On this week's menu: Chinese and Korean environmental news!

This week's subject is a departure in a few ways from my previous entries: Japan is no longer being covered, and the subject has changed over from business and economics to environmental and ecological news on China and South Korea. The websites that I have found this week concerning China are the China Digital Times and the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA). It is a safe assumption for me to make that the Chinese sites are superior to their Korean counterparts, as they both are completely focused on environmental news; while I did find a site that was dedicated to Korean environmental news stories, I could not find another news website that had a good dedicated environmental news section and had to search on a mainstream Korean news site to find environmental articles on its database.



Best: China Digital Times



Worst: State Environmental Protection Administration

Concerning China, I would say that the China Digital Times is the better of the two because not only are its articles headlined and presented to readers, every article in its "Environmental Crisis" has been scouted out (by graduate students at UC Berkeley, no less) and given a quick write up, and in some cases, the articles are even translated from other languages. This is immensely beneficial to English-only speakers. Most articles are linked from other websites, but the amount of effort afforded Chinese environmental news by the China Digital Times is quite extraordinary, especially considering that it is one of the few websites that has concrete environmental information from China in English. The website has a prolific amount of information on the environment, with highlighted stories, hot topics, editors picks, videos, and even podcasts. Every article comes has a “related articles” section at the bottom, which is very useful for readers to be able to get to know more about the subject a article is about. Aesthetically, the site is well organized and approachable; nothing is exceedingly attractive to the eye, but at the same time nothing is so overwhelming as to distract the reader. The site has a stylish logo with a nice blue, green, and white color scheme. Most articles have a corresponding picture, which helps aid the reader to engross him or herself in the articles. The site has only a few advertisements for books reviewed and recommended by various people.

Of particular interest to me was an article on the effects of China’s climate change. The article was posted on the China Digital Times by Xiao Qiang, with the actual article being linked from BBC News. While the article on the actual BBC News website lacks the writer’s identification and a copyright statement, it is still from BBC, which is a credible news source. The article explains that 300,000 people are short of drinking water due to the warmest winter climate China has experienced in 30 years, according to the Chinese state media. The article states that China’s top meteorologist, Qin Dahe, believes that the dry and warm weather in northern China is related to global warming. In the article, Qin also states that the Chinese government is taking this climate change seriously, but that changing the country’s energy structure would be very costly. Another article that I found to be interesting was one posted by Sophie Beach, which was linked from Voice of America. Unfortunately, the link was not working at the time of this writing, but fortunately the entire article was short enough that it could be posted in its entirety right on the China Digital Times. The article highlights the fact that one of China’s environmental problems is that a third of China’s water is not suitable for agriculture or industry, and that 300 million people drink contaminated water on a daily basis. The vast wealth of articles like these that allow me to give the China Digital Times my higher recommendation, and the fact that the China Digital Times is not affiliated with the Chinese government helps this recommendation.

SEPA on the other hand, while being thorough and informative, is run by the Chinese government; which, as this class has taught me and my fellow classmates, makes the site not in the reader's benefit, but rather the Chinese government's. That being said, the site is directly from China, and it benefits from this by being able to give information on standards, laws, and institutions (such as social organizations and human resources).

Being a government website, SEPA has no advertisements, and its aesthetic quality is a bit lacking, with the site being presented in a red and white color scheme with only a few graphics of greenery, air, and sunlight. That being said, what the site lacks in attractive qualities, it makes up for with solid environmental information that can only come from China itself. The front page has a section devoted to up to date news releases on the environment, a side feature that gives current air quality updates, and links to sections for internal affairs, water quality, and minister’s speeches. Unfortunately, the water quality link was not working at the time of this writing.

SEPA’s articles are free of grammatical and spelling errors, and the writing quality is quite good, with the articles not being stale or boring, which some might expect from a government website. Still, the site does not exude life the way the China Digital Times does. Many articles are from SEPA itself, but some are from outside sources that are sited at the end of the articles, such as the Xinhua News Agency. Many articles come in the form of warnings from SEPA, such as an article on the Chinese government investigating the dumping of waste into south China by Britain and cracking down on illegal imports, while others are of a calmer tone, such as an article on how the Chinese military saved millions of dollars on energy through scientific and technological advances.

While SEPA does a great job in relaying information to its readers, the site’s lack of life and sub par presentation in terms of aesthetics, combined with the fact that it is a government website that is concerned with the Chinese government first and the reader second makes it the inferior of the two websites.

I would give the China Digital Times a rating of eight and SEPA a rating of six and a half. I don’t foresee much changes for either sites due to their nature, but the China Digital Times could improve by making sure all their links work and continuing to improve on their good formula. The SEPA could make an attempt to be a bit more exiting in presentation with more pictures and graphics on the site.


Best: Birds Korea
Worst: Chosun Ilbo

For the Korean websites, I found Birds Korea (which is more sophisticated than it sounds) and the Chosun Ilbo, which although it does not feature a separate section for environmental news, searching its database does bring up articles on both North and South Korean environmental issues. (click this link right here and search for "environment" to easily find articles).

Birds Korea is not necessarily a news website, and as its name implies, it is a site devoted to the conservation of birds and wise use of natural resources. Its “about” section explains that Birds Korea surveys birds in South Korea in various places, gathers information, and helps to develop eco-tourism and public awareness of birds, and produces online and offline reports, among other things. In its environment news section, Birds Korea has surprising amount of documents that would thrill anybody wanting to know about Korean environment news. Unfortunately, the site does not have articles that are written by people within Birds Korea, and instead the news articles are from other websites. They are not linked from their original websites, but they are reproduced in their entirety with the name of the writer (if given in the original article), where it originally was from, and the date of its writing. Most, articles, but not all, pertain to South and North Korea, with some articles dealing with environmental information from other East Asian countries. While this does hurt the site as a definitive source of environmental news from the Korean countries, the fact that it does make an attempt to gather environmental news makes it worthy of my recommendation, as there are few websites in English for Korean environmental news. One particular article that caught my eye was entitled Seoul: Heart and Soul of the City, written by John Vidal and originally ran in The Guardian from the U.K. The article explains how the Cheonggyecheon river, which around 50 years ago used to be as polluted as a swamp, is now clean enough to play in.

Birds Korea is a bit on the basic side in terms of presentation, as there are no photos to accompany the articles. In fact, the only graphic on the environment news section is the logo of the website itself, which is not much to look at. There are few advertisements on the website as a whole, with the few that exist on the homepage pertaining to the website itself and other bird and habitat websites.

The Chosun Ilbo is a full-fledged news website, but it is not very geared toward environmental issues, and as stated before, finding news articles pertaining to Korean environmental matters on Chosun Ilbo essentially requires searching its database, and the amount of articles on the subject are limited, which forces me to recognize Birds Korea as the superior of the two websites for somebody looking for Korean environmental news in English. The Chosun Ilbo does posses a superior website design and layout in comparison to Birds Korea; whereas Birds Korea has all of its articles on one single webpage that requires lots of scrolling up and down, the Chosun Ilbo has individual pages for its articles, with the option to email and obtain a printer-friendly version of the article at the bottom of any given article. Additionally, the Chosun Ilbo’s white and blue color scheme is more attractive than Birds Korea’s green scheme.

A couple of articles that caught my attention were one on ecotourism, and another on Chinese pollutants causing acid rain in Korea. The article on ecotourism, which is cited as being from Arirang News, explains that the country’s demilitarized zone has been speculated to be the site of a natural attraction, while the latter, also cited as being from Arirang News, explains that 55 percent of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxides that caused acid rain in Korea in March 2002 was from China, and that air pollutants from Korea have traveled to China. Both articles are short in length, but feature quality writing free of spelling and grammatical errors. The advertising that exists on these environmental articles is sparse, with a few adds sponsored by Google at the bottom of the articles and one at the top for home appliances.

I would give Birds Korea a rating of six and Chosun Ilbo a rating of five as a site for environmental news. Birds Korea could feature more articles on Korea specifically and better presentation. The Chosun Ilbo is fine as a regular news website, but it really should look into featuring more and longer environmental articles because a reader-base for environmental articles does exist.

Two new websites concerning business news in the Philippines...and two more ones concerning Japanese economics/business.

Best: The Inquirer
Worst: Manila Bulletin Online

From my initial outlook on the two sites that I have chosen regarding Filipino business news, it's readily apparent to me from the get-go that both The Inquirer and the Manila Bulletin Online have their act together. While both have their pros and cons to them, the sheer amount of information that The Inquirer gives the reader makes it the better of the two. I was actually quite shocked when I first clicked the link for the business section to the Inquirer, as it manages to give a copious amount of information in a reasonably orderly manner. One of the first things that I noticed that The Inquirer has over its rival that I personally designated (and over the websites covering Japanese business news, as well) is that its business section is divided up into several sections, with links devoted to money, the job market, the peso-dollar rate, and the marketplace. Sections devoted entirely to breaking news and stock market updates are featured prominently on the main business web page. In the breaking news money section, where the bulk of the business articles are, a good amount of new and pertinent articles on stock markets and currency rates are given, and each article link has a quick summary of the full story. At the bottom of the breaking news money section, the option to see all business headlines gives a wealth of articles from several days past at the reader’s disposal, although the links are unfortunately not individually dated. Every article that I read was well structured, with no grammar or typographical errors, with the author clearly stated along with a copyright statement. Additionally, every article has links to related articles, which is a very nice touch. Another aspect that the Inquirer has over the Manila Bulletin are more and better opinions and editorials; while the Manila Bulletin only has one section devoted to opinions across all categories (including business), the Inquirer features individual sections devoted to editorials and letters to the editor, in addition to several articles written by many individually listed columnists. The advertising on the site is not quite as innocuous as that on The Manila Bulletin, but the vast majority of it is related to real estate and finance.

