Taiwan Worst
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/
It is true that there
are media sources that are both obscure and quality, but if I were in a pinch for news about business in Taiwan (and because Taiwan is still a relatively obscure little island to the rest of the world; Americans still confuse it with "Thailand"!), I'd go straight (strait, haha!) to the source. I was first linked to China Post via a Google search on "Taiwan economic" and found, surprise surprise, an article on how "China should learn from Taiwan's democratic experience and not fear that chaos might follow should Beijing embrace radical political reform," said the most senior official jailed over the 1989 Tiananmen protests: Bao Tong, once a top aide to then Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang, obviously a biased guy with his biased views magnified in a Taiwanese newspaper.
The reporter fails at giving good reason for Tong's views against China's strict controls.
"There's absolutely no rationale for them to fear chaos would ensue" should China let there be full and free elections, he said, which is an easy assumption to make when you're not the government that would have to deal with 1.2bn unhappy people if such chaos did break out. There is no way to tell what might happen if the Communist government fully relaxed its grip.
"There was no chaos in 1989," he added. "Even Beijing's petty thieves stopped stealing." Now I don't know this for sure -- I wasn't there, but the fact that the reporter had
to color the description -- "said Bao, his voice choking with emotion" -- make me think that not only is Bao biased (which would be okay; it's clear to any reasonable reader that he might be biased, and his bias is contained in quotes) but that the reporter is also infusing further slant into the story.
But what could we expect from a Taiwanese paper? Therefore, if you're looking for unbiased analysis of Taiwan's economic system compared to China's, the China Post is a bad bet.
Taiwan Best
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/
Still, while in Greece, do as the Greek do...or something. That is, China Post is still the leading English-language newspaper in daily readership and editorial content, so if you're doing business in Taiwan, better check it out. They amply covered Taiwanese businesses, for example: China Airlines and EVA Airways Corp., Taiwan's two largest carriers, had their ratings upgraded to "outperform" from "neutral" at Credit Suisse Group due to lower fuel prices. Although I had
learned about fuel prices dropping in the United States, my media sources had not mentioned anything about Taiwanese companies. The shares climbed. "China Airlines may report a profit of NT$1 billion for the fourth quarter of 2006, better than market expectations": NT $1bn isn't that impressive by U.S. standards if converted to a dollar amount; nevertheless, news about Eva Air, a major Taiwanese carrier, still remains important to the Taiwanese markets.
Minor irritation, but very unprofessional: differently-colored keywords in the articles link to online retail sites like Ebay instead of stock prices or further information. The website could be less commercial and more useful.
Conclusion: Still an important first step to finding out about Taiwan business/economic news.
Malaysia Best
http://www.malaysiasun.com/
In Comm 183, I had been surprised by the professionalism displayed by some of the newspapers and magazines Prof. Tom brought in to show-and-tell. The Sun was one of them. I'd bet they'd have interesting, compelling economic news. First story that came up linked me to The Peninsula Qatar:
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Rest+of+the+World&month=January2007&file=World_News200701172548.xml
I'm not as interested in Malaysia as I am in Taiwan, though I did fing the nation to be much more interesting after Comm 183 (th
e more I know, the more I want to know! Hilariously, we found out from lecture that they hate the successful Chinese and actually enact affirmative action for the majority Malays).So The Sun does an excellent job in featuring articles that really picque my interest: [former Malaysian deputy premier] Anwar demands probe into corrupt $900bn Russian jet deal, saying it was "blatantly corrupt". Excellent! This guy was finance minister before being sacked and jailed in 1998; the article also mentioned useful background information -- that Malaysia had lost 31.3 billion ringgit ($8.9bn) in foreign exchange speculation in the 1990s. "The allegations are the latest from the one-time heir apparent to former premier Mahathir Mohamad who is launching himself back onto the Malaysian political scene ahead of general elections due to be held by 2009."
So this not only uncovers possible corruption, but it comes from the mouth of someone who was sacked and jailed, meaning someone in the present government wants to shut him up, meaning that it's great that the media is picking this up, meaning that Malaysia is indeed on it's way to have a rigorous, developmental system! Also, very timely if Anwar is heir apparent to former premier Mahathir, who is trying to get reelected in 2009. Economic news relevant to the whole direction of the country!
Malaysia Worst
The Singapore National News Agency's layout is visually unappealing. The front page consists of all text and no images. The headlines are not attention-grabbing. For example "Illegal Logging Not An Issue In FTA Talks With US: Anifah" and "PM: Govt Will Always Safeguard Nation's Interest In FTA Negotiations" are bland at best. (Perhaps we shouldn't expect too much from a governmental statutory body "set up by an Act of Parliament in 1967." The front page looks both empty and cluttered at the same time. Is that possible? Yes, apparently; the site seems empty of juicy articles and features, but cluttered with very basic links in garish colors. Furthermore, though the website is a legitimate extension of the goverment, it somehow looks commercial. The "Top Business Story" is encased in a box that makes it look like an Internet banner advertisement, which makes me want to immediately navigate away from the page in search of a site more stimulating.
www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/business.php
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/
It is true that there
are media sources that are both obscure and quality, but if I were in a pinch for news about business in Taiwan (and because Taiwan is still a relatively obscure little island to the rest of the world; Americans still confuse it with "Thailand"!), I'd go straight (strait, haha!) to the source. I was first linked to China Post via a Google search on "Taiwan economic" and found, surprise surprise, an article on how "China should learn from Taiwan's democratic experience and not fear that chaos might follow should Beijing embrace radical political reform," said the most senior official jailed over the 1989 Tiananmen protests: Bao Tong, once a top aide to then Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang, obviously a biased guy with his biased views magnified in a Taiwanese newspaper.The reporter fails at giving good reason for Tong's views against China's strict controls.
