East-West Center Media Conference

Asia is experiencing a media boom, from an explosion of somewhat more independent newspapers and broadcast outlets to the emergence of completely different forms of information sharing - the “new media.”
But with that boom comes creeping homogenization of content, the “dumbing down” of programming and an emphasis on entertainment over public affairs.
That was one message [...]

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The news media, both in the United States and around the world, are “asleep at the switch” when it comes to stories involving some of the biggest threats to human existence ever known, according to
a leading American specialist on infectious diseases.
Dr. Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at [...]

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If reporters - or anyone for that matter - wish to see a positive vision of the future China, they should visit Taiwan today, one of Hong Kong’s leading media figures told the Center’s Bangkok media conference yesterday.
Jimmy Lai, founder of Next Media Ltd., which publishes the popular newspaper Apple along with a number of [...]

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Journalists, particularly American ones, got a hard dose of earthy, pragmatic and perhaps even visionary thinking today (Wednesday, Bangkok time) from one of Asia’s most successful media barons.
Jimmy Lai, the blunt and engaging founder of Hong Kong’s Next Media Ltd. and publisher of the popular Apple Daily newspaper, told the group that it is change-or-die [...]

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The summer Olympics in Beijing this summer will be spectacular for athletes and spectators, but perhaps a bit less so for journalists covering the games.
That was one message from a panel on covering the Olympics this week at the Center’s Bangkok Media Conference.
Despite promises of new press freedoms, both for international reporters and the local [...]

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For a look at the Power Point presentation that accompanied this talk, go here.
Reporters covering or attempting to understand China must understand that this huge nation is following its own path — a path that combines capitalism, socialism, Communism and its own Chinese identity, a top East West Center China expert told the Bankgok Media [...]

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One of the toughest nuts to crack for any journalist these days is Burma.
The military rulers there have a tight rein on the media - What goes in as well as what goes out.
A media conference session on Burma put the situation in stark perspective.

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The East-West Center’s media conference in Bangkok (”Changing Dynamics in the Asia Pacific”) opens today (Sunday, Bangkok time) with lots of news popping up around the region and right here in the conference city.
Tensions in Korea, the Beijing Olympics and bioterrorism are among the many scheduled topics up for discussion.But delegates are likely to [...]

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Final planning for the Bangkok media conference is well underway. Lots of buzz about the big speech by Surin Pitsuwan , the new Secretary-General of ASEAN. Is the former Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs going to give our group an early scoop on where he intends to take ASEAN? Should be exciting. [...]

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“Changing Dynamics in the Asia Pacific: Power Politics, Economic Might, and Media Challenges”
Venue: Novotel Siam Square Hotel, January 21-23, 2008
HONOLULU (Oct. 12) – Blogging in China, 2008 Olympics coverage, inside views on Burma, and outlooks on North Korea’s latest moves will be just a few of the highlights at a Bangkok media conference sponsored by [...]

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