News
The poor state of press freedom is stunting social progress in Southeast Asia
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released their annual ranking of the global state of press freedom earlier this month and Countries in Southeast Asia did poorly—none of the 11 countries in the ASEAN bloc scored above RSF’s “difficult situation” designation. RSF ranks countries based on a questionnaire given to ...
Zachary Frye
Group to launch virtual press freedom campaign
The Working Group for Press Freedom has co-organised a two-week campaign with the theme “Information as a Public Good” on social media to promote and highlight the importance of the freedom of the press and urge the public’s participation. In a press release, the working group ...
Voun Dara
Human Rights Law NGO Hits Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand for Using Coronavirus to Control Media
An international human rights law NGO Thursday criticized the governments of Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam for using the COVID-19 pandemic to enact new laws that would allow them to more tightly control the media. The Switzerland-based International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) submitted a report to The Office ...
Eugene Whong
Myanmar Press Council Members Resign Over Military Directives
Half of Myanmar Press Council’s members resigned last week, saying they are unable to protect press freedom, uphold media ethics, or protect the safety of fellow journalists. The 15 resignations on the press council come in response to directives issued by Myanmar’s military to news outlets ...
Nyan Win Aung
Vietnam jails environmental activist for seven years
Vietnam has clamped down on freedom of expression ahead of a Communist Party congress by imposing a harsh jail sentence on an environmental activist and blogger for an anti-state campaign. On Jan. 20, the People’s Court of Hau Giang province in the southern Mekong Delta sentenced Dinh ...
UCA News reporter, Ho Chi Minh City
Myanmar must listen to those protesting internet shutdowns, not persecute them
Access Now, Article 19, Fortify Rights, and seven others are calling on authorities in Myanmar to immediately end criminal proceedings against, and release from detention, all those charged in relation to recent protests shining a spotlight on human rights violations and internet shutdowns in Rakhine and Chin ...
Cambodia Convicts Journalist for Criticizing Hun Sen
A Cambodian newspaper publisher who made critical comments about Prime Minister Hun Sen on Facebook has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. A Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday jailed Ros Sokhet for incitement and ordered him to pay a fine of $500 (2 million riels), said Sam Sokong, ...
Sun Narin
Rights Groups Deplore Arrest of Vietnam Writer and Activist Pham Doan Trang
Outspoken Vietnamese democracy activist and author Pham Doan Trang has been arrested on anti-state propaganda charges, police and state media said Wednesday, as rights groups condemned her apprehension just hours after annual U.S.-Vietnam human rights talks and warned that the blogger faced the risk of ...
RFA Vietnamese Service
Confronting Southeast Asia’s Troubled Media Landscape
Earlier this month, Maria Ressa, a prominent journalist and outspoken critic of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, was found guilty of cyber libel in another concerning development for media freedom in the country. While the incident was notable on its own terms, it also spotlighted the wider troubles ...
Prashanth Parameswaran
Arrests, Suspension of Vietnam Media Signal Crackdown
A wave of arrests and a one-month publishing ban on a news site over its investigations into environmental damage signal that Vietnam is suppressing criticism ahead of the country’s Party Congress, press freedom groups said. On June 12, authorities charged Le Huu Minh Tuan, from ...
An Hai