MCOM-3990 International Media, a journalism elective class recently had eight international students speak about the state of their countries’ media. This interactive session was held in room 105 of the mass communication building from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday.
The eight international students were representatives of Ecuador, South Africa, Nepal, France, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Nigeria and Venezuela. Their UCO standing ranged from freshman to graduate student and had majors from computer science and sociology to MBA and elementary education.
Among some of the issues touched on were differences between the respective countries and the U.S. in media censorship, where people get their news and freedom of speech.
Serliara Rumbiak, from Indonesia, said that freedom of speech is not prevalent where she is from. She mentioned that she heard on the news about Obama being a homosexual before he became president.
“In Indonesia, the person would have been sent to jail for bad mouthing the president. We are not as outspoken as America. In Indonesia, we only report the facts, not opinion.”
Lana Koch of South Africa agrees with Serliara.
“The U.S. media fascinates me with how open they are. They just say everything often without censoring. South Africa is outspoken as well, but not nearly as daring and outspoken. And you will get into trouble for spreading rumors. It will be huge, whereas here, it’s often overlooked as freedom of speech.”
The geography and landscape of a country influences how news is spread. Bibash Lama from Nepal explained that the mountainous structure of his country makes broadcasting news through television and radio difficult due to the lack of wiring poles. Also, the broad spectrum of dialects within the country makes it hard to broadcast in one language.
Saudi Arabian representative, Ahmad Ali Khiswi said that although citizens get news every day from different sources, they choose to only believe the religious leaders’ interpretation and comments.
“On our holy day, Friday, the people gather at our place of worship to listen to what the leaders have to say. We trust them because they are in charge of the country. They do not have selfish motives but serve the country by doing what is best for society.”
Dr. Terry Clark, director of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame and professor of International Media was very supportive of this activity.
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