Speak up, Speak out

As more and more marginalized people want their stories to be heard, there has been a huge increase in the different types of media people can read or listen to. There's media for people of different races, genders, sexual orientation and interests. For me personally, my main goal as a journalist is to tell the stories that aren't out there. I would want to discuss that secret that governments or corporations are hiding from the general public, but also to tell others the horrors that people of a specific race or class encounter just because of how they are born.

If I was to begin my own publication, I think I'd want to write one covering the lives of people in Southeast Asia. Even though all the countries there are quite small, there are still quite a few people who have immigrated to Canada. Not many people know of the country I was born in, Brunei, but people know even less about the cultural difference between Chinese people and people in Singapore or the difference between Malaysian people and people from the Philippines. I think it'd just be interesting to have a blog covering the different foods, fashion, music and overall culture differences between these southeast Asian countries to Asia itself. I'd include a list of landmarks in these countries (including maps to show how to get there) and profiles of important people (along with pictures). I'd also like to have a myths and realities section to see what people originally thought and how true or false that is. As well, it'd be great to have an area for blogs from people in that country to tell about their everyday lives and readers can get a direct perspective of what life is like there. Not only that, I'd want to take a look at the different political issues happening in these countries. For example, Singapore's strict government regime, the Philippine worker trade or the Brunei's sultan and his oil deposits. I think that many people in the western culture know very little about this area and I'd like to change that. The publication I would want to start would be a voice for people who don't normally get covered in the mainstream media.

If I was given the chance to build a new section in an existing site, I would like to include a forum onto one of the major newspaper sites. As I realize that there is a comment box on most news sites now, I still feel that some people aren't given the chance to freely express themselves. It only lets people comment on the topics that are already there, but if there post has to do with something not relevant to the topic, then I think a forum would be a place for a broader discussion. This helps journalists as well because they can see the blogs and look into topics that people are openly complaining or saying things about, another source for story ideas that people are saying affects them. This venture may be a bit difficult to moderate, but I think that if the publication is dedicated enough to be writing about topics that are affecting people in the community than I don't see why it shoudln't be done. People are always saying how the media doesn't represent them and to some extent that is true, but this idea allows people to freely express themselves and keep them from being marginalized.