Most scholars of communication and media are not up to speed with the rapid transformation of the media scene in Asia - the world's most populous and economically dynamic continent. With Singapore hosting the annual conference for the International Communication Association, it made perfect sense to examine the impact of the two fastest-growing global economies - China and India - on global communication. This reflects the imperative I have identified in recent research and writing to broaden the remit of media and communication studies to include media in non-Western contexts (Internationalizing media studies, 2009).
With this timeliness, it is perhaps not surprising that the preconference topic on 'Chindia' found approval, but most encouraging has been the very positive response we received to our call for papers - not only from scholars in China and India but those based in Europe, Australia, and the United States. Some of these ideas were rehearsed at the USC Annenberg Forum on Comparative Communication and Media Studies in December 2009, with a presentation I gave as invited speaker on 'Chindia.'
Jairam Ramesh, currently India's Environment Minister, is credited with the notion of 'Chindia,' representing what has been termed as the 'rise of the rest'. That Chindia is more than just an increasingly popular neologism is demonstrated by a Google search for the word 'Chindia', which shows more than 145,000 hits. Trade between the two Asian giants - negligible at the beginning of the 1990s - grew to the equivalent of US$40 billion by 2008, with China becoming India's largest single trading partner.
With more than 70 dedicated news channels - soon to touch three figures - India has one of the world's most linguistically diverse media landscapes, while China has emerged as the planet's biggest mobile telephone market, highest blogger population, and largest exporter of IT products. The study of media and communication is rapidly growing in both countries: More than 700 communication and media programmes are operational in Chinese universities, while the opening up of the media and communication sector in India has led to mushrooming of media institutes.
I firmly believe that the transformation of communication and media in China and India will have profound implications for what constitutes the 'global'. Though both countries represent two distinct political and media systems, the combined economic and cultural impact of 'Chindia,' aided by their worldwide diasporas, is likely to create globalization with an Asian accent, a phenomenon that will influence globalized media and its study. My hope is that this preconference, 'The Chindia Challenge to Global Communication,' will contribute to a conversation among scholars from around the world, especially from China and India, that examines and explores how the rise of Asia will influence communication elsewhere.
I am privileged to be based at the University of Westminster in London which hosts the UK's top media research department and is home to both the China Media Centre and the newly established India Media Centre, of which I am Codirector. This unique combination of expertise should ensure high-quality international participation, especially from China and India, and as such I am very much looking forward to Singapore.
