"This book offers comprehensive insights into the cultural and ecological values that influence sustainable development across Asia, addressing the cultural, religious and philosophical moorings of development through participatory and grassroots communication approaches. It presents a range of cont ... ributions and case studies from leading experts in Asia to highlight the debates on environmental communication and sustainable development that are relevant today, and to provide an overview of the positive traditions of ecological sensitivity and cultural communication that may find common ground between communities." (Publisher description) more

"A study by De Alwis (2006) on the reporting of the Sri Lanka conflict under censorship, made comparisons to Western theories and models. The findings disclose the unique techniques used by the lo ... cal press to circumvent media regulations. Censorship lacks the ability to tighten its hold on the local press who flaunt social responsibility and their watchdog instincts. These results are in stark contrast to Western scholarship and express an inadequacy of the Western theoretical perspectives for understanding Asian internal conflicts. The study posits the importance of understanding cultural dimensions before theorising on media behaviour and proposes an alternative model to arrive at new theoretical paradigms. Further, perceptions of non-Asian audiences on Asian media behaviour are evaluated to invite deliberations on Asian communication perspectives." (Abstract) more