Thailand's Manager Media Group Plc (MGR) today allowed creditors to seize its assets, including equipment and Manager newspaper titles, after failing to meet the requirements of its court-supervised business rehabilitation plan, reports Woranuj Maneerungsee of 'Bangkok Post'.

Some members of Thailand's Democratic Party are proposing a draft legislation that would penalise people spreading defamatory remarks or contemptuous tones against the monarchy on the Internet or via computers, the Thai English-language daily 'The Nation' reported Nov 19.

The events leading to the execution of what is now popularly called the 'Bali bombers' brought to the spotlight once again ethical questions that the media need to address in the name of 'public interest'. 

A recent 'Jakarta Post' editorial entitled, 'Obscene Beyond Porn', criticised the way media entities have sacrificed principles in the name of public interest. It questioned the way the media portrayed the Bali bombers, and how it made a circus of the execution to the point of glamourising the convicted terrorists.

Non-TV advertising, particularly billboards and print media such as newspapers and magazines, will be severely affected by the economic slowdown this quarter, as clients are increasingly cautious and spending their ad budgets more selectively, reports Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn of 'The Nation'.

"Street papers provide a service to the people that governments have not been able to give," says 'The Jeepney' editor in chief William Shaw. The challenges, however, are many and for the Philippines' first ever street paper, Shaw and his staff need the help of all concerned groups and individuals to make the magazine a part of the reading habit of Filipinos. Shaw shares with the Asia Media Forum his views about 'The Jeepney' and its important role in Filipino society.

By Lynette Lee Corporal

MANILA, Nov 13 (Asia Media Forum) - "We share to people our stories, rich stories that can be foundthe jeepney issues in the streets,” Cheran Banaria says of her work selling ‘The Jeepney Magazine’, the Philippines’ first street paper. “Before, I was really shy in facing and talking to rich people. I felt like an ant before them. But now, I can say I am a bit confident facing them.”

By Lynette Lee Corporal

MANILA, Nov 7 (Asia Media Forum) - What happens if what is a scoop to journalists is nothing short of betrayal in the eyes of the State? This sore point that arose when one of the Philippines' leading television networks aired an interview recently with a separatist rebel being hunted by the government.

By Nalaka Gunawardene

COLOMBO, Nov 7 — On a recent visit to Tokyo, I watched Climate in Crisis, an excellent documentary co-produced in 2006 by Japan’s public broadcaster NHK  along with The Science Channel and ALTOMEDIA/France 5.

The film draws heavily on the Earth Simulator — one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers — which scientists use to project our planet's climate. It can anticipate climatic patterns in the atmosphere and the oceans over the next 100 years.

By Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Nov 3 (IPS) - Media groups in Sri Lanka, already restricted from covering the war against Tamil rebels in the north, are bracing to challenge new regulations that seek to control television broadcasting and new media.

Did YouTube help Barack Obama win — and John McCain, lose — the U.S. presidential elections? Quite possibly, declared journalist Ari Melber of the American online journal 'The Nation'.

Calling the recent elections as America's '"first YouTube election", the article entitled 'YouTubing the Election' said that the voters were "mainly in charge" — not the campaigns or news organisations. A study made by 'The Nation' showed that the most-viewed videos were made by ordinary Americans and independent groups.