Chiang Mai, Thailand, Dec. 9-12, 2009
Voices at a Time of Change
The Mekong Media Forum is a four-day event where journalists and participants will take stock of, debate and reflect on the media environment against the backdrop of rapid economic integration — and the different development and transboundary challenges that come with it — in the Mekong region. The discussions at the Forum will highlight the diversity of local voices in the region’s media, and offer opportunities to learn skills from media experts and from one another’s experiences.
To be held in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai from Dec. 9 to 12, 2009, the Forum seeks to be a festive, relevant, creative event that captures the nuances of the Mekong region. There are many media conferences in Asia, but the Mekong Media Forum is a unique event that focuses on the Mekong region – composed of Cambodia, China, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam.
The Forum is being organised by IPS Asia-Pacific news agency (www.ipsnewsasia.net) and Probe Media Foundation Inc (www.probefound.com), which since 2002 have been running the Imaging Our Mekong media fellowships. More than 220 journalists from the region have been fellows in this programme.
The major supporters of the Forum are the Rockefeller Foundation and the MDG3 Fund. Other supporters are UNICEF, Nobel Women’s Initiative, MPOWER, UNESCO and the Japan Foundation. Participant supporters are the Konrad Adenauer Center for Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines), UNDP Laos and World Bank Laos.
Media partners are ‘The Irrawaddy’ publishing group and Lao National Television.
STRUCTURE
The Forum will consist of plenary sessions, talk-show format discussions and creative sharing sessions, as well as satellite sessions, offering a variety of topics that participants can choose from.
There will also be photo exhibits and film and documentary showings that highlight the work of Mekong journalists and professionals, launches of a DVD set and a report on gender and media, a booth exhibit area and a Mekong bazaar.
There will be simultaneous interpretation in all six languages of the Mekong countries – Burmese, Chinese, Khmer, Lao, Thai and Vietnamese.
The Forum is being held at the Holiday Inn Chiang Mai.
