Podcast Free Asia
It's official! The pilot episode was "so good" that RFA Insider has been given the green light by the powers that be at Radio Free Asia! So this is officially episode 2. Eugene was excited that he's hosting and editing a podcast professionally for the first time, after more than 5 years of podcasting. Amy also reached the same pinnacle of success, after a single episode. Massive respect. RFA Insider will come out once every two weeks, usually on a Friday.
The Rundown
The Khmer Service reported about Taiwanese YouTuber Goodnight Chicken (Wan An Xiao Ji) getting two years in a Cambodian prison for making a hoax kidnapping video that played on the narrative that people from abroad can get abducted to work for scammers in the region's infamous scam centers. Goodnight Chicken and another YouTuber livestreamed a video they claimed was being shot in an abandoned scam center. In another video they appear to be bloodied, claiming they escaped their kidnappers. But Cambodian authorities decided to make an example out of them.
The Vietnamese Service reported how police stopped a showing of Mai, a romantic film with comedic elements and risque scenes, so that they could check the IDs of everyone in the audience, to see if everyone was older than 18. No underage people were found. Eugene thought this was excessive and recounted how he had actually broken the rules as a teen so that he could go watch Schindler's List, and in the process he kind of revealed his age. In the discussion it was also revealed that Amy was such a goody two-shoes that the closest she ever got to watching age-inappropriate material was when she saw a Christian horror film.
How it's made
Tenzin Pema from the Tibetan Service gave us a deep dive on the ongoing situation in Tibet regarding a dam project that would destroy at least six Buddhist monastaries and two villages in Wangbuding township in Dege County in Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. More than 1,000 residents protesting the project were arrested, including monks.
RFA Tibetan got exlusive footage of the protests, and Tenzin discussed not only the situation, but also how it is so difficult to get information out of Tibet, and how the service is able to verify that what they do get is accurate.
Here is some of the video footage we discussed: