Articles by Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)
CAPSULE REPORT: Exiled Burmese journalists need protection, says SEAPA
(SEAPA/IFEX) – The following is a SEAPA capsule report: Exiled Burmese journalists live dangerously and need protection A growing friendship between Burma’s military junta and its neighbors, based mostly on shared economic interests, has dire implications for Burmese living in Thailand, India and Bangladesh, particularly journalists who have little in terms of protection or recognition […]
Jailed journalist denied bail; court withdraws controversial order restricting journalists’ access to court proceedings
(SEAPA/IFEX) – The following is a SEAPA alert with information provided for by the Cambodian Association for Protection of Journalists (CAPJ): On 3 November 2005, Cambodia’s court of appeal refused to grant bail to a radio journalist charged with defaming the government during a program about his country’s border disputes with Vietnam. Saly Theara told […]
Bomb explodes outside newspaper office
(SEAPA/IFEX) – On 3 November 2005, a bomb exploded inside the compound of Thailand’s Manager Media Group, whose founder is facing a multi-million dollar defamation suit filed by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The blast, which occurred at around 10 pm (local time), caused neither damages nor injury, but raised concerns within Thailand’s press community that […]
Community radio operator faces historic criminal lawsuit
(SEAPA/IFEX) – A farmer-turned-broadcaster in Thailand’s Angthong province was expected to take the stand to defend himself on 3 November 2005, in the first criminal lawsuit ever filed by the Thai government against a community radio operator. On 1 November, broadcaster Sathien Chanthorn, 55, told the court he will stand his ground in the face […]
Civil society leaders push for release of jailed media members
(SEAPA/IFEX) – The following is an alert filed by SEAPA with information provided by the Cambodian Association for Protection of Journalists (CAPJ): More than 70 Cambodian unions and NGOs are calling for the immediate release of a journalist and a broadcasting executive, calling their recent incarceration a blow to free expression in the Southeast Asian […]
Government moves to regulate opinion polls
(SEAPA/IFEX) – Survey groups, researchers, media practitioners, politicians, and private citizens in Thailand are voicing concern over a government proposal that would impose standards on public opinion surveys. Bangkok’s English-language daily, “The Nation”, in its18 October 2005 edition, quoted the government’s House lobbyist, Pongthep Thepkanchana, as saying the proposed amendment to Thailand’s 1965 Statistics Act […]
Outgoing US envoy slams Singapore over suppression of free expression
(SEAPA/IFEX) – On October 11 2005, the outgoing U.S. ambassador to Singapore criticized the city-state’s suppression of political expression and suggested that its repression of dissent and criticism is incongruent with its aspirations in a century driven by access to information. “In this era of weblogs and webcams, how much sense does it make to […]
Shin Corp lawsuit created “climate of fear,” media activist tells Bangkok Criminal Court
(SEAPA/IFEX) – Thai media activist Supinya Klangnarong has denied that she defamed media and telecom giant Shin Corp when she made comments, published in a local newspaper in 2003, on the company’s rising profit and its relationship with the ruling Thai Rak Thai party. “I have nothing against Shin Corp. My comments were made in […]