Media Issues

By Marites Danguilan Vitug

When I started out in journalism 30 years ago as a reporter for 'Business Day', my publisher, Raul Locsin, embedded in our young reporters’ minds one important value: independence. We were not beholden to anyone. We were neither establishment nor opposition. We were not with the so-called “alternative press” during the benighted years under Ferdinand Marcos.

 By Baradan Kuppusamy

KUALA LUMPUR, Jul 28 (Asia Media Forum) – The freedom of information bill pending in opposition-ruled Selangor state may be just at the state level, but it throws a direct challenge to the federal government of Malaysia and its strict controls on the media.

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
 
ISLAMABAD, Jul 27 (Asia Media Forum) – Tired of fear-based propaganda coming over the airwaves used by extremist militants in Pakistan’s volatile regions near Afghanistan, radio producers are working on ways to reclaim this medium and relearn the skills to make it relevant to residents’ daily lives.

    "We want to utilise FM radios for raising awareness among the rural population about social, health, culture, economic and gender issues," said Aurangzeb Khan, media director of Intermedia, an independent Pakistani media support organisation specialising in advocacy, research and training on media issues.

By Lynette Lee Corporal

BANGKOK, Jul 23  (IPS/Asia Media Forum) – Many netizens worldwide have long realised that the Internet is not completely without fetters, but those in Thailand say a three-year-old law is now practically choking Thai self-expression and right to information in cyberspace.

By Athar Parvaiz

SRINAGAR, India, Jul 19 (IPS) - Abdul Rehman stopped in his tracks when he did not see his usual newspapers strewn out on his lawn one morning this month. But little did he know that he would not see newspapers, whether out on the newsstands or delivered to subscribers like him, for three more days.

All pornographic web sites, both Indonesian and international, will be blocked within two months, 'Jakarta Globe' quoted communication and information technology minister Tifatul Sembiring as saying on July 14.

By Li Tao

China's media landscape has changed drastically in recent years in which the country's rapid economic growth has had a major role to play. The reform and opening up and the subsequent relaxation of government regulations saw the birth of market-oriented media in China, after which even flagship Party newspapers began publishing profitable weeklies and dailies.

By Wai Moe

Burmese authorities denied on Saturday that there has been an outbreak of the plague in areas east of the Pegu mountain range, saying that the National Health Department has found no evidence of the disease in dead rats taken from areas considered at risk.

By Chularat Saengpassa - 'The Nation'

Using the emergency decree, authorities have recently shut down 26 community-radio stations in nine provinces and pressured six others to discontinue their services.

By Sam Rith

A prominent opposition-aligned newspaper has folded due to 'bankruptcy', its editor said yesterday, prompting concern from some observers that the national media landscape would continue to be dominated by outlets that support the ruling party.