Archive | November, 2011
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INDIA: Vandana Shiva Video Interview

Dr. Vandana Shiva, author, physicist, philosopher, environmental activist and eco-feminist came to Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles on November 1, 2011 to receive the Navin and Pratima Doshi Bridgebuilder Award…

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AUSTRALIA: Down-Under Goes Over the Top Over Obama

Even before U.S. President Barack Obama’s Air Force One touched down in Australia this week the trip was causing quite the media frenzy. An article in the Herald Sun, one of the widest read newspapers in Australia, trumpeted the fact that Obama was to be welcomed with a jar of Marmite, a popular native breakfast spread…

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THAILAND: Transfer of Censorship Powers to Police Criticized

The Ministry of Culture recently passed an amendment to the Printing Act of 2007 that makes the national police chief head of Thailand’s censorship board. The Bangkok Post, Thailand’s leading English-language daily newspaper, referred to this move as “a step backwards and aimed at empowering the government to take complete control of the media.”

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PHILIPPINES: Radio Station Latest Target in Wave of Media Attacks as Government Falls Asleep

Nearly two years after the Maguindanao massacre in which 32 journalists were murdered, the Catholic-run radio station dzVT in Luzon has been hit with an arson attack that destroyed 10 million pesos (about 230 thousand USD) worth of transmission equipment. The police believe the fire started in the dead of night and found a petrol can at the [...]

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JAPAN: Free Speech VS. Political Correctness in Journalist’s Comments

According to the Japanese government, seventeen Japanese citizens were abducted and taken to North Korea during the 1970s and 1980s. Among those who are reportedly held by the communist nation is Keiko Arimoto. In 2009, TV Asahi, a Japanese television network, featured a debate program during which journalist Soichiro Tahara stated that the abductees, including [...]

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TAIWAN: The Taiwan Critique

Taiwanese journalists are almost up in arms over the increase in corporate involvement in its media system. They argue that corporate monopolization and political appetite are putting at risk the ability of Taiwan’s news media to support democracy via ethical and professional journalism.

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SOUTH KOREA: Where Men Get Treated Like Dogs?

According to Korea JoongAng Daily, a major English-language Korean daily newspaper, two recent complaints against entertainment outlets regarding demeaning representations of men were dismissed by separate arbiters…

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INDIA: Did the Minister’s Wife Incite Recent Media Attacks?

This past weekend, a group of reporters at the Mathura das Mathus hospital in Jodhpur found themselves under attack by a group of approximately 25 people. The mob physically assaulted journalists and damaged their equipment. Two reporters received mild injuries and an entire news channel van was damaged.

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SINGAPORE: Forum Held to Promote Usage of Media for Teaching English

Earlier this month the Straits Times, Singapore’s most widely read newspaper, held its third “Sunday Times’ Parents Forum” where speakers encouraged the parental usage of English-language media in the education of their children…

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Kudos Corner

In our judgment, David Pilling is easily and consistently the best (non-U.S.) columnist writing about Asia, and has been honored once again for his perceptive and leading-edge commentaries on the world’s fastest rising region.  This time the honor comes from the 2011 Comment Awards in London (sponsored by Barclays and Land Rover), described as “the [...]

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PACIFIC PERSPECTIVES: Vietnam on the Positive side, Asia on the American Mind

16 November 2011 Los Angeles — Real-life diplomacy reveals, as Lord Palmerston, twice British prime minister (1855-8, 1859-65), famously put it: “We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.” Over the decades the Palmerston Principle has proven [...]

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UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Book Fair finds a benefactor in Al Qasimi

Why would UNESCO’s participation in the Sharjah International Book Fair make the headlines of one of the leading English Dailies of UAE and the Gulf States- The Khaleej News? On October 31st, UNESCO, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, granted Palestine’s bid for full membership in the organization. In response, by the U.S., as expected, announced cutbacks UNESCO funding, leaving the organization short $65 million USD for the end of the year budget…

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One Night in Bangkok by Chris Coles

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