Seeking Experts/Speakers: Creating an impact with storytelling (Photo Festival in Cambodia)

Hi! I’m a director of an annual non-profit photography festival in Cambodia. We would like to do a workshop which addresses the very real issue journalists/storytellers (print, photography, video) face when it comes to creating an impact with their work by getting their work seen by the right audiences. With social media being the primary source of news and information in many countries in Asia, the platform of so-called “mass media” no longer exists.

There are many dedicated and passionate people working on crucial topics in human rights, social issues and environment. They really want to make a difference with what they do, but navigating the digital waters to ensure their work makes a difference can be tough. It would require an overhaul of their approach to storytelling and creating campaigns, and also an understanding of how social media distorts the spread of information.

I’m looking for people in the media industry who might be able to share their experiences and speak about solutions to come speak at a workshop we’re trying to create!

Thanks in advance,
Jessica Lim
jess@angkor-photo.com

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@JessLim it is true that a lot of people particularly in southeast asia where I live as well other parts of asia get their news from social media. And this is not good news because social media are purveyor of fake news, misinformation, disinformation, hate speech, (filter bubbles) etc. These caused polarization of society and with deadly results in some asian countries like myanmar and sri lanka. Sri lanka was forced to cut off those social media from the internet temporarily helping fuelling the unrest. Local solution to a local situation. This year singapore passed laws that banned fake news that I think after seeing the chaos in neighboring asian countries and considering singapore is a multicultural society they think it was important to do this to avert disorder. Social Media has significant role in the polarization of society in asia and other parts of the world. These U.S. based social media companies are more interested in profit than society cohesion or peoples’ welfare much more far away countries. That is where the problem lies they have global reach but local thinking. I don’t think they know much or care much about what their policies and decisions consequences in other parts of the world if mainly they don’t see financial reward on it. With regards to mass media particularly in asia, this is only my opinion and I’m not a media person. I don’t think mass media in asian countries are dead some might be struggling because of social media and other reasons but I think its better for our societies to help them regain or make them stronger their foothold online and offline as purveyor of truth and facts to the masses and avoid the polarizing and divisive effect of social media. I don’t know much about the local situation in cambodia considering your local culture but I’m sure we southeast asians have similaries and of course there are cultural nuances as well the political situation but I know something about your history. Just my opinion I don’t think its ideal that journalist in cambodia will make social media as a platform for journalistic work maybe some but not much. Maybe promotional endeavor to reach cambodians of your work( if I’m not mistaken a lot of camboadians use social media) and more importantly reputable mass media in cambodia should be the main platforms online and offline such as newspaper or start from scratch. And if we are talking about mass media it includes radio and television. You don’t have much influence of the policies of US based social media, they may change that policies suddenly and then the game changes. You have to remember that tech companies including social media are vulnerable to political influence in the countries they operated . You can link also with international media organization and advocates known for its independence, integrity and probity. You have also to consider the privacy and health issues when using social media .I hope somebody here with experience in the media industry could reply to your post and make an informed and expert advice.

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