This month Asia Media is happy to spotlight for serious praise FOREIGN POLICY magazine. Its May-June issue takes on the extraordinarily relevant but ever-tricky question of the status of women in the Middle East. Not fearing a head-first plunge into the deepest of waters, the editors plaster their magazine cover…
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UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Ambitious Experimental Course Coming to First Semester’s End
Must differing civilizations clash? Or can they sometimes combine to harmonious effect? The late Harvard Prof. Samuel Huntington took a dim view of the future with his provocative and possibly predictive “Clash of Civilizations.” The 1996 book posited a gloomy post- Cold War geopolitical world in which the Islamic world would…
BANGLADESH: Paper Skeptical of US Visit
A recent Bangladeshi magazine article posits that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent visit to Bangladesh was not necessarily the sweet deal it might seem to be. Particularly if the two countries’ military and economic agreements prove lop-sided against Bangladesh’s interests. On the whole, the media went wild having…
NORTH KOREA: Media Helping Them to Get New Messages
“Illicit” and “smuggled” are two words that could easily describe goods making their way into North Korea. Many products, such as low-cost TVs, DVD players, and other equipment, are being smuggled into North Korea from China. A recent, excellent U.S. State Department-commissioned study, “A Quiet Opening: North Koreans in a Changing Media Environment,” reveals…
THAILAND: Tragic TEXT-book Case of Repression — and Death
Previously ASIA MEDIA highlighted an article about Thailand’s lese majeste law and its oppressive reach over media systems such as social networking sites like Facebook or text messaging. Recently, Amphon “Akong” Tangnoppakul died while serving a 20-year sentence for allegedly sending text messages “deemed defamatory to the Queen.” He was…
SINGAPORE: Zuckerberg Has Facebook but Saverin’s Got Stock in Singapore
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal deftly described the “Kardashian-like” fame of one of Facebook’s early founders, Eduardo Saverin — now in Singapore. Despite his 33% stake in the social networking site being whittled down to 2%, Saverin seems to be doing just fine. His 2% of a…
AUSTRALIA: Suddenly There’s Wiggle Room
Reports by the New Zealand Herald and Sydney Morning Herald have confirmed that after 21 years, the world famous children’s singing group, the Wiggles, with be losing the majority of its members following the conclusion of its Celebration Tour in December. The move announced by the group earlier this month…
CHINA: A Whole Lot of Shaking Going on
No wonder China appears to be undergoing so many changes all at once. Technology ventures of all sorts are bursting out everywhere. Consider entrepreneur Joseph Chen, who would very much like to come China’s version of Mark Zuckerberg: He is is the founder of Renren.com, a social networking site that…
BANGLADESH: TV Station Charged With Prime-Time Crime!
Boishakhi Television, a private news channel from Bangladesh, was allegedly caught laundering money in “broad daylight”. On Wednesday, April 18th, the Weekly Blitz, a weekly tabloid from Bangladesh, reported that the private television station was involved in smuggling millions of dollars every year. According to its reporting, the Weekly Blitz…
THAILAND: THE UPS AND DOWNS OF MEDIA SPENDING
Thai based companies and products are definitely investing more in advertisements in Thai media. Reports from a Nielsen survey shows that advertising expenditure in the first quarter this year has recorded a 3.95% year-on-year growth from Bt26.4 billion to Bt25.4 billion. Perhaps the reasons for this increase spending in ads…
HONG KONG: A Small City That the Police Look to Make Smaller
Hong Kong- IFJ has criticized Hong Kong’s tactics as a crime against freedom of press The Hong Kong government has been aggressively encouraged to end limitations of press freedom by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). According to a recent press release of the IFJ, Andy Tsang, Commissioner of Police…
TENTH CHINESE INTERNET RESEARCH CONFERENCE AT USC
The 10th Chinese Internet Research Conference (CIRC10) is a premier gathering of scholars, researchers and industry players interested in trends and developments in the world’s largest Internet community.This year’s conference is hosted by the USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism and the USC U.S.-China Institute. In this year’s conference…
PHILIPPINES: Tit-for-Tat Cyber Attacks With China
Several Chinese websites were defaced by Filipino hackers calling themselves “Anonymous #OccupyPhilippines”. This techno-assault seems to be in retaliation for the recent cyber-attack against the University of the Philippines website, the top state university in the country. One defaced site, the China University Media Union homepage, was replaced with an…
MYANMAR: Caution Signs on the Road to Burma
The country of Burma (but these days Myanmar, in the official UN nomenclature) is suddenly receiving a lot of positive press, and rightly so. The military junta has released a record number of political prisoners in recent months, opened dialogue between the government and ethnic minorities, and even held some…
BANGLADESH: It’s Your Job – No, It’s Your Job!
Dangerously high levels of arsenic have been detected in the water supply in Chittagong, Bangladesh’s busiest seaport city. Authorities, however, have yet to take action. The Daily Star reported on Monday April 2nd, that tube-wells in Chittagong contain contaminated water with arsenic levels that are ten times higher than safely acceptable.…
MALAYSIA: No Ban of Homosexual Portrayals?
It’s official: There is no ban against portraying homosexual or effeminate characters on Malaysian television or radio. Following the Information Department’s Facebook post, which supposedly said they banned the screening of homosexual or effeminate characters in Malaysian media, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim cleared the air. Datuk…