Sri Lanka is used to being accused of abusing Tamils, but usually those under attack are their own, not India’s. Sri Lanka appears to be caught up in a publicity scandal in which its Navy has been accused of attacking a ship of 16 Tamil fisherman from India on March…
Category: South Asia
PAKISTAN: Obama and Gilani at Nuclear Security Summit — Easing Tension
On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in South Korea to discuss relations between their respective countries. How Pakistani citizens view such a meeting however, has been entirely dependent on its presentation in the media.…
SOUTH KOREA: Media Given Whatever They Need for Nuclear Security Summit
The International Media Center in Seoul will open on Sunday to fully support more than 10,000 journalists from abroad and at home covering the hotly anticipated two-day Nuclear Security Summit that begins on Monday. A senior official at the Preparatory Secretariat for the summit reports that: “The International Media Center…
INDIA: Israeli Author Overstaying Her Welcome?
What happens when your visa expires and you refuse to leave India? Ask Susan Nathan, a British-born Israeli writer who recently faced this problem head-on. After the expiration of her paperwork, Nathan was issued a deportation notice for violating visa rules by extending her stay in India. However, the author’s…
INDIA: Sinful Irreverence?
The Anand Police Department has recently received complaints from Gujarat Christians. And no wonder. The uproar is targeting a monthly Catholic community magazine for its inclusion of a small black and white image of Jesus Christ holding a beer can in one hand and a cigarette in the other. It…
INDIA: Ministers Involved in Porn Scandal to Resign
Three ministers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are being forced to resign by BJP president Nitin Gadkari due to the recent porn scandal that blew up in the Indian media on February 7th.
SRI LANKA: Government Periodical Endorses the State’s Documentary “Ruthless”
Although the exceptionally long and bloody civil war in Sri Lanka has ended, an extension of the conflict is playing out in the world media. Until recently, world opinion seemed considerably anti-government. But Colombo is mounting a media counter-attack.
PAKISTAN: Trying to Get Its Political Act Together
On February 14, 2012 – however fleetingly — love was truly in the air in politically torn-Pakistan, although, it had nothing to do with Valentines Day. Pakistanis of all partisan stripes appeared to agree that the action of the National Assembly to make future elections as free and fair as possible was a critical step in the right direction.
SRI LANKA: Official History Versus Credited Reality
It’s possible to make history but much harder to rewrite it. On February 4th, the government of Sri Lanka celebrated the country’s 64th year of independence from Great Britain with a festive ceremony, including a moment of silence, a parade, and a speech given by current Sri Lankan President Mahinda…
PAKISTAN: Two Different Media Ways of Describing a Reason to Duck!I
Two top Pakistani newspapers recently reported the same basic story, and it came as no shocker: Mansoor Ijaz, the Pakistani-American business man described as being at the center of the memo (Memogate) scandal and now abroad, will not come to Pakistan to testify.
INDIA: Rushdie Tweets But Festival Organizers Don’t Listen
While the main story featured in the Times of India on Sunday night focused on Oprah’s presence at the Jaipur Literature Festival, it was not able to overshadow the buzzing commotion that has surrounded the festival and noted writer Salman Rushdie.
INDIA: Death of a Great Pioneering Woman Photojournalist
On Sunday, India’s first female photojournalist passed away at a hospital in Vadodara, according to the Times of India, a leading English daily newspaper in India. Homai Vyarawalla, 98, had recently been hospitalized due to a fall from her bed. Vyarawalla was deeply admired and respected by many in India.…
PAKISTAN: Beyond Memogate
It looks as if the military is still firmly in control of Pakistan, judging from one nuanced assessment on the website of The Dawn, one of the two dominant English-language newspapers in Pakistan. Written by well-regarded feature writer Waris Husain, the analysis suggests that the nation’ highest court, in its…
INDIA: Young People Tweet — #APositivePerspectiveOfIndia
As the stylized coding of a tweet might put it: #APositivePerspectiveOfIndia That was the whole point of the recent online conference that the Times of India is calling “the world’s largest tweetathon.” And the successful event looks like further proof, if any were needed, of the revolutionary innovative power of…
SRI LANKA: So Now …. Dear BBDO …. Get To Work!
Not that there was any doubt, but it looks as if the truly awful Sir Lankan civil war really is totally, completely, irretrievably over. How do we know? It seems as if the legendary advertising agency BBDO Worldwide, which is known for taking chances but rarely making mistakes, has opened…
PAKISTAN: Well, It’s Worth a Try, Anyway!
A surprising article in The News, a top English-language newspaper in Pakistan, showed the country’s upscale newspaper enmeshed in a very good cause: anti-corruption.