The ‘Umbrella Revolution’ proceeds apace in Hong Kong, with the world’s spotlight on it undimmed. Editorials and columns appear in newspapers and websites around the world, supporting the protestors or calling for calm, or even urging Beijing to remain open to discussion and permit some review of its decision on…
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.
MEDIA POWER: DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD
BY TOM PLATE, COURTESY OF THE JAPAN TIMES OF TOKYO — Benjamin C. Bradlee, who has died at 93, was a far more thoughtful editor than he appeared to be. Sure, the Harvard graduate and friend of John F. Kennedy was well caricatured by the virtuoso stage and screen actor…
HONG KONG: SQUEEZING THE JOURNALISTS
ASIA MEDIA INTERNATIONAL WRITES: As the compellingly dramatic protests in Hong Kong intensify, some reporters have been caught in the melee. But for Hong Kong’s journalists, there is more at stake than run-ins with the riot police. The following timely and incisive article on this issue appears courtesy of the…
CHINA-U.S. RELATIONS: KISSINGER’S ‘WORLD ORDER’ WORRY – ‘DISASTER BECKONS’
TOM PLATE WRITES: If you wanted to make a huge point that would explode inside the mind and indeed soul of your reader, would you do a kind of Beethoven, or a kind of literary Mozart? Come right at the theme and hit you over the head with it; or…
THAILAND: POLITICIAN ATTACKS THAKSIN ‘GIANTS’ BOOK
THAILAND’S LEASDING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER BANGKOK POST REPORTS: “A former MP has filed a lese majeste complaint against Thaksin Shinawatra and two other people, as well as Matichon Plc, in connection with a translated book. ‘Jub Khao Kui Thaksin Shinawatra’ has been available in the local market for more than…
NEW CHINA BOOK: The Straits Times Review
ASAD LATIF, WRITING FOR THE STRAITS TIMES, SINGAPORE – The veteran American journalist Tom Plate’s writings on Asia have contributed significantly to raising the region’s profile in his home country. His books on Asian leaders such as Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Dr Mahathir Mohamad sought to explain the reasons…
HONG KONG: SPLITTING DIFFERENCES, MOVING FORWARD
THIS SYNDICATED COLUMN ON POLITICAL TURMOIL IN HONG KONG WAS PUBLISHED 8 SEPTEMBER IN THE ‘SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST’, HONG KONG’S LEAD NEWSPAPER. A VERY SIMILAR VERSION WAS PUBLISHED 10 SEPTEMBER IN ‘CHINA DAILY’, THE LEADING ENGLISH-LANGUAGE DAILY OF CHINA: “Hong Kong is one of the world’s great metropolises, most…
MANDARIN: A JOKE FROM CONAN
CONAN O’BRIEN JOKED ON HIS LATE-NIGHT SHOW ABOUT A TRUE NEWS STORY – “An English-speaking man went into a coma and came out speaking only Mandarin Chinese. It’s a true story. On the bright side, now he can find work.” We LIKE!
LIFE LESSONS: NEVER GIVE UP!
The following column by Tom Plate appeared in the well-known newspaper KOREA TIMES of Seoul on 4 September: LOS ANGELES ― Life can make for strange but true comparisons. Here are three public figures for whom I have great admiration. On the surface they have very little in common except…
A Sane Man Facing the Insanity
America’s 44th president is often cruelly hit, if sometimes quietly and behind his back, with the wicked “w” word. For many angry or disappointed people — here and abroad — that word is: “wimp.” It is hurled in the direction of the White House of Barack Hussein Obama as an…
THAILAND: Generals Should Defend But Not Rule Their Countries
“The United States is an Asian-Pacific nation, and we take our enduring interests there very seriously. We know that America’s security and prosperity are closely and increasingly linked to the Asia-Pacific.” So spoke John Kerry, that peripatetic American diplomat. And so finally, if but for one excellent speech, the secretary…
LOS ANGELES: USC ANNOUNCES SAFETY UPGRADES
USC Announces New Safety Measures / 南加州大学（USC）现公布多项新举措以进一步完善大学知名的安全及安保系统，确保校园及其周边地区的安全。 Contact: (213) 740-2215 or uscnews@usc.edu. August 8, 2014 – The University of Southern California is announcing a number of new measures to further improve what is already one of the most sophisticated and far-reaching security and safety programs in higher education. These enhancements,…
PACIFIC PERSPECTIVE: On China, Australians Make a Lot of Sense – and Dollars
TOM PLATE WRITES – Among the easiest things on the face of the earth on which one can become quickly aware of is an Australian after-party. That’s because it tends to carry on for so long that with each additional (happy) hour, it gets very audibly happier. But, as a…
IRAQ: Losing When You’re Right
Tom Plate writes in his syndicated column: Since almost no one is coming to the defense of President Barack Obama, whose opinion poll numbers continue to slide, why don’t I give it my best effort? After all, back in 2002, before the actual invasion of Iraq, the then-senator from Illinois…
HOW NOT TO MISUNDERSTAND ASIA: The Farewell Interviews by Editors Fajardo & Garcia
TOM PLATE WRITES – Before graduating with their degrees, Asia Media Magazine managing editors Jeremiah Fajardo and Stephanie Garcia spent time with Asia Media’s editor-in-chief for a final panoramic interview on Asia today. The interviews can be viewed below. Jeremiah’s Interview Stephanie’s Interview A collated version for classroom usage can…
GOODBYE TO OUR GRADUATING SENIORS!
TOM PLATE WRITES – Who and what is an Asia Media Staffer? Pictured in the photos within this post are most of the staff members of Asia Media after a couple Tuesday staff meetings. By this weekend (May 10-11), more than half of them will have received their undergraduate degree and…