"There's absolutely no rationale for them to fear chaos would ensue" should China let there be full and free elections, he said, which is an easy assumption to make when you're not the government that would have to deal with 1.2bn unhappy people if such chaos did break out. There is no way to tell what might happen if the Communist government fully relaxed its grip.
"There was no chaos in 1989," he added. "Even Beijing's petty thieves stopped stealing." Now I don't know this for sure -- I wasn't there, but the fact that the reporter had
to color the description -- "said Bao, his voice choking with emotion" -- make me think that not only is Bao biased (which would be okay; it's clear to any reasonable reader that he might be biased, and his bias is contained in quotes) but that the reporter is also infusing further slant into the story.But what could we expect from a Taiwanese paper? Therefore, if you're looking for unbiased analysis of Taiwan's economic system compared to China's, the China Post is a bad bet.
Taiwan Best
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/
Still, while in Greece, do as the Greek do...or something. That is, China Post is still the leading English-language newspaper in daily readership and editorial content, so if you're doing business in Taiwan, better check it out. They amply covered Taiwanese businesses, for example: China Airlines and EVA Airways Corp., Taiwan's two largest carriers, had their ratings upgraded to "outperform" from "neutral" at Credit Suisse Group due to lower fuel prices. Although I had
learned about fuel prices dropping in the United States, my media sources had not mentioned anything about Taiwanese companies. The shares climbed. "China Airlines may report a profit of NT$1 billion for the fourth quarter of 2006, better than market expectations": NT $1bn isn't that impressive by U.S. standards if converted to a dollar amount; nevertheless, news about Eva Air, a major Taiwanese carrier, still remains important to the Taiwanese markets.Minor irritation, but very unprofessional: differently-colored keywords in the articles link to online retail sites like Ebay instead of stock prices or further information. The website could be less commercial and more useful.
Conclusion: Still an important first step to finding out about Taiwan business/economic news.
Malaysia Best
http://www.malaysiasun.com/
In Comm 183, I had been surprised by the professionalism displayed by some of the newspapers and magazines Prof. Tom brought in to show-and-tell. The Sun was one of them. I'd bet they'd have interesting, compelling economic news. First story that came up linked me to The Peninsula Qatar:
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Rest+of+the+World&month=January2007&file=World_News200701172548.xml
I'm not as interested in Malaysia as I am in Taiwan, though I did fing the nation to be much more interesting after Comm 183 (th
e more I know, the more I want to know! Hilariously, we found out from lecture that they hate the successful Chinese and actually enact affirmative action for the majority Malays).So The Sun does an excellent job in featuring articles that really picque my interest: [former Malaysian deputy premier] Anwar demands probe into corrupt $900bn Russian jet deal, saying it was "blatantly corrupt". Excellent! This guy was finance minister before being sacked and jailed in 1998; the article also mentioned useful background information -- that Malaysia had lost 31.3 billion ringgit ($8.9bn) in foreign exchange speculation in the 1990s. "The allegations are the latest from the one-time heir apparent to former premier Mahathir Mohamad who is launching himself back onto the Malaysian political scene ahead of general elections due to be held by 2009."So this not only uncovers possible corruption, but it comes from the mouth of someone who was sacked and jailed, meaning someone in the present government wants to shut him up, meaning that it's great that the media is picking this up, meaning that Malaysia is indeed on it's way to have a rigorous, developmental system! Also, very timely if Anwar is heir apparent to former premier Mahathir, who is trying to get reelected in 2009. Economic news relevant to the whole direction of the country!
Malaysia Worst
The Singapore National News Agency's layout is visually unappealing. The front page consists of all text and no images. The headlines are not attention-grabbing. For example "Illegal Logging Not An Issue In FTA Talks With US: Anifah" and "PM: Govt Will Always Safeguard Nation's Interest In FTA Negotiations" are bland at best. (Perhaps we shouldn't expect too much from a governmental statutory body "set up by an Act of Parliament in 1967." The front page looks both empty and cluttered at the same time. Is that possible? Yes, apparently; the site seems empty of juicy articles and features, but cluttered with very basic links in garish colors. Furthermore, though the website is a legitimate extension of the goverment, it somehow looks commercial. The "Top Business Story" is encased in a box that makes it look like an Internet banner advertisement, which makes me want to immediately navigate away from the page in search of a site more stimulating.
www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/business.php
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