Update August 2011

edited by Alastair Carthew and Simon Winkelmann

Dear User!

This update covering the first half of 2011 introduced four new countries, Fiji, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Timor-Leste, bringing the total to 28 covering Asia-Pacific. Two, Afghanistan and Timor-Leste are relatively new democracies that have emerged from dictatorship, in Afghanistan’s case; and unwanted occupation by Indonesia, in Timor-Leste’s case. Fiji is under military rule after decades of democratic administration and Kyrgyzstan has an authoritarian government.

So in the case of Fiji, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan press freedom is severely restricted with Afghanistan remaining one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists. Timor-Leste is a work-in-progress as it develops mass media communications and the Internet penetration, currently only 0.2 percent, gathers momentum as the country develops infrastructure.

Overall, these four countries mirror a huge part of the media landscape of Asia-Pacific in 2011: severe repression, violence, attacks, intimidation and imprisonment of journalists; the continued attempt by authorities in many countries to crack down on Internet bloggers and websites critical of their government policies. And, yet, there were encouraging signs of journalist co-operation between hitherto antagonists or shaky allies (Taiwan/China; Pakistan/United States) to generate better understanding.

This year is proving to be just as dangerous for journalists globally as previous years. Thirty two journalists were killed in the first six months (58 for all of 2010) and 267 journalists and netizens were imprisoned (248 for all of 2010). In Asia, Pakistan (7) and the Philippines (2) had journalists killed this year. In 2010 journalists were killed in India (1), Indonesia (1), Pakistan (11), Philippines (4) and Thailand (2).¹

The “Arab Spring” impact on some Asian country government’s reaction to their media was evident in places like Bangladesh, China, Taiwan and Vietnam where journalists were subject to attention from authorities for encouraging support for the uprisings against Middle Eastern governments.

In Myanmar the move to civilian rule heralded what local media saw as a thaw in the strict media controls of the previous military led government, with activist Aung San Suu Kyi’s picture being published in a leading journal for the first time. In China the arrest of artist Ai Weiwei which generated global publicity was followed by a crackdown on cyber-dissidents in wake of the Arab uprisings. In Indonesia, with the second largest Facebook population and highest Twitter usage, the government is considering legislation that would, according to critics, give authorities a “free pass” to monitor conversations and exchanges on the Internet.

India, and Indonesia, both ordered the BlackBerry smart phone operator to suspend messages that could not be monitored. India also issued new regulations on Internet usage that were roundly criticised, including from Google. In Nepal a new citizen journalism network, MeroReport, was launched. Reporting of religious issues was to the fore in Malaysia, Thailand’s Democratic Party led government cracked down on radio stations and bloggers in election year, Laos struggled with handling the impact of new media, in the Philippines a number of radio journalists were attacked, Sri Lanka had the unsolved case of a missing prominent cartoonist and in Singapore the government ordered the registration of an online website as a political organisation, which was criticised as reducing the site’s ability to cover politics.

Pakistan was a special case. While journalist killings continued, Pakistan’s vibrant media were tough on the all powerful military for its alleged failings, “outed” an alleged CIA spy and, at the same time, Pakistani and American journalists were engaged in an exchange programme to foment a better understanding between the two uneasy allies. Pakistan also became the first Islamic country to implement a faith based filtering process to disguise the blocking of political discourse, according to ONI Asia, an organisation that monitors Internet censorship and surveillance.

Uzbekistan (163) and Vietnam (165) and Myanmar (174) were the lowest ranked countries from Asia-Pacific (of 178). North Korea, at 177th was not surveyed. At the other end of the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, highest ranked was Japan (11), where media coverage was dominated by the earthquake and nuclear reactor crises; Hong Kong (34) had an uneasy journalistic relationship with China, South Korea (42) where claims of self-censorship arose and Taiwan (48) which continued to slip in world rankings of press freedom, allegedly because of the influence of Chinese businesses.

In summary, the first half of 2011 saw the continued killing and imprisoning of journalists in the region, with the Arab uprisings leading to anti-media measures in some countries, self-censorship growing in some, hitherto, relatively “free” media jurisdictions and the Internet remaining the prime target for authorities concerned about criticism.

I hope you enjoy it!

Paul Linnarz, Director Media Programme Asia

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