ISABELLA LEE WRITES –The 2022 mid-term elections are fast approaching, as political polarization is at an all-time high and the Democrats’ narrow majority in the House and Senate are hanging on by what seems like a singular thread. Candidates and party leaders are looking toward an emerging voter group that…
Full Article UNITED STATES: WILL ASIAN AMERICANS DETERMINE 2022 MIDTERM ELECTIONS? IN SHORT — YES
TUNGGA BASUKI WRITES– The 2019 Indonesian Presidential elections came to a close on April 17 with a split in opinion within the nation as to who should be the next president, but with incumbent President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) winning by a 6% margin. The two candidates running to become president,…
Full Article INDONESIA: BREAKING DOWN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2019
JAMES ROYCE WRITES — Unless you have spent the last couple months under a rock, you’ve been keeping up with, or at least have heard about, the wild presidential election currently going on within the United States. And although Australia’s capital of Canberra is located more than 16,000 kilometers away…
Full Article AUSTRALIA: Friendly Reminder From Aussie Media to US – Elections are ‘Not a Game Show’
MARY GRACE COSTA WRITES – In the mood to binge-watch a Filipino TV drama for a long afternoon of frustration, confusion, and catharsis? Look no further than the #DuterteSerye hashtag on Twitter. Rodrigo Duterte left his supporters on a cliffhanger the week before October 16 as they waited for the…
Full Article PHILIPPINES: Duterte Drama Reaches Anticlimactic Conclusion
PEYTON CROSS WRITES- As we are coming to terms with our recent midterm elections, Sri Lanka is approaching an election of its own. Scheduled for January 2015, Sri Lankans are already being bombarded with ads and other negative campaign tactics regarding their future presidential candidates. Most of these are funded…
Full Article SRI LANKA: Can the Web Mafia Make an Offer Presidential Candidates Can’t Refuse?AUSTIN SZABO WRITES – Has India elected a dangerous man? The media failed to answer this question. As Narendra Modi becomes leader of the world’s biggest democracy, his role in the killing of a thousand Muslims in 2002 remains murky. The 2002 Gujarat riots, a pogrom against Muslims, happened on Modi’s watch. His…
Full Article INDIA: Is Modi a Murderer?AUSTIN SZABO WRITES – The world’s largest democracy may finally be set to host the world’s most expensive elections. In the months leading to India’s April-May congressional election, the competing Congress and BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party, or the People’s Party) will spend upwards of $5 billion on TV, print, radio, and…
Full Article INDIA: Elections Could be the Costliest EverELIZABETH NAAI WRITES – A Yellow-shirt “boy’s club” has Thailand’s Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, in its cross hairs. Democrat party leaders and public spokespersons air Yingluck’s dirty laundry as a further attempt to delegitimize her and undermine the February 2nd snap election. Khao Sod daily newspaper released a video of Somchai…
Full Article THAILAND: A Clean SweepAUSTIN SZABO WRITES – If you live in India, expect a “friend request” from your local representative. The upcoming 2014 election will see an explosion of social media campaigning, according to The Times of India. India’s Bharatiya Janata and Congress parties are scrambling to woo internet users. From local politicians getting in touch directly…
Full Article INDIA: Elections Go Online, But Will It Matter?There has clearly been no shortage of work for South Korean journalists in the past few weeks. Last month, Park Geun-hye was elected President of South Korea. An event as important as a presidential election tends to get a lot of media attention, but even after the election, there is…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: Pleasing the PressIt is not a rhetorical question: a US immigrant officer asked a Chinese journalist this question verbatim when he applied for a visa to cover the election in U.S. The journalist was caught off guard; he had many answers to that question, but in his point of view none of…
Full Article CHINA: What the U.S. Election and iPhone 5 Have in CommonAlmost immediately after the reelection of President Barack Obama, the White House announced that he would visit Myanmar (Burma) as his first foreign policy initiative at the start of a three-stop tour of Southeast Asia that will also cover Thailand and Cambodia. The tour excludes the Philippines, a longtime strategic…
Full Article PHILIPPINES: Hey Obama- Call Us Collect, If You Want!Hong Kong media’s reaction to the reelection of President Barack Obama has proved to be diverse, to say the least. Just compare the Hong Kong edition of the New York Times Rendezvous Blog to the China Daily’s Hong Kong Opinion section! The two sources seem to differ significantly. While the…
Full Article HONG KONG: Media Torn On US ElectionOn the night of November 6th, 2012, the cheers of O-ba-ma echoed through the air in the United States. Although bittersweet to supporters of the Republican Party, reelected President Barack Obama is perceived positively by the Vietnamese community. President Obama is in the spotlight as he is expected to focus…
Full Article VIETNAM: Welcome Back, But What Now?In a country that takes a backseat to none In the area of having to live with pervasive official corruption, Thai voters — report the country’s news media – are looking for a refreshing change. We hope that one of these days, they will get it. Early next year they…
Full Article THAILAND: Position as Governor of Bangkok Up For Grabs
“The so-called freedom of speech, freedom of the press [in China]- it is a joke.” This was the widely shared sentiment of one microblogger regarding mainland China’s persistent censorship of the bitter back and forth over the noisy and messy campaign for the position of Chief Executive of Hong Kong.…
Full Article HONG KONG: Beijing’s Man Takes the Prize