#FollowJourn: Ben Bland
Who? Freelance journalist based in Singapore and covering Southeast Asia.
What? Writes news and features for The Daily Telegraph, The Economist, Monocle, British Medical Journal and Gambling Compliance, among others.
Where? @benjaminbland
Contact? Through blog http://theasiafile.blogspot.com or email theasiafile@gmail.com
Tags: Asia, Ben Bland, Freelance, SingaporeThe European Youth Press, the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) and the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) are building a network of young journalists from Asia and Europe.
Members would come up with ideas for the network and work with the three companies one events to connect young journalists from the different continents.
To qualify for this project you must be under 30 years of age and fluent in English with knowledge of the other continent. You must also work within the media, or be taking a media-related degree.
For additional information click here.
To apply email a CV and letter stating your interest.
Tags: Asia, Asia-Europe Foundation, Asian media information and communication centre, Europe, European Youth Press, young journalistsSean Langan, a freelance journalist kidnapped by the Taliban three months ago, has been freed.
Langan, who was working on a Channel 4 Dispatches programme, was taken on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
He was released on Saturday night.
Tags: Afghanistan, Asia, border of Afghanistan, Channel 4, Pakistan, Sean Langan, Taliban, Taliban Sean LanganIt’s been another bad six months for press freedom around the globe, the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) concludes in a grim report released Saturday – writes E&P.
“Press freedom is under serious threat from many sources — gangs and corrupt officials in Latin America, autocratic regimes in the Middle East, conflicts in Africa, hostile governments in Asia, and from death threats and prosecutions in central Asia and Europe,” WAN said in its semi-annual review of press freedom.
Tags: africa, Asia, central Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, WAN, WAN 2008, World Association of NewspapersChina’s English language newspaper the Shanghai Daily has made its e-paper edition compatible with the Amazon Kindle.
According to the Daily, the paper is the first in Asia to launch an e-paper for the device – launched in November last year - which downloads editions wirelessly and automatically.
The title joins other papers, including the Washington Post and New York Times, which have developed editions for the Kindle.
Time Out has this week launched a new listings and entertainments news website in Kuala Lumpur and plans to launch a similar site in Hong Kong next month.
The online launches coincide with sister print title launches in the territories. Developments in Hong Kong will bring the total number of international Time Out web/print publications to 24 in 18 countries including Sydney, Kiev and New York.
Time Out, which also launched in Barcelona in January, plans seven further launches in 2008, including titles in Belgrade, Budapest, Bangkok and Jakarta.
Tags: Asia, Bangkok, Barcelona, Belgrade, Budapest, celebrity, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kiev, Kuala Lumpur, New York, online launches, similar site, Sydney, web/print publicationsThree bloggers are hoping to convert their online popularity into political votes by standing in Malaysia’s national elections next month, Reuters reports.
Jeff Ooi, a 52-year-old advertising copywriter and political blogger, Tony Pua, a technology firm worker, and Badrul Hisham Shaharin have found success with their blogs, which are widely read as an antedote to the country’s pro-government mainstream media, according to the report.
Each will run as a candidate for opposition parties in the elections on March 8.
Tags: Asia, blogs, Hisham Shaharin, Jeff Ooi, Malaysia, online popularity, Politics, pro-government mainstream media, reuters, Tony PuaThe International Olympic Commitee (IOC) has announced that athletes will be allowed to blog this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing – but what will they actually be able to say?
In order to protect other media who hold rights to the games’ coverage, blogging competitors will have to follow strict guidelines, the Associated Press reports, with blogs taking a diary-style and no interviews with or comments about other athletes allowed.
Furthermore, athletes’ blogs cannot contain any audio or video content of ‘any Olympic events, including sporting action, opening, closing and medal ceremonies or other activities which occur within any zone which requires an Olympic identity and accreditation card (or ticket) for entry.’ Similarly still photos are allowed, so long as they don’t show any Olympic events.
Finally, sponsorship of such blogs is forbidden and none of their domain names can contain the word Olympic, Olympics or anything similar.
Tags: Asia, Associated Press, Beijing, blogs, ChinaJapan’s Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun papers are pooling their resources on a new website that will feature news and editorials from the three rivals side-by-side.
The idea behind the Aratanisu site, according to a release on the Yomiuri site, will let readers ‘rediscover the differences in coverage and editorial stance of the three leading papers’.
The site aims to attract 4 million page views per month intially, The Japan Times reports, and become profitable by its third year. English-language content could also feature on the site in the future, the Times writes.
Tags: Asahi Shimbun, Asia, Japan, Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun, The Japan Times, The Times, Yomiuri Shimbun
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