In The News

NGOs Must Fight Against Govt Attack

May 15, 2003
The Thai Government has come under criticism from local media for attempting to prevent collaboration between local non-government organizations (NGOs) and their international counter-parts. A series of exchanges between the central government and Thai bureaucrats indicate the government has made repeated attempts to undermine local NGOs, which it criticizes as being motivated by self-interest...

The China Syndrome

Paul Krugman May 13, 2003
While American critics of China blame media censorship for Beijing's initial mishandling of SARS, this opinion piece in The New York Times argues that the US is no less vulnerable to the influence of the state. According to economist Paul Krugman, although media companies in the United States are privately owned, they remain deferential to the political regime. The nexus between the US...

America's Broadband Dream is Alive in Korea

Ken Belson May 5, 2003
According to a vision of Internet technology, one would be able to watch television programs, attend training workshops, sing karaoke, shop, and play interactive games – all of it online. Although Internet has changed patterns of consumption and sociality in the US, it has not yet realized its full potential. But that is not to say it has not happened anywhere. South Korea is a remarkable...

When Crises Strike, China’s Leaders Adapt to Survive

Joseph Kahn May 4, 2003
The widespread usage of global media technologies such as the Internet and cell phones in China threaten to undermine the Communist Government’s control of information. The unchecked spread of SARS in China, and from China to other parts of the world, is a striking example of the administrative inefficiency within the Communist Government. Moreover, it threatens the Communist ideology as a...

A Triumph Over the Romans Seen as the Birth of the German Nation

Hans Riebsamen May 2, 2003
Almost two thousand years ago, the Romans were marching towards Germania, intent on expanding their vast empire. In what is now Germany’s Teutoburg Forest, the region’s residents repelled the empire’s army, forcing the invaders to retreat southward for good. In the 19th century, the story became an important part of “the mythology of German nationalism”. Now, an exhibit at the Archeological...

The Roots of Anti-Americanism in Germany

Dominic Sachsenmaier April 30, 2003
Media coverage of the Iraq War varied to such an extent that viewers in the US and in Europe were left with distinctly different understandings of what was going on. Some Europeans claimed that America's 'embedded journalists' were simply 'in bed with' the US military, acting as propaganda machines for the US government. Meanwhile, massive and constant anti-war...

U.S. Troops Fire on Iraqi Protesters, Leaving 15 Dead

Ian Fisher April 29, 2003
Violent clashes between American troops and Iraqis continue even as the United States moves from a military offensive to a humanitarian and reconstruction phase in Iraq. According to a US official account, a group of mostly armed Iraqis began unprovoked fire at the US troops who were stationed at the US Army headquarters in a largely Sunni neighborhood. US troops returned fire in self defense...