Abstract
SAGE Publications, the publisher of this journal, has informed me that they have no alternative but to close down the journal, at the end of the year, since the copyright holder (The University of Wollongong) has decided not to continue with this journal after Professor Eric Loo (the Founder-Editor of this journal) retired from the university. Needless to say, we have no choice but to stop working on this initiative after the next issue, that is, December 2021. Hence, we are no longer accepting any new submissions and will accommodate any remaining accepted manuscripts for the final issue. It has been a good run in the time it lasted.
As I noted in one of my first editorials after I took over as the Editor-in-Chief,
the mission of this journal is to provide a space for critical commentaries, research studies, and reports, reviews and thought papers that contribute to media pedagogy, training, and/or professional practice. With the cooperation of the editorial board and the think tank of this journal, I do intend to continue furthering this mission. I also want to encourage young scholars, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, to consider publishing their cutting-edge research and commentaries in this journal. I will continue to further pedagogical research about policy, processes, people and practices, while showcasing innovative case-studies in the area of media and communication education. I also plan to increase the diversity of members on the editorial board to add to the expertise in media and communication theory, production and pedagogy.
Looking back, in the limited time we had, I am glad we could move the needle on all these fronts and also promote a lot of capacity building initiatives for young scholars while also providing a platform for publication and mentorship of upcoming scholars in the Asia-Pacific region. In this issue we have the opportunity to present a number of contributions that further our understanding of journalism education, pedagogy, theory and practice relevant to the region.
A number of the articles, in this issue, reflect on journalism education and suggest innovative pedagogies. In ‘“Journalism alongside”: A reflection on teaching journalism through community-engagement’, Tara Ross reflects on a service-learning public journalism project in Aotearoa (New Zealand), that experimented with community journalism practices to empower the community. In this project, postgraduate journalism students explored ways to engage with and report on diverse communities and thereby helped their understanding of inclusive journalism and civic responsibility, among other things. Laura Glitsos in ‘World-ready: A journalism capstone unit model with international focus in a post-pandemic landscape’, argues that there is a gap in the current journalism literature in Australia, and hence an urgent need for a journalism capstone unit that focuses on a global vision for post-programmer work opportunities in a digital, global landscape. The author suggests a potential project-based capstone model with a suggested assessment schedule that seeks to address this gap.
David Bockino and Amir Ilyas, in their article, ‘Institutionalized education: Journalism and mass communication education in Pakistan’, present the results of a qualitative study that examined journalism and mass communication (JMC) education in the country. They explore the consequences of increased homogenization of JMC education around the world using actor-network theory and question the efficacy of the current power structures within the supranational JMC organizational field before discussing how these influences could potentially be mitigated moving forward.
Pradeep Nair and Deepak Kumar Vaishnav in their study, ‘Media use and well-being: Understanding the interplay in the context of Tibetan youth in India amid the COVID-19 crisis’, explore the potential benefits of media exposure on the construct of wellbeing within the disciplinary boundaries of media psychology. They also explore the intrinsic effects of media usage on the social and cultural wellbeing of young Tibetan people living in various settlements in India.
Bahtiyar Kurambayev and Eric Freedman, in their article, ‘Central Asian journalism studies: Is there a pathway from conference paper to journal publication?’ present the results of a mixed methods, exploratory study to analyse growing pressures on Journalism and Mass Communication faculty in Central Asia, to publish in high-quality international journals. They explore how these faculty negotiate these publishing mandates to enhance the global rankings of their institutions and the challenges they encounter in such pursuits.
In, ‘Enhancing marginalized youth media participation through formation of a nation building action plan and an intervention study design’, Norshuhada Shiratuddin, Shahizan Hassan, Mohd Khairie Ahmad, Kartini Aboo Talib, Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani, Noor Sulastry Yurni Ahmad and Zainatul Shuhaida Abdul Rahman present the results of an intervention study of eight modules of media participation that led to the development of an action plan to enable and enhance the media participation of Malaysian youth from marginalized communities.
Using a mixed methods design, Guna Graciyal David and Deepa Viswam, in their article ‘Social media and emotional well-being: Pursuit of happiness or pleasure’ explore the intricacies of social media networking and social dysfunction and how it impacts the younger generation. They try to discern whether such an association is a happiness or pleasure activity.
Patrizia Furlan, in her examination of the COVID-19 pandemic coverage in the only national broadsheet newspaper of Australia, The Australian, found that coverage while not hyped but measured, used a number of war metaphors with heavy reliance on the economic impact and fallout of COVID-19.
In ‘Is OTT the game changer over traditional TV channels?—A niche analysis’, Hashim Hamza Puthiyakath and Manash Pratim Goswami using niche theory investigate the growing popularity and impact of OTT on traditional TV channels, by measuring the degree of gratification across several micro-dimensions, through a survey of online viewers in India.
I have always advocated that scholarship should be original and relevant to the region where that knowledge is generated. Good scholars, especially in our field, should not blindly ape ‘dominant’ theories and replicate other studies when they are not a good fit to their own context. The original and context specific knowledge generation that is happening in the Community Radio space is a good example of that. Hence, in this issue, I am especially glad that we could devote some space to highlight two new books on that topic. Nidumolu Sai Sri Vidya Vaishnavi reviews Vinod Pavarala and Kanchan Malik’s book on Community Radio in South Asia—Reclaiming the Airwaves, while Aniruddha Jena reviews Preeti Raghunath’s book on Community Radio Policies in South Asia: A Deliberative Policy Ecology Approach.