Research by Elis Anis

By contrasting news reports from a peaceful area (Manado) with those from a nearby conflict-torn area (Sulawesi Tengah), the author attempted to answer questions about whether or not the coverage of conflict in Sulawesi Tengah would influence coverage of conflict in Manado. Further, could the framing of conflict affect people in Manado to an extent that could alter their involvement in the conflict? Through content analysis of 70 articles from two local online newspapers (Manado Post and Radar Sulteng), it was found that primary sources of information in both newspapers were government officials, followed by religious leaders. In addition, political conflict is the predominant theme in both newspapers. However, the Radar Sulteng reported on the conflict with greater detail and stories attempted to make readers identify with those involved in the conflict. In contrast, the Manado Post framed the conflict in a way that discourages its spread in Manado. This research produced interesting results that help people better understand the impact of conflict on news reporting.

Sonia Marcus '05
Presented at the 9th annual Tun Abdul Razak conference "Tourism in Southeast Asia: Local, regional and cross-cultural perspectives" during April 14-15, 2005, in Athens, Ohio.

This paper discusses the recent rise of the justice tourism sector, particularly involving American travelers in the Asian regions. The term "justice tourism" has been used in recent years to describe a form of intercultural exchange in which travelers can be a part of a liberation process by allowing them to create relationships with individuals and groups in host countries based on mutual understanding and respect. The author argues that the factors which have contributed to its popularity can be grouped into three principal categories: factors which have led to a rise in international travel, specifically to the Asian nations; factors which have spurred the development of the alternative tourism approach; and factors which are specific to the growth of the justice tourism sector among American tourists. Among the latter, this study identifies the promotion of more just forms of tourism by church leaders in Asia, such as the Ecumenical Coalition on Third World Tourism; the mass movement of politically savvy North Americans toward Latin America in 1980s; the emergence of the transnational global justice movement; and a calculated response by tour operators, both in North America and Asia, to the increasing sophistication of Northern tourists.

Sonia Marcus '05
Presented at the International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability During February 25-27, 2005, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

This paper reviews contemporary approaches to farmland conservation in peri-urban areas in an effort to assess the value of the Countryside Initiative (CI) as a model for future projects of this kind in the United States. As individuals, groups, and government agencies increasingly scramble for fresh thinking and innovative solutions to the problems of what is loosely defined as "sprawl," documentation of successful sustainable initiatives is sorely needed to provide a basis for comparison as well as a bank of effective tactics. The CI, a program launched by CVNP in 1998, represents a concerted effort to conserve and support farming activities in the Cuyahoga valley through the leasing of historic farms to private individuals who are willing and able to contribute to the ecological, cultural, historic, scenic, and educational missions of the park. The project's format, operation, and objectives are highly unconventional within the National Park System as a whole. However, it draws on the strengths of a wide range of programs implemented in the United States and abroad which have had success in the protection and maintenance of urban fringe farmland. If successful as a public venture, the CI will offer farmland conservationists in America a new model for action. While it is unlikely that the entire framework would simply be copied and transferred elsewhere, there are a number of elements in the plan which may be applicable in a wide variety of contexts, including an emphasis on sustainable farming approaches within national parkland, the creation of an independent conservancy to oversee the project, the focus on goods adapted to urban markets, as well as the use of long-term leases.

Arvind Singhal* and Kanta Devi

Published in Communicator - Journal of Indian Institute of Mass communication: Vol. XXXVIII No. 2 July-Dec. 2003. The present article analyzes the role of visuals—especially photographs and videos—in participatory communication action and research. The main tenets of participatory communication, including the dialogic pedagogical processes espoused by Paulo Freire, are presented. Various examples are provided of participatory action and research conducted through photography and video. We conclude by discussing the potential and caveats associated with this visual approach to participatory communication.

*Arvind Singhal is Professor and Presidential Research Scholar in the School of Communication Studies, Ohio University, Ohio.

Kanta Devi

Presented at the Southwest Texas Popular Culture/American Culture Conference on February 12-15, 2003 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.

The paper looks at the role of the Indian, especially Hindi movies, in promoting social integration in Malaysia. It examines the factors that have made Hindi movies, crossing the boundary of the Indian diaspora, popular among the mainstream Malaysians. The study juxtaposes textual analysis and the findings of in-depth interviews with the Malay community living in the United States. It reviews the existing literature and documents related to Indian movies, electronic media development in Malaysia, and immigrant communities of the country. The study finds that economic interest is a significant stimulus for the Malaysian government and the movie producers in promoting Hindi movies in Malaysia.

