Rights Groups: Asian Media Freedoms Under Fire

Rights groups say media freedoms across Southeast Asia are under threat with arrests of reporters and bloggers and new legislation targeting journalists. There's a shifting legal landscape for journalists in Thailand, Vietnam and Burma.

In a report marking World Press Freedom Day, the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) says Southeast Asian governments are turning to new legislation in a bid to manipulate new media.

SEAPA says the main trend is that governments are shifting focus from traditional broadcast and print media to social media and online news.

SEAPA Executive Director Gayathry Venkiteswaran said online news sites are becoming probably the most frequent target of presidency crackdowns.

“There is unquestionably attempts by the governments to dam the holes since the traditional media, they understand how to address that presumably," said Venkiteswaran. "Now with the onslaught of the web media, citizen agendas and bloggers - so there's attempts to make use of one of the old approaches and simultaneously to introduce control blocking, some successful, some unsuccessful.”

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Restricting the Web

Five governments in Southeast Asia have set in place laws to regulate the web to an identical degree as traditional media.

Vietnam has stepped up measures to manage so-called “illegal websites.” The harsh approach has ended in 19 online reporters or ‘netizens' being detained which include five journalists. Those detained include a Catholic priest and 3 other bloggers and writers accused of “anti-state propaganda.”

Human Rights Watch Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson said authorities are targeting individual cases to send a message to other writers.

“They'll continue to move after the person cases while they're attempting to find systematic approaches to close down critical touch upon the web. That is a mix of using fire walls, looking to block individual servers after which going after dissidents,” said Robertson.

Robertson said the final trend across Asia is of a retreat in media freedoms.

Battling for reforms amid crackdowns

Reporters borderless listed Vietnam near the ground (172nd) of the 179 countries on its press freedom index, saying arrests and harassment of professional-democracy supporters was at the rise.

In Burma, authorities have relaxed strict media laws as a part of a broad campaign to implement pro-democratic political reforms. New media legislation is predicted to be presented in Burma's parliament later this year that might further improve the country's media environment.

But critics - including Debbie Stothard, spokesperson for rights group Alternative ASEAN Network - caution that the reforms could fall in need of expectations.

“The authorities haven't yet shared what's within the text of the media law. But previously they've mentioned that although the law is meant to be one of the vital progressive media laws inside the region, they were still drawing on elements from Vietnam, which isn't exactly a bastion of media freedom,” said Stothard.

Aung Zaw, editor of the Thailand-according to-line newspaper, The Irrawaddy, fears the conservative forces inside the Burmese government could undermine greater media freedoms.

“This is an exceptionally crucial time. It is a transitional time for the rustic. But we don‘t know where it'll bring about, and because the government ministers and a few officials are very cautious - extremely cautious about letting the media report freely. In order that makes me really worried in regards to the media development,” said Aung Zaw.

Various laws used to regulate social media

Media freedoms also face an uncertain future in Thailand, where a sequence of individuals were prosecuted under the country's Lese Majeste laws. Although analysts say Thailand's media overall have been largely free to discuss political and social issues, the laws protecting the country's monarchy still carry harsh penalties.

Earlier this week, a Thai criminal court postponed a verdict in a case against Thai online editor, Chiranuch Premchai, who faces criminal charges under Lese Majeste laws. Chiranuch is charged with failing to delete comments from the web site fast enough. If found guilty, she faces a minimum of twenty years in jail. The laws was reinforced with the pc Crimes Act.

In December, a 54-year-old Thai-born American citizen, Joe Gordon, sometimes called Lerpong Wichaikhammat, was sentenced to 2 and a half years in jail after pleading guilty under the Lese Majeste laws.

Benjamin Zawacki, an Asia researcher for Amnesty International, said the rising trend in sentencing of these accused under the Lese Majeste laws has created a climate of fear.

"The message is considered one of fear, really. The Lese Majeste law has an exceptionally long arm already and that is been proven, as an instance, by the Joe Gordon case - whose offense, alleged offense, occurred on U.S. soil," said Zawacki. "However the Chiranuch case i suspect demonstrates just substantially how long the arm is because no person claims, not even the prosecution claims, that the offensive speech belongs to Chiranuch.”

More broadly in Asia, analysts say that online media has created more opportunities for political and social discussion, and in some countries has helped to “level” lopsided domestic media. They are saying new media in Malaysia and Singapore have helped opposition parties which have long struggled to grow their public voice.

From WhatNewsToday.net

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