NICK ARMER WRITES – Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post correspondent, was charged with serious crimes by Iranian authorities on April 20 after being detained and held by the government for over nine months. The White House and the Washington Post have denounced the charges against Rezaian, who is an American…
Full Article IRAN: Of Politics and Prison
ASIA MEDIA WRITES – Looking for international journalist experience? The East-West Center is now accepting applications from US journalists for its 2014 China-United States Journalists Exchange!
Full Article EAST-WEST CENTER: International Fellowship OpportunityAUSTIN SZABO WRITES – For years, news anchor and journalist Hamid Mir has been fighting for the cause of a free press in Pakistan. Now he’s fighting for his own life. Still recovering from an unsolved assassination attempt April 19, Mir, undaunted, issued a statement accusing the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)…
Full Article PAKISTAN: Are Government Spies Behind Media Assault?LEXIE TUCKER WRITES – “Forgive and forget” is often easier said than done. When two countries have as rough a history as South Korea and Japan, it’s not surprising that tensions would be high between their leaders. For years, South Korea has requested that Japan offer compensation to the many…
Full Article JAPAN: Leaving the Past in the Past?RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – It’s now even safer to assume that North Korea is not the utopia its leaders would like the rest of the world to believe. Recently, the United Nations published the findings of an inquiry on the state of human rights in the country. The report contains…
Full Article NORTH KOREA: U.N. Releases Report on Human Rights in North KoreaAUSTIN 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 EverAUSTIN SZABO WRITES: In September 2011, a group of young activists occupied Zuccotti Park in Manhattan. The movement, dubbed Occupy Wall Street, became a rallying point for progressives around the world. Subsequent police crackdowns generally failed to disperse the activists, and their tenacity inspired people from all walks of life…
Full Article POVERTY PROJECT: Introducing the Asia Media Poverty ProjectAUSTIN SZABO WRITES – A misleading story about Beijing’s virtual sunrise earned more press than Friday’s report naming New Delhi the world’s most polluted big city. The Daily Mail’s inaccurate story claimed that China’s government digitally simulates the sunrise on television screens throughout Beijing since its pollution blocks natural sunlight. Major…
Full Article INDIA: Bogus Beijing Story Fogs Attention of Delhi’s Real Pollution ProblemRYAN LIPPERT WRITES – Tension between North and South Korea is old news, but a recent offer by the North offers a ray of hope that it’s possible for relations to cool down. Earlier this week, North Korea proposed that the two countries tone down their usually confrontational language. If…
Full Article NORTH KOREA: Squabble over Name-Calling an Obstacle to ProgressBEN SULLIVAN WRITES – U.S. journalists in China have long griped that the government picks on them. Specifically, they say, China retaliates against unfavorable coverage by withholding visas and access to top officials, barring reporters from important events, and even blocking the China editions of their employers’ web sites. The…
Full Article ‘Smokin’ Joe’ Jabs at China Treatment of U.S. NewsiesE.J. DE LARA WRITES – Several reports have criticized New Zealand for its intrusion of privacy. Many have raised concerns over Parliament passing a bill for the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) – the intelligence agency of the New Zealand government – to spy on people with a search warrant.…
Full Article NEW ZEALAND: Spying Here, There, and Almost EverywhereBY A ‘CHINA DAILY’ STAFF WRITER FROM BEIJING — Are you a fan of Sherlock Holmes? Do you think the Arthur Conan Doyle-created character can take on Edward Snowden, the former US National Security Agency operative who exposed Washington’s controversial global surveillance program? If “yes”, how about a cat-and-mouse game…
Full Article CHINA: Utilize Diverse Cultural Traits to Expand Soft PowerNICOLE SABA WRITES – What is the easiest way to stay safe? For Lebanese, the answer has just become clear: mobile app warnings. Lebanese people have been encompassed by instability for decades. Now, with war across the border in Syria, it has become even harder to envision what obstacles people…
Full Article LEBANON: Apt Apps For Safety?ELODIE INTROIA WRITES – Whether or not the Movement succeeded, it looks like the climate is finally turning green in Iran. According to Thomas Erdbrink of The New York Times, the phone call between President Obama and Hassan Rouhani established the first official diplomatic relation between the US and Iran…
Full Article IRAN: President Rouhani’s Public ‘Charm Offensive’ELODIE INTROIA WRITES – Religious violence has flared in Myanmar for more than a year. Now a disturbing neo-Nazi-like movement has emerged that aims to contain the rights of minority Muslims. The man critics say is behind the effort: Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu. Wirathu’s 969 Movement has been widely described as…
Full Article MYANMAR: A Buddhist Plan to Segregate Muslims