Asia Media International writes – In China there are few magazines more upscale or highly regarded than The Bund. From its main office in central Shanghai, it has become a magazine of choice for middle-class-and-up mainland hipsters. A recent edition featured an interview with Asia Media International editor in chief…
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.
HONOLULU: PACIFIC FORUM BASH!
FROM OUR FRIENDS AT PACIFIC FORUM IN HONOLULU COMES THIS: “Dear Asia Media -The Pacific Forum CSIS is celebrating its 40th anniversary at our annual Board of Governors’ fundraising gala dinner at the Sheraton Waikiki on Tuesday, March 17, 2015. Tickets and table sponsorships are still available for this special…
ASIA AND THE U.S.: TRIANGLE DIPLOMACY
ASIA MEDIA INTERNATIONAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF WRITES IN HIS SYNDICATED COLUMN: Our intellectual (and tall) US president is a well-known connoisseur of the sport of basketball. One of the game’s famous offensive strategies is named ‘the triangle’. And so with the very welcome announcement by Barack Obama’s National Security adviser Susan Rice…
LONDON: AND THE NEW EDITOR IS … A LADY!
It may be hard for many to believe, but The Economist – surely the world’s highest quality political English language weekly – has a new editor in chief who’s a she! The Economist Group has announced Zanny Minton Beddoes as the 17th editor of The Economist., succeeding John Micklethwait, the…
PARIS: ‘ALL IS FORGIVEN’
The following is courtesy of the provocative and informative online magazine SLATE: Here is the cover of this week’s issue of Charlie Hebdo as depicted in Libération, the newspaper that has given Hebdo’s staff use of its offices. “I am Charlie,” goofy cartoon Mohammed’s sign reads. “All is forgiven,” the…
PARIS: ‘WE ARE CHARLIE HEBDO’
OUR FOUNDER TOM PLATE WRITES IN HIS SYNDICATED COLUMN – As the editor in charge of the opinion pages of newspapers in New York and Los Angeles, what was the hardest part of my job? Dealing with annoying, demanding bosses? Calming down angry readers? Smoothing the enormous egos of neurotic…
AUSTRALIA: One Big G’Day at UCLA!
Our Friends from Australia and UCLA Write to Asia Media Thusly: The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) cordially invite you to attend the US-Australian Dialogue: Assessing the Future of the Asia-Pacific on Friday, 30 January, 2015 at the Grand Horizon Room, Covel Commons, UCLA Los Angeles…
POPE FRANCIS, CHINA AND THE DALAI LAMA: PEACE ON EARTH?
TOM PLATE WRITES IN THE SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, brings a much-needed freshness to the stale air of international relations. Where many nasty geopolitical arguments in world politics seem deeply encrusted, this Jesuit priest heading the Catholic Church relentlessly crusades for new approaches to…
THAILAND: THE TRUTH ABOUT THE NOIR OF BANGKOK
ASIA MEDIA WRITES – Chris Coles, the outstanding cutting-edge painter of Bangkok noir, is being honored, along with other noir artists, with an exhibit of original paintings from his NAVIGATING THE BANGKOK NOIR book. The host venue is the artists’ hangout Check Inn 99 Bangkok (lower Sukhumvit between Soi 5…
HOLLYWOOD: ATTACK OF THE NORTH KOREAN ALIENS!
TOM PLATE WRITES IN HIS SYNDICATED COLUMN – In its latest angry shout-out, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea looks to be emerging as something of a computer wonk, the teen crashing and trashing a Hollywood movie-studio’s Christmas Day launch-party plans, embarrassing its movie execs by hacking into and spamming…
CHINA: ELITE NEWSPAPER RAISES TORTURE QUESTION
Following courtesy of Agence France-Presse: Forced confessions through torture are not rare in China, the leading English-language newspaper of China said yesterday, a rare admission by state-run media of deep-seated flaws in the justice system after a teenager executed for murder 18 years ago was cleared. “It has not…
JAPAN: WHY ROOT FOR FAILURE?
The following syndicated column by Asia Media Founder Tom Plate appeared Monday 15 Dec. in the South China Morning Post of Hong Kong: There will be little rejoicing over this weekend’s Japanese election. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe remains leader of his party and his country, but who can imagine him…
SOUTHEAST ASIA: UPTICKS AND DOWNDRAFTS
Asia Media International Founder Tom Plate writes in his syndicated column: History never comes to a halt but snakes its way into the future as it wishes – often in unexpected and sometimes tragic ways. Whether via revolution or counter-revolution, any abrupt change in citizen participation and political structure will…
LOS ANGELES: ERIKO LEE KATAYAMA, OUR QUEEN!
LMU ’13 and former Asia Media student Eriko Lee Katayama was crowned Miss Asia America at the gala 2014 pageant held at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center in southern California. A large swath of Asia Media International Magazine staffers were present to cheer on this remarkable young LMU alumnus…
BEIJING SUMMIT: THE WORLD’S TOUGH TASK
(Reprinted from various newspapers in Asia) TOM PLATE WRITES: If our future is not to be dulled by the dead weight of the past, then a clear-headed prioritisation of the issues of the 21st century needs to be undertaken. This means keeping Asia – and thus China – in the…
CHINA: Dumb and Dumber?
SYNDICATED COLUMNIST TOM PLATE WRITES: Perhaps the so-called US “pivot” to Asia is an immense self-delusion; perhaps America is hopelessly glued to its 20th-century past – yes, the oft-labelled American century; and so perhaps this Western “world power” is in effect emotionally handicapped – unable to prioritise geographically and always…