Popular Holdings, the Southeast Asian based publishing group, has announced the publication of ‘Conversations with Ban Ki-moon’ in simplified Chinese for Mainland marketing. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon spent many hours in confidential conversation with American journalist Tom Plate to produce a serious inside look at the United Nations from…
Author: Tom Plate
Tom Plate is a journalist and university
professor who has worked at Time magazine,
the Los Angeles Times, Newsday and other
media institutions.
THE SYRIAN ANGLE THE WORLD MEDIA MISSED
TOM PLATE WRITES – You have to admit that the timing of the Russian ploy to trip up (or at least drag President Obama’s feet on) any U.S. bombing of Moscow ally Syria was exquisite. I for one would now not only want to avoid playing Russian roulette with Vladimir…
SINGAPORE: Thoughts about Lee Kuan Yew at 90
TOM PLATE WRITES – Lee Kuan Yew, whom I first interviewed in 1996, was always a terrific interview and if you ask Western journalists how many public figures they can say this of, you may be surprised at how few they name. But I cannot think of one journalist who…
PACIFIC PERSPECTIVES: The Big Scoop on Our Print Media Tragedies
Los Angeles – The digital revolution roiling all media in societies plugged into the Internet (North Korea: you may disregard this column) is having a profound effect. Paper from trees has become the stone tablet of our time, not quite as hefty in weight of course but in other respects…
THAILAND: Two More Important Books Derailed by Unofficial but Vicious Censorship
They’re at it again in Bangkok, reports the highly respected political website PRACHATAI. As its journalist Suluck Lamubol, writing for the site, tells us: “Asia Books, Thailand’s largest English language bookstore, on Thursday withdrew from their bookshelves two academic titles on Thai history, citing “political sensitivity.” The books concern the…
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE: Egypt as Iconic Tragedy
To me, the Hobbesian state of nature unfolding now in Egypt is the colossal story of the current epoch. In our idealistic quest for political perfection, what sometimes happens? We create darkness. When we agree to see a regime deposed (or help push it over the cliff), it night well…
SOUTHEAST ASIA: The Word ‘Kitaab’ Can Mean ‘Book’
LMU’s Asia Media writes: Interested in a terrific blog about writers and writing in Asia? Go to http://kitaab.org. It favors writers who can write, and writers’ festivals that are more than book conventions. Look up its coverage of the impending Singapore Fall Writers Festival. Kitaab, we are told by the…
PACIFIC PERSPECTIVES: China Without Fear – Inside the Mind of Zhu Rongji
TOM PLATE WRITES: The biggest question about China at the moment is the buoyancy of its economy. Suddenly there are serious worries. In China, people might believe Americans wish for their economic collapse. This is not true. If only because of the intimate interdependence and indeed inter-reliance of our two…
FIGHTING WORDS: How to Complicate an Already-Complicated Relationship
PACIFIC PERSPECTIVES FIGHTING WORDS: HOW TO COMPLICATE AN ALREADY-COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP 12 July 2013 BY TOM PLATE LOS ANGELES – On the whole, a recent trip to China left me more hopeful than ever about the all-important U.S.-China relationship. Media officials, journalists and journalism students alike (my basic happy audience in…
VIETNAM: Officially Banned, Unofficially a Smash Hit
YVONNE EPPS WRITES – It’s been banned, but can you really keep it under wraps if it’s already been leaked onto the web? Earlier this summer, the National Cinema Department (NCD) instrumented a hasty campaign to ban Bui Doi Cho Lon (Life in Chinatown) directed by Vietnamese-American Charlie Nguyen, but…
DUBAI: In Praise of the Newspaper, in This Digital Age
TOM PLATE WROTE the following for a leading newspaper in United Arab Emirates — the Khaleej Times. It is one of the most influential daily newspapers of the Gulf States and Arabia. The following essay appeared in a special edition of that newspaper celebrating its 35th anniversary. “THIS IS AN…
TOM PLATE WROTE the following for the lead newspaper of Dubai, United Arab Emirates — the Khaleej Times. It is one of the most influential daily newspapers of the Gulf States and Arabia. The following essay appeared in a special edition of that newspaper celebrating its 35th anniversary. “THIS…
MURAKAMI MAKING BOOK
Haruki Murakami was born in Japan during the post–World War II baby boom. Although born in Kyoto, he spent his youth in Shukugawa (Nishinomiya), Ashiya and Kobe. His father was the son of a Buddhist priest, and his mother the daughter of an Osaka merchant.[8] Both taught Japanese literature. Since…
JAPAN: THE LATE GREAT ARTIST TAWARA YUSAKU
Thanks to the brilliant recent book “UNIVERSE IS FLUX,” by John Teramoto with Stephen Addiss and David Rosand, our art spotlight goes to the late Tawara Yusaku, whose Tawara’s artistic vision was highly influenced by Buddhist concepts of cosmology and space. See the stunning sample above. As the book’s authors…
FROM TOKYO: THE UNIVERSE IS FLUX
TOM PLATE WRITES — Thanks to the brilliant recent book “UNIVERSE IS FLUX,” by John Teramoto with Stephen Addiss and David Rosand, our art spotlight goes to the late Tawara Yusaku, whose Tawara’s artistic vision was highly influenced by Buddhist concepts of cosmology and space. As the book’s authors tell…
BANGKOK: THE LITERARY MUSIC OF THE NIGHT
TOM PLATE WRITES — The term ‘noir’ is rather difficult define but instantaneously recognizable. In the American literary tradition, many of our greatest writers have been associated with the tradition of ‘noir’ (French for ‘black film’). They would include Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, Ross Macdonald and Elmore…