MIRANDA PAK WRITES – China’s biggest e-commerce company, Alibaba is rumored to be in talks about investing in SCMP Group Ltd, which publishes Hong Kong’s leading English newspaper the South China Morning Post. According to China Daily, Alibaba is trying to expand into the media and entertainment industries. More specifically, the e-commerce entity…
Full Article HONG KONG: Alibaba Investing in SCMP Group?Tag: Hong Kong
HONG KONG: Shining an Independent Light on ‘Dark Places’
MIRANDA PAK WRITES – A year ago, as he perceived local media outlets to be bowing to editorial pressure from the mainland, British expat Tom Grundy thought Hong Kong could use an independent English-language news source. Spurred by events surrounding the Umbrella Movement, the Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) became…
Full Article HONG KONG: Shining an Independent Light on ‘Dark Places’LONDON: Putting a Bit of English Spin on China Policy
(This article appears in the South China Morning Post print editions as Dealing with China) TOM PLATE WRITES – Let us recall that almost two decades ago, a cocky William Jefferson Clinton, then president of a country but two-centuries-plus old, bluntly informed Jiang Zemin that his country, of many millennia,…
Full Article LONDON: Putting a Bit of English Spin on China Policy
HONG KONG: Hard Times for Hong Kong’s Media
MIRANDA PAK WRITES — The bad news just keeps flowing for Hong Kong’s media. Recently, the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government (LOCPG) has taken control of Sino United Publishing Limited. This publishing company owns Joint Publishing HK, Chung Hwa Book Co., and the Commercial Press, which are the three…
Full Article HONG KONG: Hard Times for Hong Kong’s Media
HONG KONG: Can Anyone Save ATV?
MIRANDA PAK WRITES – Everything must come to an end, including Hong Kong’s oldest TV station, Asia Television (ATV). ATV will have to stop broadcasting starting April 1st, 2016. Hong Kong’s Executive Council said they won’t renew ATV’s free-to-air license when it expires on November 30th of this year. ATV strove to…
Full Article HONG KONG: Can Anyone Save ATV?
CHINA and HONG KONG: Tweeting to Target Overseas Ties
MIRANDA PAK WRITES – Twitter, which has been blocked in China since 2009, opened an office in Hong Kong on March 10. Tweeting was blocked in China because officials were worried that citizens would use social media for their own benefit and plan large anti-government protests. Despite what many people think,…
Full Article CHINA and HONG KONG: Tweeting to Target Overseas Ties
SINGAPORE: Fifty Shades of Trending
ASIA MEDIA STAFF WRITES –The small island city-state of Singapore celebrates its 50th birthday as a nation this August 9th. As we covered in a previous article, there are many commemorative events being arranged for the momentous occasion. It seems Singaporeans are getting into the celebratory mood in their own…
Full Article SINGAPORE: Fifty Shades of Trending
HONG KONG: Hope for the Media
MIRANDA PAK WRITES- With all the tension and protests in Hong Kong, it’s not surprising that media censorship is on the rise. Two recent reports show the decline of Hong Kong’s press freedom. The PEN American Center, a literary society and human rights organization, released a report stating that media self-censorship…
Full Article HONG KONG: Hope for the Media
HONG KONG: China Press Still Oppressed
MIRANDA PAK WRITES- An annual report on the state of press freedom in China offers little to cheer about for fans of Western style journalism and media openness. The report “China’s Media War: Censorship, Corruption & Control” outlines dozens of instances of direct censorship, Internet surveillance, abuse of legal processes,…
Full Article HONG KONG: China Press Still OppressedBEIJING SUMMIT: THE WORLD’S TOUGH TASK
(Reprinted from various newspapers in Asia) TOM PLATE WRITES: If our future is not to be dulled by the dead weight of the past, then a clear-headed prioritisation of the issues of the 21st century needs to be undertaken. This means keeping Asia – and thus China – in the…
Full Article BEIJING SUMMIT: THE WORLD’S TOUGH TASK
HONG KONG: Thumbs Down for Leung Chun-ying
ANNIE LUNDGREN WRITES – The recent pro-democracy uprising in Hong Kong has highlighted Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s growing unpopularity among protesters and their supporters. Since the uprising began in September, the CE has become no fan of electoral reform in Hong Kong. Currently, chief executive candidates are nominated by a…
Full Article HONG KONG: Thumbs Down for Leung Chun-yingHONG KONG IN CRISIS: SHOULD ‘OUTSIDERS’ BE ALLOWED TO MAKE SUGGESTIONS?
The ‘Umbrella Revolution’ proceeds apace in Hong Kong, with the world’s spotlight on it undimmed. Editorials and columns appear in newspapers and websites around the world, supporting the protestors or calling for calm, or even urging Beijing to remain open to discussion and permit some review of its decision on…
Full Article HONG KONG IN CRISIS: SHOULD ‘OUTSIDERS’ BE ALLOWED TO MAKE SUGGESTIONS?
TAIWAN: Red Shirts, Goodbye Skirts, and Other Taiwanese Media Quirks
BRIAN CANAVE WRITES — The media in Taiwan has been buzzing these past weeks, so here’s a quick rundown starting with Hong Kong. Although the media focuses on the events unfolding in Hong Kong, many sources such as The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), New Tang Dynasty television (NTD), and BBC, reported on…
Full Article TAIWAN: Red Shirts, Goodbye Skirts, and Other Taiwanese Media Quirks
HONG KONG: SQUEEZING THE JOURNALISTS
ASIA MEDIA INTERNATIONAL WRITES: As the compellingly dramatic protests in Hong Kong intensify, some reporters have been caught in the melee. But for Hong Kong’s journalists, there is more at stake than run-ins with the riot police. The following timely and incisive article on this issue appears courtesy of the…
Full Article HONG KONG: SQUEEZING THE JOURNALISTSHONG KONG: SPLITTING DIFFERENCES, MOVING FORWARD
THIS SYNDICATED COLUMN ON POLITICAL TURMOIL IN HONG KONG WAS PUBLISHED 8 SEPTEMBER IN THE ‘SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST’, HONG KONG’S LEAD NEWSPAPER. A VERY SIMILAR VERSION WAS PUBLISHED 10 SEPTEMBER IN ‘CHINA DAILY’, THE LEADING ENGLISH-LANGUAGE DAILY OF CHINA: “Hong Kong is one of the world’s great metropolises, most…
Full Article HONG KONG: SPLITTING DIFFERENCES, MOVING FORWARDHONG 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?