Okay, so it is a rather short list…. still… Los Angeles — This column probably will get obnoxious. At least I hope so. Delightfully, it’s about things I said would happen and, guess what? They happened. You could look it up: The judgments enumerated, in one way or the other,…
Month: August 2012
SINGAPORE: Would Western Values Really Have Worked?
Journalism takes on many different forms in the modern world. Western nations boastfully tout a free press system, while some countries have a media system controlled by the government. Other states lie somewhere in between the two, inclining toward a system of privately held media corporations that are still required to answer to the government.
SOUTH KOREA: Someone Is Actually Honoring Print!
During the late Chosun period (postwar 19th century), newspapers and magazines were fundamental in providing the Korean peninsula with the necessary tools for education and modernization. The influential Seoul-based newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, reports now that six dailies and two magazines are set to be designated cultural properties, according to the Cultural…
SINGAPORE: Journalism Fellowships!
Asia Journalism Fellowship 2013 opens for applications: The fifth round of the Asia Journalism Fellowship will run from 25 February to 17 May 2013. The fully-sponsored program is accepting applications until 12 October 2012 from accomplished mid-career journalists. The annual program is an initiative of Temasek Foundation and Nanyang Technological…
China Blotter: Netizens Against Corruption, Step One Complete
Remember back in March when the Chinese government tried to hush the scandals surrounding Communist Party Boss Bo Xilai? Well, thanks to the perseverance of free speech advocacy with Netizens at the frontlines, keeping mum was no longer an option on at least one of them. Something had to be…
THAILAND’S CONTROVERSIAL THAKSIN VISITS LOS ANGELES — AND LMU
Thaksin Shinawatra (pictured left with his sister, Yingluck, the current Thai prime minister) is undoubtedly the most controversial politician ever to become prime minister of Thailand, an oft-ignored country in Southeast Asia with a population and landmass greater than Britain or Italy. (But who besides a Thai knows this?) Elected…
BANGLADESH: Govt. Accuses Economist Magazine of ‘Poor Journalism’
The Bangladesh government is unhappy with The Economist, the famed international weekly published out of London. More specifically, Bangladesh’s government seems to believe that The Economist has not practiced accurate or impartial reporting on two recent feature articles on Bangladesh, titled “Banged about” and “Hello, Delhi”. On June 14th, 2012,…
ARABS AND THE OLYMPICS: Serious Mixed Feelings about So-Called Saudi ‘Progress’
Editor’s note: Asia Media Staff writer Latifah RahmDel is visiting the United States this month – on holiday from United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, where she is a student. She files this from New York: “Being an Arab in the States during the Olympic Games is…
CHINA: Following in Singapore’s Footsteps … Censorship by Another Name
Will Chinese television veiwers have anything good left to watch? The State Administration of Film, Radio and Television recently published six new guidelines that ban remakes of foreign TV series, as well as shows based on online games. The rules also require that revolution-themed TV series clearly differentiate between friend…
MALAYSIA: Pageant Winner Too White for Asia?!!
Right, or white? Following the conclusion of the Miss Malaysia 2012 Pageant, a new question arose: What defines “Malaysian-ness?” In a way it was sort of funny. Asians (like everyone else) hate stereotyping. And yet some critics of the winner of the crown were upset because Kimberly Leggett didn’t look….er…Malaysian.…
CHINA: HUMANS IN TEXTILE FORM
CHINA: HUMANS IN TEXTILE FORM
CHINA: HUMANS IN TEXTILE FORM
NORTH KOREA: Wedding Gift for the ‘First Couple’ — a Modest Proposal!
(An opinion column) — I guess I am a sucker for old-fashioned romance. When I heard about the stunning marriage of Kim Jong Un, the young new leader of North Korea, to the lovely Ri Sol Ju, apparently a professional singer, I hurriedly buried the ideological hatchet and grabbed the…
BANGLADESH: Throwing the (Face)Book at the Prime Minister!
Posting unflattering Facebook messages about Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has landed another person in hot water. On July 12, The Daily Star: Lebanon reported that Bangladesh police jailed Shariful Islam after he posted to his Facebook page an edited picture of the female prime minister’s face superimposed on a partially-naked…
HONG KONG: Who’s Trying to Knock Off the Feisty In-Media?
The offices of Independent media, or In-media news publication were attacked August 7. Witnesses say four Chinese men wearing surgical masks and gloves entered the activist news site’s small facility and used hammers to destroy three computers and one television before fleeing. An on-going police investigation has yet to turn up…