The Manila Bulletin may be the humbler website upon first impression, but it is a remarkably well ordered website that is a quality source for Filipino business news. It has two main business links, one for business news and business agenda. In the business news section are articles that deal more with the economy and stock markets, while the business agenda section focuses more on the actions of corporations. The Manila Bulletin contains everything that one could expect from a business news website, including up-to-date stories by writers that are clearly identified, and articles that appear to be well researched and full of pertinent information. The site also gives readers easy links to print and email their articles to other people. However, one article that I read (and found to be quite interesting) on the world’s largest copper producer looking into using a Filipino mine, was unfortunately marred by a few typographical errors, such as a letter in uppercase lettering when it should have been lowercase, a few words stuck together when they should have been separate, and a paragraph break where it should not have been present. Another article that I read had HTML code scattered right in the middle of the text. The advertising on The Manila Bulletin is done quite well in my opinion, with the vast majority of it coming at the bottom of the page and not getting in the way of the news information. Most of it does not deviate from business news, with ads for things such as colleges and hotels. In fact, most of the advertising was for advertising itself, with links showing how to get an ad up onto the site.

On a scale of one to ten with ten being perfect, I would give The Inquirer a nine and The Manila Bulletin an eight. Both were quite impressive to me. The Inquirer could perhaps improve by finding ways to better organize the massive amount of information it has and make its advertising a bit less intrusive, but the site is hardly at fault. The Manila Bulletin should watch out for typographical errors from its writers a bit better. While the few mistakes I found didn’t hurt the content the site had, repeated instances like this in the future could damage the site’s reputation amount serious readers.

Best: Asahi.com
Worst: Kyodo News

After having looked at the two new websites that I have chosen on Japan, I would have to say that asahi.com is the superior website to Kyodo News, but neither are quite as good as the websites that I reviewed last week for business news on the region. Both are rather simplistic, especially in comparison to the ones I covered last week.

Asahi.com is for the most part a no-frills news website with few business stories, few links to other sites, and few advertisements. While the site may not be much, and to a certain extent it looks a bit “soulless”, the kinds of stories that the site does offer manage to be quite informative and approachable to the casual reader who wants to know more about Japanese business. While the actual writers of the articles are unfortunately not identified, every article is identified as being from the Asahi Shimbun Company, which is the parent company of Asahi.com. The site goes have copyright statements for its articles. The website features good articles on solid news stories, like the rate of imports on U.S. beef still being low six months after the lift of the ban on imports due to the mad cow scare, Toyota Motor Corp. closing in on General Motors in sales in 2006, and an estimated 39.7% of the Japanese national income going to taxes and social security payments in fiscal 2007, which would be a record high for the country. Of particular interest to me was a story on a 22-year-old computer programming whiz who has created a breakthrough computer networking software application. The story highlights that Japan imports more than ten times the amount of software that the company exports, with 90% of the imports coming from the U.S. alone. All the stories that I read on Asahi.com were fortunately free of grammar and typographical errors. Advertising is kept to the bare minimum, with all of it being links to other parts of the Asahi website for things like English tutoring. Asahi.com’s simplistic approach may not give enough meat for someone wanting intensive coverage of Japanese business, but it gets the job done for the casual reader.

Kyodo News is a website that is aesthetically better and more professional looking than Asahi.com, but it unfortunately requires its readers to subscribe to its website to read the full stories in its business section. However, on the front page of the website, breaking news articles are prominently visible and made available for all readers to enjoy, and many of them deal with business. The stories that I read on the website were well written, but like Asahi.com, the articles lack the identification of the actual writer, and merely credit the article to the website itself. A copyright statement is fortunately provided. I noticed that the articles of Kyodo News have what may be a bit of a nationalistic bias to them; An article on Japanese vehicle output being up 6.3% on strong exports to the U.S. flaunts that people in the U.S. are interested in car with good gas mileage, such as Japanese small-size cars, and an article on the Japanese health minister’s sexist remarks towards women being “birth-giving-machines” ends highlighting the Japanese defense minister’s criticism of the U.S. plan to relocate American troops in Okinawa. While the defense minister’s remarks were called “problematic”, the article gives the impression that it favors his opinions on the subject. Things like these perhaps may sway some readers away from the website.

