The mystery deepens as media speculation won’t go away. On Saturday, December 29, chief executive Dr. Kevin Loh of Singapore’s Mt. Elizabeth Hospital stated that the hospital and team of eight specialists mourned the loss of the 23 year old New Dehli gang rape vicim and was honored to have been chosen to care for [...]
Archive | December, 2012
U.S.: On This Issue, Even China Does It Better
It would not be hard to convince many us who live in the West Coast of the painfully obvious need for severe gun-restrictions laws and attendant gun-control law-enforcement. We’re easy. California is just that way. Why recently, we actually voted to increase our taxes to support our schools! Imagine. Call us crazy. Once upon a [...]
LOS ANGELES: How to Handle Difficult North Korea
A GUEST COLUMN BY SPENCER KIM, A MEMBER OF THE U.S. COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS — North Korea has successfully, sort of, launched a long-range missile. We are outraged. We want more sanctions; we want to pressure them till they say uncle or collapse. We wonder how China could be so perfidious in failing to [...]
PHILIPPINES: Justice for Journalists in Maguindanao Massacre
The Supreme Court stood by its June 2012 ruling that affirmed the Court of Appeals’ decision to include former Governor Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in the list of those accused in the Maguindanao massacre. He is charged with plotting what would turn out to be the worst election-related violence [...]
JAPAN: Issues the Big Election Never Really Discussed
The monumental election in Japan’s House of Representatives is quickly approaching, bringing with it a slew of reports and articles on everything Japanese – from policy to political strategy. Set for December 16th, the election has the potential to change the political landscape of the nation. With issues such as the Senkaku Island controversy and [...]
VIETNAM: If You’re Gonna Blog, Blog Something Nice, Ok?
Sometimes in Vietnam it pays to keep your mouth (or blog) shut. Last month, a Vietnamese court sentenced three bloggers to between 4 and 12 years in prison for allegedly troubling citizens and trying to overthrow the Communist government. You’d think with debt scandals, a slowing economy and inflation expected to top 7% this year, [...]
SINGAPORE: Book on UN Secretary General Reviewed
On 5 January The Straits Times of Singapore published as its lead opinion essay a review of ‘Conversations with Ban Ki-moon,” the new book on the United Nations Secretary General that is featured as part of the ‘Giants of Asia’ series. The reviewer Asas Latif, a visiting research fellow at the highly regarded Institute of [...]
SINGAPORE: A Third Way for Media-Govt. Relations?
The following op-ed column was first published in The Straits Times of Singapore. BY TOM PLATE — Is there more than one rational and reasonable way to construct a news-media system that maximises overall benefit for citizens (if not just for the journalists)? One provocative answer – courtesy of we-do-it-our-way Singapore – is “yes”. It [...]
ASIA INSIGHT VIDEO NO. FOUR: STEPHANIE GARCIA AND HER VIEW ON AMERICAN JOURNALISM AND SINGAPORE
Professor Tom Plate meets with South-South News
Professor Tom Plate Goes Live With South-South News to discuss his book on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. Professor Plate reveals why he decided to write a book on Ban Ki-Moon -- and how the Western media stereotypes the Korean diplomat.
Staff Writer Lauren Chen Reflects on the Death of a Journalist