 2010 at Bejing, China, on May 25-26
MALE
(IDN) - Did you know that a significant number of Maldivians know how to
speak Hindi? This is of course in addition to our local language,
Dhivehi and the English that is taught in schools? Not Sinhalese or
Tamil, as that of our closest neighbor Sri Lanka, but Hindi -- the Hindi
of Sony and Zee TV, the language of numerous Indian teledramas and
Bollywood movies.
Maldivians anticipate eagerly the entertainment they view from these
mass media broadcasting channels and replicate it in their dress,
language, music and our own local broadcasting. Some fear this culture
of mass media -- the concentration of broadcasting in the hands of a few
-- others embrace it as another positive step in a rapidly globalizing
world. We, media practitioners, especially those from smaller nations,
such as my own must constantly play a game of balance.
We must heed the wants of a watching TV audience with the mass media
programmes that have hooked them so deeply, but we must also not forget
to cultivate a broadcasting audience for programs based on local
concepts and cultural values. My point is we must learn to embrace the
global, but not lose the local and we can only do this by thinking
creatively.
How do we do this? Some argue for more media control, gatekeepers.
Others argue that this goes against the essence of free media and
broadcasting.
Media companies and broadcasters in my country and in other small states
are confronted with the challenge of learning how to accelerate the flow
of local cultural content whilst new, mass media beams in to the
nation’s sitting rooms in brighter colors, amusement that they have
never seen through satellites and the internet.
Some have condemned these processes as cultural imperialism, where it is
felt that smaller cultures are being usurped by the values being
promoted on the satellite airwaves. Others welcome the new ideas and
insights.
I don’t feel it something to oppose, but rather something to be
welcomed and take inspiration from. For, I believe the obstacles
presented to the broadcasting sector of small nations and their local
cultures can be overcome through acting innovatively.
WE DON'T NEED TO WAIT FOR THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL
When I urge creative thinking, I’m often told -- but everything has
been done already! Wild life shows on the Discovery Channel, cooking and
travel shows on Travel and Living, the multiple versions of reality TV
shows, like Big Brother to Big Boss or So you think you can dance to
Nach Baliye.
Smaller nations too have knowledge to share, and cultural practices we
would like to illuminate to our friends around the world. And we don’t
need to wait for the Discovery Channel to discover this! There is no
doubt that Asia has the creative talent to promote our culture, heritage
and values.
But, what we do lack, in my opinion, is the management of the creativity
within us. It is about convincing people to think outside the box, and
to support them throughout this process.
We need to encourage and cultivate the natural talent that we have in
our societies, hone these skills in the schools, participate in content
fairs, global markets and festivals and give opportunities for people to
network in global forums. . . . This, I believe allows people to share
experiences, learn from others in their field and promotes the positive
values of broadcasting, such as the appreciation for new ideas, a
culture of tolerance and embeds a value for diversity.
Part of these developmental needs, especially in the Maldives is the
facilitation of access to technology and expertise. Using new media,
learning how to incorporate the values of tolerance and human rights
while reporting news stories, learning investigative reporting, managing
political drama without bias, and doing this with a local flavor.
WORK ETHIC
However, I think that the real issue is, the work ethic needed to create
programs about the local culture that can compete with the professional
commercial productions from dominant cultures. Smaller countries need to
find the creative minds in them that can compete with the best producers
in countries like India, the UK or the U.S.
Kids are turning to foreign programming because, frankly, it's more
entertaining. Some state broadcasters were accustomed to a market
monopoly before the advent of private stations and satellite
broadcasting. They could be lazy and boring because people had no
choice.
It was similar in Maldives: but now, freed from government control as a
public service broadcaster, they are trying harder to keep from losing
the culture war. Video technology makes the production affordable.
What's missing is the will and the work ethic to create something worth
watching.
There's no breakfast television news because no one wants to get up
early enough to do the job. I think it's time to start DOING.
What is especially important in promoting local culture through mass
media broadcasting is giving it respect and significance.
One of my most respected tutors in the field of broadcasting and
creativity -- Turan Ali from the UK once told us that to be creative you
have to be willing to take risks. Take a risk in order to manipulate the
formats of broadcasting and to come up with a new idea.
Nobel Prize winner Dr Roger Sperry’s split brain theory gives
scientific respectability to the notion that everyone has a creative
side to his nature. So it is a misconception that only some people are
creative.
We need to find ways to complement the old with the new. Learn how to
programme content on culture and heritage through the use of novel
broadcasting techniques. Be it effective scheduling or new concept
developments that attract the younger generation by assuring them that
their creativity will not go under appreciated.
Some creative formats and concepts in broadcasting are through changing
our paradigms or fixed assumptions about broadcasting. Until we shift
our paradigms, we shall always do things the same way.
Broadcasting can make the nation fall in love over and over again with
the beauty of traditions in an attractive yet effective way.
Most cultural scholars resist and fight for ways to reserve the heritage
that is long treasured in our nations. This has affected creativity and
the power to think outside the box and here I stand wondering if we can
work with the creative production houses and the cultural scholars to
take advantage of media, a powerful tool to give a cultural message and
to enjoy it.
This is why discussions . . . of creative industries need to take centre
stage as cultural studies enters the 21st century and to do so we need
to go into such collaborations and dialogues with our eyes wide open.
[Source:
IDN-InDepthNews
| Analysis That Matters]
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Thoyyib
Mohamed is
the Maldives Minister of State for Tourism, Arts and Culture. This
Viewpoint is a slightly abridged version of a paper he read at the Asia
Media Summit 2010 at Bejing, China, on May 25-26.
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