How do the Lao get their news?
A while back Padek posted about the lack of quality Lao news and how the news coming out of Laos tend to be too positive while the news outside of Laos, coming from certain interest groups regarding Laos are too negative. But what about the average people in Laos, how do they get their news? The majority of the people outside Vientiane don’t have access to the internet or to newspaper like the Vientiane Times or Vientiane Mai. Even if the papers are available in their town, chances are they can’t afford to buy daily newspapers to read, when have to choose between buying food or buying reading material on a daily basis.
In Laos, information is often spread through word of mouth. Cell phones are quite affordable in Laos so the majority of the news are being passed through conversations via mobile or land line phones. Once the information is out, whether true or not the damage has been done and if not treated carefully, it is quite difficult to convince the public to change their mind about negative news.
Take for example the news or rumor about the rising pop star Alexandra Bounxouei in 2004. After her participation at the Pattaya Music Festival 2004, there was a news article in the Vientiane Times newspaper about a big uproar throughout the country and how many of her fans were throwing mud at the M Phone billboards (featuring Alexandra Bounxouei). The article also reported fans burning her album because they were so furious with what she has allegedly said during an interview.
The problem started when an individual in Vientiane said on a cell phone to another about an interview that Alexandra Bounxouei had in Thailand and how she felt with being a Lao person. That piece of information was spreading like wild fire all over the country. There was no confirmation on the rumor but people from all ages just took it at face value and didn’t question the source or whether or not it is even a “real news”. The people in Champassak Province for example had their own confirmation when the billboards of M Phone with Alexandra Bounxouei were taken down and replaced with another pop artist. Calls were made to M Phone to ask if the rumor was true and if it was the reason the billboards were taken down. M Phone representatives explained the contract was over and it has nothing to do with the rumor.
To this day, half of the people in Laos still believe in that rumor. You can’t give those people a newspaper article about the “truth” and convince them otherwise. Why is that the case? Because they would rather believe the person who has first given them the news in the first place. It’s difficult to win an argument with someone who will come back to you with an answer of “my mom’s friend said this so it must be true” kind of thinking.
Recently, the most popular pop singer in Laos by the name of Cream was in the hot water when some people started to doubt her true self. It started when Cream gave an interview in the Vientiane Times Newspaper and also on TV about how she has never sampled alcohol or had a cold drink in her entire life. A few people started to doubt her sincerity and a rumor was spreading around, originating in Vientiane all the way to Pakse about how she can’t be true or too good to be true. It is not possible they said because Laos it’s a hot country after all and when she is at school, she would have to drink ice water.
This sort of negative publicity was not good for Cream but her manager and family came to her defense and gave interview to confirm the fact. Her family has a good reputation in the community so people didn’t question Cream’s interview anymore. Just as the negative news about Cream started to spread like the wild fire via word of mouth, the confirmation of the interview also went the same way, restoring the love for the artist. Cream is as popular as when she first became famous in Laos and is considered by the public as the number 1 pop star in Laos at the moment.
If you listen to her music, then you can understand why:
Interesting to know that word-of-mouth is the most important source of information in Laos.
Is this a good thing? I doubt it…
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Gosh Darly, if that’s the case, then my post on BBM would be a funny post, I don’t think I’d like that very much.
It is very interesting to know that this is how people get their news, which is not news at all but pure gossip. What does this say about the people who believe this stuff? Uneducated is what comes to mind.