In The News

Tiananmen: Vietnam's Newspapers Criticize Crackdown

Nga Pham June 13, 2014
Vietnam news media shocked readers by covering the anniversary of China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and deploring the harsh crackdown on protesters. In the past, Vietnamese news media avoided such topics. Like China, Vietnam is a communist government. This year’s coverage reflected recent tense relations between China and Vietnam. The two nations are engaged in bitter quarrel over islands...

Ringside Seat at the Cutting Edge of Science

Priyamvada Natarajan and Ravi Sankrit June 12, 2014
In March, a team of physicists announced that data from the BICEP2 telescope, at the South Pole, offered evidence for cosmic inflation, thus confirming the Big Bang Theory. The event went viral online. Scientists around the globe weighed in, pointing out that the team may have underestimated the effects of space dust in measuring ripple waves that could be from the expansion of the universe. “The...

The Legacy of Tiananmen Square

Johan Lagerkvist June 3, 2014
China’s communist leaders orchestrated a steady march towards great power status, accompanied by rewriting history and erasing tragic moments. Author Johan Lagerkvist reflects on the 25th anniversary of what has come to be known as Tiananmen Square massacre and points out how “the mindset behind the tragedy – unswerving support for China’s rise, with no toleration for criticism, questions or...

IT-Savvy Army Takes Modi’s Campaign to New Levels

Victor Mallet May 19, 2014
Candidates who gain the early support of young workers in the IT and finance industries can distribute their messages far and wide. High-tech projectors and satellite dishes allowed Narendra Modi, now India’s prime minister-designate, to address more than 100 simultaneous meetings each night. “The nationwide deployment of 10-foot high holograms of Mr Modi – requiring scores of shipping containers...

MH370 Amuses as Syria Suffers

Tony Burman April 1, 2014
The global audience appears to be more curious about the mystery of 239 people on board Malaysian Flight MH370 than the victims of the civil war in Syria – as many as 125,000 dead, including nearly 12,000 children, and millions of refugees as of December. Tony Burman, journalism professor, reviews the news coverage of a search by 25 nations for a missing jet versus the suffering in a refugee camp...

Media Under Attack From Hackers: Google Researchers

Jeremy Wagstaff March 28, 2014
Some countries block the internet for news they don’t like; others actively try to disrupt the computers of news gatherers. Journalists and news organizations are a frequent target of state-sponsored hacking attacks, suggests research by two Google security engineers, presented at the Black Hat conference in Singapore. “Both researchers declined to go into detail about how Google monitors such...

Turkey: Erdoğan Faces Twittering Opposition

Anna Beth Keim March 26, 2014
A desire for democracy – the ability to select one’s representatives, but also engage in informed debate on policies with compromise – may slowly take root in Turkey. Spring protests in Gezi Park gave way to harsh crackdown, a government corruption investigation in December and active debate over Twitter since, including leaks of recordings that led to resignations of ministers and growing...