NICOLE SABA WRITES – Imagine watching the evening news. With no warning and no disclaimer, a video of a woman committing suicide is aired. In a span of less than three minutes, you see a woman threatening to kill herself, while her husband, who is filming it all, pants and…
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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…
MYANMAR: A Buddhist Plan to Segregate Muslims
ELODIE INTROIA WRITES – Religious violence has flared in Myanmar for more than a year. Now a disturbing neo-Nazi-like movement has emerged that aims to contain the rights of minority Muslims. The man critics say is behind the effort: Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu. Wirathu’s 969 Movement has been widely described as…
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…
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…
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…
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…
SOUTHEAST ASIA: New Book on Asia’s Rise Through the Eyes of a Journalist
The ‘top 100’ anthology seeks to represent a perspective on the rise of Asia and its evolving relationship with the U.S. through a benchmark approach of columns that highlighted major historical events, from the handover of Hong Kong to China, to the Asian Financial Crisis, and to the rise of…
CHINA AND THE UNITED STATES: Can a More Sophisticated Journalism on Both Sides Help Improve the Relationship?
There is more than one definition to the word “trip.” At its simplest it just means going to some place not close from where you started. But on a deeper level, going on a trip can mean a journey of some unexpected dimension or consequence. Both definitions apply to Prøf.…
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…
NORTH KOREA: It’s A Very Hard Sell
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – It seems that some foreigners are growing tired of the international community’s casting of North Korea as the outcast on the block. Hoping to change its undesirable reputation, a group called the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) has been running a YouTube channel focused on portraying the…
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…