China Blotter: Basketball Grandma’s Story
China may be world’s second largest economy, but it is still nowhere close to utopia. Today, the world is dazzled by China’s booming financial freedom. However, there is not enough attention given to those who are still suffering. The government, of course, is working on pulling as many people out…
Full Article China Blotter: Basketball Grandma’s StoryAUSTRALIA: To Sext or Not to Sext?
Anti-sexting laws in Australia might end up wrongly accusing teenagers who send each other nude pictures of themselves via text message as sex offenders. According to the new submission by the National Children’s and Youth Law Centre of Australia to the Victorian parliamentary, laws originally created to protect children from…
Full Article AUSTRALIA: To Sext or Not to Sext?SOUTH KOREA: Telling It Like It Is
The Korea Times appears to be taking a very unbiased approach when reporting current events. In an article discussing a North Korean soldier’s desertion and a recent leak of military secrets, South Korea’s newspaper maintained a very neutral stance, focusing on stating concrete facts instead of relying on opinion-based writing…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: Telling It Like It IsBANGKOK BY NIGHT: SURVIVAL STRUGGLE
BANGKOK BY NIGHT: SURVIVAL STRUGGLE
BANGKOK BY NIGHT: SURVIVAL STRUGGLE
THE DEMISE OF NEWSWEEK: When a Magazine Stands for Nothing
The Following Syndicated Column Is Reprinted from The Jakarta Post of Indonesia: One way or the other, a magazine needs to stand for something special — otherwise, who cares? As a once-young journalist I took in this maxim of magazining from the late Clay Felker, who in the seventies pushed…
Full Article THE DEMISE OF NEWSWEEK: When a Magazine Stands for NothingAsia Insight: Our First Video
(A note from ASIA MEDIA: This is a new feature that offers a spotlight to staffers or editors about their special project. The staff of ASIA MEDIA works as a team to produce this periodic site. Its founder, Tom Plate, a member of the LMU faculty, has recently completed a…
Full Article Asia Insight: Our First VideoChina Blotter: Think of the Children!
China is not known for its relaxed rules, and neither are its schools. When I attended pre-school and elementary school in China, I often came home crying. There was always something to get in trouble for: I vividly remember being scolded by teachers for eating my lunch too slowly or…
Full Article China Blotter: Think of the Children!JAPAN: Hot Porn Actress Asks Chinese Fans to Simmer Down
While anti-Japanese sentiments continue to brew across China due to the unseemly scrum over the Senkaku, called the Diaoyu by the Chinese, islands, some celebrities in the region have spoken out against the tension. Notable amongst them is Sora Aoi, a former Japanese pornography actress, who has helped China, or…
Full Article JAPAN: Hot Porn Actress Asks Chinese Fans to Simmer DownTHAILAND: Critique Me Not
(This is written by new staff writer Gabriella Castro — welcome aboard, Ms. Castro!) — It seems no person, or company, is free from the lèse-majesté laws of Thailand. Google recently released its transparency report for 2012, giving the public a look into what governments around the world are trying…
Full Article THAILAND: Critique Me NotPHILIPPINES: Freedom of Speech Gets a Criminal Record
The Philippines has introduced yet another law restricting freedom of speech, causing the Human Right Watch (HRW) to call for an appeal. The Cybercrime Prevention Act, which was signed into law by President Aquino earlier this September, drastically increases punishment for criminal libel, raising the minimum sentence twelve-fold, from six…
Full Article PHILIPPINES: Freedom of Speech Gets a Criminal RecordFROM TOM PLATE: America’s New Emotional Isolationism
American columnist Tom Plate writes: Foreign policy has suddenly surfaced, like a leviathan sea monster, crawling onto the beach of the U.S. presidential campaign. If I were an incumbent American president seeking re-election, I might be worried. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet…
Full Article FROM TOM PLATE: America’s New Emotional IsolationismMALAYSIA: Romeo & Juliet Gone Very Wrong
Talk about a messy relationship – and she’s got the scars to prove it. “Ling,” a 16 year old, performed sadomasochism in hopes that she might save her boyfriend’s life. Ling heard from her boyfriend’s uncle, Alex Leung, a supposed royal or “datuk” and a sultan, that by depriving herself…
Full Article MALAYSIA: Romeo & Juliet Gone Very WrongYOU CALL IT DOKDO, THEY CALL IT TAKESHIMA: Putting Asia Stability at Risk- Playing the Wrong Game Risks Playing Into the Wrong Hands
Look before you leap. This is a venerable American saying. Look carefully before you leap emotionally. So if I were one of the good people of the Republic of Korea, for whom my admiration is deep, long-standing and well known (as my Japanese friends understand well), I would be prudent…
Full Article YOU CALL IT DOKDO, THEY CALL IT TAKESHIMA: Putting Asia Stability at Risk- Playing the Wrong Game Risks Playing Into the Wrong HandsOpenly Gay HK Legislator Comes Out Swinging on the Fast Beat!
In a move sure to leave Beijing squirming, media outlets and LGBT activists (for, of course, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) have praised Raymond Chan Chi-chuen as the first Hong Kong legislator to come out of the closet. Chan, a former disc jockey and CEO of the Internet radio station Hong…
Full Article Openly Gay HK Legislator Comes Out Swinging on the Fast Beat!