ART FEATURE: Zeng Fanzhi Reimagines Economic Progress
MIA MARTIN WRITES – A picture is worth a thousand words. For modern Chinese artist Zeng Fanzhi, those thousand words represented two major political issues: poverty and inequality.
Full Article ART FEATURE: Zeng Fanzhi Reimagines Economic ProgressTV REVIEW: HOW JOHN OLIVER STOOD UP FOR INDIA!
ASIA MEDIA WRITES – Do not miss (walk, not run, to) former Daily Show regular John Oliver’s own new show: LAST WEEK TONIGHT. It’s a Sunday night half-hour on HBO, and if the first show this past weekend (27 April) is any indication, it will be quite the winner. We…
Full Article TV REVIEW: HOW JOHN OLIVER STOOD UP FOR INDIA!BANGLADESH: Medical Interns Attack Journalists
KIARA BRAMASCO WRITES – Interns at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) apparently left their posts recently just long enough to beat up approximately 10 journalists, leaving one critically injured. What would Hippocrates say? On April 22, The Daily Star reported that police had been escorting journalists into the hospital the previous Sunday…
Full Article BANGLADESH: Medical Interns Attack JournalistsHONG KONG: No More Hong Kongers?
LAUREN CHEN WRITES — “Soon there will be no more Hong Kongers,” laments Yik Kan Cheung, post-production supervisor of GVAcreative, in response to Beijing’s stalwart censorship. Filmed in March, a satirical short film, called Hong Kong Will Be Destroyed After 33 Years, has been banned by Beijing’s propaganda authorities. The science fiction work depicts Hong…
Full Article HONG KONG: No More Hong Kongers?THE PHILIPPINES: Another Filipino Media Professional Murdered
TREVOR ISBELL WRITES – Filipino media violence has steadily risen ever since November of 2009, when leaders of a political clan and their “private army” massacred 58 people, 32 of which were journalists, in Maguindanao province. Now the problem continues, as media professionals around the country are constantly putting their lives…
Full Article THE PHILIPPINES: Another Filipino Media Professional Murdered
THE PLATE COLUMN: Russia in the Ukraine – Beyond Good and Evil
WRITES TOM PLATE FROM LOS ANGELES IN HIS SYNDICATED ASIA COLUMN – ‘Ukraine Isn’t Armageddon.’ Now, how bold and direct is that?! This was the banner headline splashed over the most incisive journalism I have read on Vladimir Putin and the Crimea crisis. It led the April edition of Le Monde Diplomatique, the…
Full Article THE PLATE COLUMN: Russia in the Ukraine – Beyond Good and EvilLEBANON: Kicking Your Mother in the Face – Literally
NICOLE SABA WRITES – Imagine being estranged from your mother for years and then seeing her on a talk show, aimed at helping families reunite and fix their issues. While talking, your mother calls your father an abusive drunk. What’s your reaction? For Ahmad, an angry 15-year-old Lebanese boy, the…
Full Article LEBANON: Kicking Your Mother in the Face – LiterallyAUSTRALIA: American TV Shows Take off with a ‘Big Bang’
AMBER VERNETTI WRITES – The Big Bang Theory, dubbed Australia’s favorite comedy by The Sydney Morning Herald, has been approved for three more seasons after a deal was signed between Warner Bros and Chuck Lorre, the show’s creator. This is especially good news for Australian broadcaster Nine Network, which has used the…
Full Article AUSTRALIA: American TV Shows Take off with a ‘Big Bang’MYANMAR: SQUAR – The Next Facebook?
ALEXANDRE GUIRAUD-COINTREAU WRITES – While the once-repressive Myanmar transitions to democratic rule with new freedoms being given, the country is discovering equally new ways to communicate and exchange ideas. One is a new website, also available as a smartphone application, called Squar. The website TechInAsia describes Squar as the first social media site…
Full Article MYANMAR: SQUAR – The Next Facebook?JAPAN: The Yakuza Does Philanthropy?
LEXIE TUCKER WRITES – Organizations looking to publicize usually turn to the Internet. But what if you’re the yakuza? Often considered Japan’s version of the Italian mob, the yakuza feels so misunderstood it has turned to the Net to help tell a more nuanced story. The Yamaguchi-gumi, a branch of the…
Full Article JAPAN: The Yakuza Does Philanthropy?PAKISTAN: Taliban’s PR Blitz Divides and Conquers
AUSTIN SZABO WRITES – The Pakistani wing of the Taliban wants to do the seemingly impossible: Win public sympathy through improved PR. Surprisingly, it’s working. Since the election of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif last year, the Taliban has retooled its communications ops to project the image of an embattled and…
Full Article PAKISTAN: Taliban’s PR Blitz Divides and ConquersMALAYSIA: Can’t Catch a Break
MARLENA NIP WRITES – From missing airlines to kidnapped tourists, Malaysia struggles to stay out of the bad spotlight. Media outlets from all around the world are capturing the most recent kidnapping that occurred on an island off the eastern coast of Sabah. It was reported that last week an…
Full Article MALAYSIA: Can’t Catch a BreakPOVERTY PROJECT: Media Coverage Aids Severe Pakistani Drought Relief
EMILY GOLDSBOROUGH WRITES – A drought that reportedly killed 238 people in Tharparkar District finally received attention from the Pakistani government, but only after extensive media coverage. Tharparkar, located in the rural south of Pakistan, experiences drought every few years, but this year’s drought has led to malnutrition, disease, and…
Full Article POVERTY PROJECT: Media Coverage Aids Severe Pakistani Drought Relief
MONDAY AT LMU LOS ANGELES: THE DRAMA – HIGH AND LOW – OVER DRONES
To use drones against enemies … or not to drone on? You are invited to an unprecedented review of this immense geopolitical, domestic political and ethic controversy over drone warfare on the LMU campus near Marina Del Rey, California, starting Sunday night. The issue is both new — and as…
Full Article MONDAY AT LMU LOS ANGELES: THE DRAMA – HIGH AND LOW – OVER DRONES
JAPAN: Crimea Controversy Leads to Net Sensation
JEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES – While some countries snort derisively at Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea, in Japan it’s been love at first sight with the Republic’s new attorney general. In the immediate aftermath of the Russian land grab, a press conference featuring 34-year-old Natalia Poklonskaya went viral — and it…
Full Article JAPAN: Crimea Controversy Leads to Net SensationAT LMU: A Triumph of Insight and Intellect
By the staff of Asia Media: It was a packed house that took in the sweeping and insightful presentation on today’s Japan, from the noted international journalist David Pilling. The Asia Editor and Asia Columnist of the Financial Times offered the LMU community an intellectually thrilling tour d’horizon of the issues…
Full Article AT LMU: A Triumph of Insight and Intellect