AMBER VERNETTI WRITES – Vietnamese journalist Ha Huy Hoang was arrested and convicted on the grounds of being an alleged spy for China earlier this month. Hoang, who worked for a Foreign Ministry-affiliated publication, will serve a six-year jail term. Hoang’s lawyer, Ha Huy Son, revealed that “[Hoang] was found guilty…
AMBER VERNETTI WRITES — Remember the scenario of a notorious masked bandit snatching an old lady’s purse, only to get caught/intercepted by police or a helpful stranger? While occurrences like this still exist in today’s world, crime has evolved with the times and has entered the digital age. The recent…
AMBER VERNETTI WRITES- The Festival of Media Asia Pacific (FOMAC), an event celebrating the accomplishments and new goals for the region’s media, took place this week from March 22-24 at the Capella Singapore, Sentosa. The festival gathered over 700 leaders of the region’s media from 22 countries and was a busy three…
AMBER VERNETTI WRITES- At a conference in Washington D.C. last week, Australian Attorney General George Brandis announced an $18 million program that will fight pro-terrorist websites by closely observing social media sites that promote terrorist ideals. Following the theme of the summit, “countering violent extremism,” this program, dubbed Combating Terrorist…
AMBER VERNETTI WRITES: Sunrise Radio, the UK’s first Asian around-the-clock media corporation, celebrated its 25th anniversary this November. Founded by Avtar Lit in 1989, the radio station offers news about the Asian continent and the opinions of broadcasters who support its dissemination to the greater public. The London-based music station…
AMBER VERNETTI WRITES– In preparation for the 2014 Group of 20 (G20) Summit held in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland in Australia, Chinese hackers allegedly hacked into Australian media corporations to collect information about the Summit’s possible discussion topics. This group, referred to as Deep Panda, hacks into systems with…
AMBER VERNETTI WRITES – While the Academy Awards celebrates movies, the Asian Media Awards celebrate the accomplishments of those in media. On Tuesday October 28, Hilton Deansgate in Manchester, United Kingdom held the second annual Asian Media Awards, celebrating the work of journalists, actors, TV personalities, and marketing professionals. Pakistani…
AMBER VERNETTI WRITES- Watch out, boys! Emirati first female pilot, Major Miriam al-Mansouri, led an air raid against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) last week, a slap in the face for jihadists who believe women should be submissive to men. The 35-year-old fighter pilot proved her skills were on…
AMBER VERNETTI WRITES – Beauty is in the eye of the beholder…or perhaps it’s in a box. Bellabox, an Australian beauty subscription service, received over $3 million in backing from Allure Media, digital publisher of PopSugar and Shopstyle. With the help of Allure Media’s funding, bellabox will expand its…
AMBER VERNETTI WRITES – To thwart digital pirates, the Australian government has put forward a plan to keep websites from hosting copyrighted material. Aussie creative types and the media say ‘Bravo’. The Media, Entertainment, and Arts Alliance (MEAA), a union representing artists, film makers, journalists and other creators, say they…
ASIA MEDIA WRITES – For the soon-arriving academic year at The New ASIA MEDIA Center, publisher of the prominent international e-magazine ASIA MEDIA at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, our fall lineup has now been set, and so we are very happy to announce the following major appointments: 1.…
AMBER VERNETTI WRITES – Last week the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced the inception of the ‘Arab Social Media Award’ in the Gulf region to promote proper and acceptable social media use and to encourage awareness of the concerns associated with social media. Due to the UAE’s growing population of…
AMBER VERNETTI WRITES – ABC’s Australian Network has landed a deal with the Shanghai Media Group (SMG), allowing various Aussie shows and other media content to be broadcasted in China. As the third Western media group to have broadcasting rights in China, following Britain’s BBC World Service and America’s CNN…
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…
AMBER VERNETTI WRITES – Just before its global premier, the Hollywood-produced film Noah was banned from the silver screen in three Arab countries, including Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, due to its religious themes. The $125 million film, starring Russell Crowe and Anthony Hopkins, features the biblical story of Noah,…
AMBER VERNETTI WRITES: The Abbott government spent $4.3 million in social media research to measure public opinion concerning its immigration strategies, according to Fairfax Media. Further, the government has doled out over $65,000 to monitor the public’s thoughts regarding the “no boat, no visa” movement that aims at keeping asylum seekers at…