Every article on Kyodo News appears to be free of typographical errors and such, but the spacing of the sentences could be better, as the articles appear to be a little cramped, which could make reading them troublesome for some readers. Advertising is nearly nonexistent; only a few ads for things like education and photos of Japan exist on the website’s main page.

On a scale of one to ten with ten being the best, I would give Asahi.com a seven and a half, while Kyodo News would be given a six and a half. Asahi.com could improve by giving more articles and improving the aesthetic look of the website. Kyodo News could best improve itself by making its business section articles free for all to read. Both website should identify the writers of their articles.

My updated review on websites for Japanese and Korean business/economic news! (UPDATED)

Reviews of (click for links):

After having compared the business and economic news sections of both The Japan Times and Japan Today, I have come to the conclusion that The Japan Times is the superior choice over Japan Today for someone wanting to be in the know about Japanese business. While Japan Today does have more business and economic articles in its business section of the website in comparison to the rather sparse amount that The Japan Times has in its respective section, the articles of Japan Today often concern issues that are a bit more sensationalistic than those of The Japan Times, such as articles on new automobiles and fast food promotions. It’s quite clear that while The Japan Times focuses on providing concrete information on the most pertinent information for people curious about economics and business in Japan, Japan Today aims for perhaps a younger audience that does not necessarily need minute details on issues. For instance, on different articles reporting on the same issue, the postponement of the Bank of Japan’s short-term interest rate, The Japan Times article, written by staff writer Kanako Takahara, is much longer than the Japan Today article, using a “one-or-two sentences at a time” formula that appears to be commonplace among articles in the Japan Times. The Japan Today article, while successfully giving readers the gist of what’s important, is only a mere three sentences long, and the writer of the article is not identified. Moreover, the articles of some of the more sensationalistic stories on the front page of the business section of Japan Today, such as ones on McDonald’s Japan’s extension of its “Mega Mac” campaign and a new Mini Cooper from BMW Japan, lack not only the names of their writers, but also copyright statements at the bottom of the articles. In contrast, all Japan Times articles on the front page cite the source of the article, whether it be written by a staff writer or from an outside source, in addition to copyright statements.

In terms of presentation, The Japan Times again one-ups Japan Today by virtue of a more orderly business section. Japan Today’s business section contains articles from several past days, while The Japan Times only carries articles from the current day and the day before on its main business section. While articles on Japan Today are more easily accessible this way, it creates clutter on the site that is compounded by links to articles on the side of the business articles concerning other areas of interest. The Japan Times search engine allows readers to pinpoint older articles with accuracy, and therefore the search engine frees up some clutter.

Overall, I would give The Japan Times a nine on a scale of one to ten, while I would give Japan Today a seven on the same scale. Japan Today could improve itself by making its presentation a bit more orderly and avoiding more sensational stories to appeal to a more serious clientele for business and economics.

Reviews of (click for links):

Concerning Korean matters, I would recommend The Korea Times over The Korea Herald as the better choice for business and economic information. While both sites provide up-to-date stories that are well researched and free of grammatical and spelling errors, I find that the Korea Times is the better of the two by virtue of better, more captivating prose in its articles. While both sites tend to rely on a similar “one-or-two sentences at a time” style, the writing in most Korea Times articles flows better, managing to avoid sensationalism while at the same time using interesting words to describe what is going on in the Korean business and economic world. For instance, in similar articles on both sites regarding the surge of overseas property investment, The Korea Times article gives the story with a great wealth of raw statistical information in a style that flows from sentence to sentence. In contrast to this, The Korea Herald’s article is much more gloomy in nature, focusing on the potential risks of so much overseas investment, perhaps due to a bias the author may have. While the article has a good deal of relevant information about the subject from legitimate sources, the article almost appears to be a patchwork of quotes and bits of information that almost make it look like a list of interchangeable facts, making the article a bit state and unexciting. Both sites do a good job in providing the names of the authors of their business and economic articles along with contact information, but unfortunately both sites do not have copyright statements for their articles.

Presentation is another aspect where The Korea Times wins out over The Korea Herald. Whereas The Korea Herald's business section is rife with many advertisements that use flashy graphics to attract readers, The Korea Times has fewer and smaller sized advertisement links that don’t rely on so much flashiness, in addition to information on stock markets and foreign exchange rates that would interest people concerned with business matters. The Korea Times also features a more organized page for its articles, with better spacing between links and a better font for reading the text.

Overall, I would give The Korea Times an eight on a scale of one to ten, while I would give The Korea Herald a six. I would recommend that the Korea Herald strays away from copious amounts of advertisements in its business section while at the same time trying to improve the quality of its writers’ prose to spark and maintain readers' interest. It also would be nice to see copyright statements at the end of articles from these two professional news websites.