ASIA MEDIA (and later ASIA PACIFIC ARTS) arose in 1998 from the nonprofit Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN) at the University of California, Los Angeles. It was created by founder Tom Plate, then a fulltime Adjunct Professor in Communication Studies and in Policy Studies, and by his UCLA students. APMN was a consortium of the interests and visions of its partners, notably including the South China
Morning Post, The Straits Times of Singapore, the Japan Times, the Age, the Los Angeles Times and the Getty Museum and Trust. Years later, both websites came under the capable management of UCLA’s Asia Institute, headed by Prof. But in Sept. 2009 both were defunded by UCLA, reeling from state budget cutbacks, as were so many other UCLA programs. Quickly, ASIA PACIFIC ARTS found a new home at the University of Southern California’s U.S.-China Institute (asiapacificarts.usc.edu). Then, in the fall of 2011, ASIA MEDIA found a home at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, staffed by students under the general supervision of Tom Plate, currently LMU’s Distinguished Scholar of Asian and Pacific Studies. The new ASIA MEDIA proposes to retain the former ASIA MEDIA’s scholarly standards while incorporating a contemporary format. The integration of innovative concepts to the new website serves to re-emphasize its mission: the examination of Asian countries through the lens of their distinct media systems. As the world’s center of gravity is inevitably shifting to the East, this site seeks to place its spotlight on the media of Asia as a method of focusing on trends within its society and politics. The mission of the new ASIA MEDIA also aims to help deepen LMU’s overall institutional understanding of – and relationship with – Asia. To this end, this weekly news site, launched in November 2011, will also serve as a real-world media lab for Professor Plate’s courses as well as students at LMU. This innovation is inspired by the philosophy of internationalized education that is pursued with such great spirit at LMU’s Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts.
— The Editors and Staff of ASIA MEDIA
