LAUREN CHEN WRITES – Gone are the days of handing out flyers or haranguing your friends on the phone to support a worthy cause. Now all it takes to turn out a mega-march is a juicy scandal and populist call to arms on Facebook and Twitter. Filipinos gathered August 26…
Author: Asia Media Staff
PAKISTAN: At Prices This Low, Teens Can’t Afford Not to be Immoral
AUSTIN SZABO WRITES: You can’t trust your kids once the sun goes down. At least that’s what Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) officials say. The News reports that the Pakistani government has demanded wireless companies stop selling late-night cellphone packages to teenagers, claiming such deals will ultimately destroy the country’s culture. Their logic? Discount…
NORTH KOREA: Did Porn put Popstar in Firing Line?
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – A dozen North Korean musicians faced a government firing squad last month for allegedly making and selling porn. That might have gone unnoticed by the world if one of them hadn’t been Hyon Song-wol, national chanteuse and hottie former girlfriend of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. Conspiracy…
LEBANON: Promoting Digital Media Literacy in the Middle East
NICOLE SABA WRITES – Though Arabs are as Net savvy as anyone, many Arab universities rely on Western resources to build their digital media studies and literacy curricula. Fed up with the second-hand material, Lebanon has hosted the first digital academy by and for Arabs. Built on the example of…
MYANMAR: From Censorship to Courts
ALEXANDRE GUIRAUD-COINTREAU WRITES – Myanmar’s new regime has found new ways to deal with unwanted magazine articles by doling out defamation lawsuits left and right. Within the last year, the population in Myanmar has seen countless improvements, such as the development of new media sources, as well as the popularization…
CHINA: US Saves the Day, Even in the Movies
LEXIE TUCKER WRITES – The movie Pacific Rim, written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, opened this summer to only so-so reviews in the US. The sci-fi story of monsters called Kaiju which emerge from the Pacific Ocean to try and destroy the human race made only $99,331,880 domestically, while…
JAPAN: Iconic Anime Director Retires, Again
JEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES – After decades in the anime and film industries, Hayao Miyazaki, co-founder of Studio Ghibli, has announced his retirement. According to The Japan Times, the shocking news came out of the Venice film festival on September 1. Koji Hoshino, head of Studio Ghibli, told reporters that Miyazaki’s…
VIETNAM: Beautiful Bodies, Uterus Required
YVONNE EPPS WRITES – The next Vietnam beauty may be just around the corner, but the government will only except the most feminine of them all, literally. Based off America’s Next Top Model, the fourth season of Vietnam’s Next Top Model has come under fire after advancing transgendered contestants in…
BANGLADESH: Bicycles Bring Internet to Rural Areas
KIARA BRAMASCO WRITES – Ladies clad in pink and blue uniforms on bikes are appearing in Bangladesh’s remote villages, bearing the gift of the Internet. These women, called “info ladies” ride their bikes across the countryside with laptops ready to hold Internet sessions for the disconnected. The Guardian newspaper reports…
MALAYSIA: Says “No” to Tobacco and the US
MARLENA NIP WRITES – Malaysia is taking a stand against a smoking Uncle Sam. In ongoing trade talks with the U.S., it adamantly defended its right to set stiff rules on the sale of tobacco products within its own borders. In the process, it won the praise of everyone from…
TAIWAN: Does Taiwan Media Need Reform?
BRIAN CANAVE WRITES – Taipei Times highlights the lack of a more diverse and critical media system. But wait, isn’t it one of the biggest newspapers in Taiwan? Recently, Taipei Times has published two articles stressing the media’s important role on uncovering news the government may have covered up, as…
SINGAPORE: Evangelizing Comes at a High Cost
STEPHANIE GARCIA WRITES – What could be more scandalous than a pop star, a church, and alleged embezzlement between the two? A “second coming” of “The Messiah” threatening to reveal all the dirty details of the so-called “hidden agenda.” On Monday, September 2, pop star Ho Yeow Sunʼs official website…
SINGAPORE: One Man’s View Receives Mixed Reviews
STEPHANIE GARCIA WRITES – The world weighs in as the Father of Modern Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, shares his most pugnacious opinions in his latest book. One Man’s View of the World, a fitting title for a book whose author single handedly took a nation from rags to riches, was…
LOS ANGELES: Raunchy, Racist Music Video Goes Viral
JEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES – Sex often sells, but not when it’s mixed with the stark insensitivity of misogyny and racism. Los Angeles based band Day Above Ground provoked a torrent of controversy earlier this month following the release of a music video for their song “Asian Girlz.” The video featured…
CHINA: Saved by the Bloggers
LEXIE TUCKER WRITES – It all began with a video that spread on Sina Weibo, China’s popular micro blog website. Distributed by whistle-blowing writers, the short video snippets exposed the process by which bile is removed from Asiatic black bears, prompting outrage amid animal rights lovers and activists. On August…
SINGAPORE: National Family ‘Pledge’ Notably Omits Single Parents and LGBT
STEPHANIE GARCIA WRITES – Singapore values family … but only if your family includes two parents, one mother and one father. On July 30, Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing introduced the nation’s first family pledge at a luncheon for those who participated in last month’s National…