At least one chapter in the "Asian Eclipse" is well off the mark.
On Asia's corrupted Business media, by "Asian Eclipse, Exposing the dark side of Business in Asia". Here we answer the author Michael Backman. But first a summary of this chapter:
The media, particularly good business journalism is essential for exposing fraudulent practices that can occur in business. Sound, enforced business laws, independent, thorough auditing and the media are all essential for a well functioning business environment. Within Asia, however the media is rarely genuinely independent and free to report on corporate misdemeanors.
Censorship, low wages and a lack of independence from big businesses all hamper Asia's media in performing its role in corporate governance. Furthermore, distribution controls and a reluctance to allow foreign journalists into some Asian countries can all act to shift the media's scrutiny.
Although censorship by Asian governments is decreasing, this alone is not responsible for the media's unwillingness to expose unfair business practices. All too often Asia's media is not independent of other corporate interests. Frequently media is not the primary business activity of the major shareholder, but is there to serve the interests of the rest of the business empire. Products produced by sister companies for example may be promoted in news articles. Far more concerning is that the newspaper is unlikely to expose the more controversial aspects of affiliated companies.
Too few media organizations concentrate solely on the media; consequently there exists a significant opportunity for the business media to be compromised by affiliated non-media interests. The Bangkok Post, has Chartsiri Sophonpanich, the president of Thailand's biggest bank the 'Bangkok Bank' sitting on its board. Similarly a big slice of Thailand's ITV channel is owned by The Crown Property Bureau, the private investment vehicle of the Thai Royal Family. The Crown Property Bureau are also a major shareholder in the Thai English language business paper the Business Day. The Business Day does not exactly offer unrestrained reporting on its major shareholders. In 1997, for example, the Bangkok Post ran almost a hundred stories where the Crown Property Bureau was mentioned, in contrast the Business Day ran just one.
The low wages received by Asian journalists means that journalists are susceptible to bribes. Indonesian, Thai and Chinese reporters are regularly paid by organizers to attend press conferences. This has become so common place that it is almost obligatory to ensure press presence. Appearance paying is one thing but all too frequently larger insidious payments are becoming more commonplace.
It has been claimed that within Indonesia reporters can earn more by not writing than by writing. Such corruption is just as common place in Thailand although greater emphasis is made on favorable reporting rather than simply seeking to silence business reporting. Thai reporters have been claimed to receive gold necklaces, stocks and stock options, and overseas travel from companies in exchange for favorable writing. In much of Asia the media coverage of business is highly defective. Potential big stories regarding inappropriate actions taken by businessmen frequently disappear with few follow-ups. Almost with certainty the journalists' silence has been bought.
My own Comments:In this chapter the author is off base. Thailand has one of the most free press in all of Asia. How can he have missed this? His enthousiams for the press in Singapore is odd as well. On page 59 he writes, "Singapore' s media leads the rest of SE Asia". But Singapor's print media is dominated by the Singapore governmnet linked Singapore Press Holdings, which has a near monopoly ownership of all local newspapers and owns Times Publishing as well as the local book publisher and distributor. Despite this the author claims the press there it clean and lean and more open. Here I disagree, as when in Singapore I avoid reading the local papers...as they waste my time.
Best Regards to all our valued subscribers,
Paul A. Renaud