* The Paper has also been published as conference proceeding.

Sun Ying
Presented at the Global Fusion 2004 Conference on October 29-31, at St. Louis, Missouri.

Based on previous studies of foreign news and community media, this paper examines the relationship between ethnic diversity and international news coverage represented on online versions of community newspapers. The research seeks to shed some light on the barely studied field of online community newspapers, by combining mass communication theories and sociological models. Content analysis is applied to a sample of six Ohio online community newspapers. Pearson¡¯s correlation coefficient suggests no significant relationship between the ethnic ascription of the community and online international news coverage. It reveals that there has not been noticeable change of international coverage of community newspapers, in spite of the influence of globalization, the increasing ethnic diversity of the local community, and the implementation of new communications technology. Small community newspapers tend to use outside vendors to help with the production of the website, leading to the result that online news content does not take account of the audience and community population.

Nita Irawati Murjani
Presented at the Global Fusion 2003 Conference during October 26-28, 2003 at Austin, Texas.

Distance environmental education is a good alternative for the environmental education practitioners in Indonesia to reach their target groups since the country is an archipelago country in which geographical barrier is one obstacle for their communication. The internet-based distance environmental education offers many advantages and possibilities in overcoming such problems as well as improving the quality of the education by enhancing the accessibility of both the practitioners and the target groups to various kinds of environmental-related information. The findings show that Indonesia has not implemented the internet-based distance environmental education optimally because there are still weaknesses and potentials that need to be improved in order to support its implementation. Another finding about the internet-based environmental education activities held by several NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations) in Indonesia is that there has been awareness of the importance of the internet for such activities.

Nita Irawati Murjani
Presented at the 3rd East-West Center International Graduate Student Conference on February 19 – 21, 2004, at Honolulu, Hawaii.

Forest destruction in West Lombok has reached a critical point. Most of its 79,000 ha forest areas have been destroyed by illegal logging activities. In many cases, illegal logging activities are often correlated with the local community’s poverty. Researchers (e.g., Muliadi, 2002) argue that local communities can play a vital role in curbing environmental destruction. In the present study, I identified two indigenous community-based movements (Perekat Ombara (Persekutuan Masyarakat Adat Lombok Utara) in the northern West Lombok, and Kelompok Mitra Pengaman Hutan (KMPH) Partnership for Forest Security Mitra Sesaot in the eastern West Lombok) that are struggling not only for the betterment of their socio-economic lives but more importantly to save their forests from destruction. Through the use of secondary data from an extensive literature search, the study was intended to explore the strategies used by both movements. The results show that Perekat Ombara is empowering indigenous communities in the northern West Lombok by enforcing customary laws, while KPMH Mitra Sesaot is empowering indigenous communities in the management of Sesaot forest through community forestry program by implementing at least four of the seven White and Martin’s strategies for strengthening community property rights over forests. In addition, both Perekat Ombara and KPMH Mitra Sesaot still see forest problems as localized regardless of the fact that problems in other areas in the regency may also affect their livelihood. Synergy of both movements is recommended to generate greater power to enforce their agenda into the larger regional and national development agenda.

Nita Irawati Murjani
Conducted in Indonesia from March 26 – April 26, 2004, and sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund-Education for Nature.

For more than three decades, Indonesia’s forestry management has systematically weakened local capacity to protect the forests and to control the destruction. There are external and internal driving forces that force the government to put aside traditional communities’ involvement in development including forestry management. The government and traditional communities differ greatly in their perspectives. Traditional communities typically see forests as communal property, which is important as the main source of food, medicine, water, and fresh air; they prevent natural disasters, balance the climate, support agriculture and fishing, and more importantly, are the place where they are spiritually bonded and where they teach their children about the values of life. In contrast, the New Order government from the late 1960s saw forests as economic machines, which should be industrialized to help solve the country’s financial crisis and contribute to development. In this paper, I discuss how sustainable forestry management can be reinforced through the empowerment of traditional communities and their indigenous knowledge systems. In discussing the empowerment of traditional communities, I focused on the roles of the NGO Jaringan Kearifan Tradisional Indonesia (JKTI) in the empowerment process, by specifically addressing these questions relating to how NGOs understand the empowerment of traditional communities and the strategies they use in empowerment of ttraditional communities. In the long run, this study is important for measuring and mapping current NGO strength, and providing a basis on which we can develop a revitalization program for other NGOs.