Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)

Articles by Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)

Village women stand in a queue to get enrolled for the Unique Identification (UID) database system in the desert Indian state of Rajasthan, 22 February 2013, REUTERS/Mansi Thapliyal

Asia & Pacific in three minutes

Maldivian bloggers harassed abroad, Australia spies, China collects, India leaks and South Asia’s shutdown.

A copy of "The Voice Daily" newspaper is seen at a printing press in Yangon, Burma, 1 April 2013, REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

Burma: One lawsuit, three dangers to media freedom

The Burmese Army’s filing of criminal charges against The Voice Daily newspaper editor and a satirist is an alarming and emblematic example of the threats to press freedom and freedom of expression in the country.

A vendor arranges newspapers at a newsstand outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 15 February 2017 , REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin

The devastating decline of free expression and press freedom in Southeast Asia

On World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) 2017, the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) shares a number of stories that demonstrate the devastating decline of free expression and press freedom in the region.

Voice TV/Wikipedia

TV news channel suspended in Thailand

SEAPA condemned the 27 March 2017 National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) order suspending VOICE TV’s license to operate for seven days.

Supporters of presidential candidate Francisco Guterres of the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (FRETILIN) party cheer at a campaign rally, in Tasi Tolu, Dili, East Timor, 17 March 2017, REUTERS/Lirio da Fonseca

Free but poor: Challenges to the media in covering the 2017 Timor Leste elections

As Timor-Leste conducts its fourth regular national elections, the country’s free but resource-poor media is challenged to provide a fair coverage of an increasingly complex political context.

Supporters carry the coffin of NLD legal advisor Ko Ni, after he was shot dead, in Yangon, 30 January 2017, REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

Concern over continuing harassment of Burmese editor

Swe Win, chief editor of Myanmar Now news agency, was verbally threatened and almost assaulted by three men. He had previously received death threats for reporting on the murder of an NLD legal advisor.

Protesters are detained by district authorities as they demonstrate in support of land rights activist Tep Vanny during her verdict in front of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in central Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 23 February 2017, REUTERS/Samrang Pring

Cambodia failing to protect human rights defenders ahead of elections

78 civil society groups condemn the crackdown on dissent in the lead up to elections in Cambodia and call on the government to cease their unlawful attacks on human rights defenders.

Asylum-seekers look through a fence at the Manus Island detention centre in Papua New Guinea March 21, 2014. , AAP/Eoin Blackwell/via REUTERS

Asia & Pacific round-up: Film screening criminalised, free expression refugees trapped on Manus Island, and more

February: Censorship in Malaysia and Pakistan; deadly attacks against journalists in Bangladesh and Pakistan; global action to support three Iranian refugees