In The News

Language Schools Fight Image War

May 5, 2004
Japan's language schools for foreigners are experiencing a reputation crisis. While trying to help their foreign students, many of whom are from China, to get through the college entrance exam in Japan, these schools have found that not all of the students are serious about learning and getting ready for college. Recent unpleasant events have included illegal jobs held by foreign students...

Iraq Prisoner Abuse Draws Global Media Outrage

May 5, 2004
Revelations of Iraqi prisoner abuse and torture at the hands of Americans have shocked the world. A survey of 128 editorials in 44 countries compiled by the US Department of State's Office of Research finds great revulsion and contempt for the American actions. Some papers demand the US be charged with war crimes, while others see the torture as a "major defeat" for the US and...

Gay Asylum-Seeker Rejected as Too Butch

Ben Townley May 5, 2004
The rules of asylum have recently come under greater scrutiny, given their subjective nature. It is up to the applicant to prove to the host country that he or she deserves refuge, but it is fundamentally up to the host country to choose whether the applicant's reasons are sufficient – and this often brings out certain stereotypes and prejudices. A court case in Canada illustrates the...

US Cannot Tune Out Its Iraq Crisis

Ghida Fakhry May 2, 2004
As the violence in Iraq continues, the Bush administration is faced with a more difficult challenge, says news anchor Ghida Fakhry of Al-Hayat/LBC television network. In addition to the war on the ground, America must also fight its negative media image in the Arab world, which grows by the day thanks to broadcasts by independent Arabic news channels. Stations such as Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya...

Is a Do-Gooder Company a Good Thing?

Amy Harmon May 2, 2004
Is Google, the ubiquitous search-engine website, a completely neutral resource for users worldwide? The corporate motto of the company is “don’t do evil,” but as reporter Amy Harmon of the New York Times writes, Google is so influential that questions of morality are difficult to address. Rankings in search results, for example, can make or break small businesses selling through the internet....

The Hollowing-Out of Hollywood

Christina Klein April 30, 2004
The blockbuster "Kill Bill" films exemplify the increasingly global nature of Hollywood, and not solely because of director Quentin Tarantino's heavy incorporation of foreign stylistic elements, writes media scholar Christina Klein. Like a growing number of Hollywood productions, both "Kill Bill Volume 1" and "Volume 2" relied heavily on offshore labor. While...

Bavaria Hopping Mad Over World Cup Ban

Elizabeth Goetze April 30, 2004
The 2006 World Cup will be held in Germany, but thanks to FIFA sponsoring contracts, visitors should not expect German food or drink at stadiums. Officials in Bavaria are especially angry that German beer will not be allowed – one government official said that guests of the World Cup must be presented with "distinctively Bavarian cultural assets", and another went even further,...