In many countries across Asia, governments are growing less tolerant of critical reporting, even arresting journalists and closing media outlets in some cases. In China, authorities recently removed an online story from a financial magazine about censorship - a taboo topic - while Thailand’s military junta has detained journalists for what it calls “attitude adjustment” and shut down TV and radio stations.
A look at how and where journalists are coming under renewed pressure--
China: Setting the tone
The ruling Communist Party has long exercised heavy-handed direction over news media, but recent events speak to a further tightening of ideological controls. President and party leader Xi Jinping set the tone with visits in February to the official Xinhua News Agency, the party-controlled People’s Daily newspaper and state broadcaster CCTV. At each place, he stated that absolute loyalty to the party was the media’s highest priority. Negative responses to Xi’s visit were censored on China’s once-vibrant social media, Weibo, Most recently, more than a dozen editors and technicians have gone missing and are believed to be under investigation after an anonymous letter calling for Xi’s resignation was posted on a government-backed news portal.
Thailand: attitude adjustment
A junta that took power in a 2014 coup has detained journalists for what it calls “attitude adjustment,” shut TV and radio stations for perceived critical coverage of the government, banned press events and most recently tightened visa requirements for foreign reporters. Under new measures announced last month, only journalists working for a registered news agency will be able to obtain or renew journalists’ visas. Thai journalists have faced a barrage of pressures over the past two years. One prominent editorial cartoonist from the Thai Rath newspaper was detained twice and warned he could be prosecuted if he continued to satirise the junta chief in his drawings. A senior writer for The Nation newspaper who was openly critical of the coup was detained twice and ultimately fired. A few foreign reporters have had their visa applications denied since the junta took power.
Malaysia: The $700m scandal
The government is cracking down on media as a financial scandal engulfs Prime Minister Najib Razak. Two Australian TV journalists were briefly arrested this month after they tried to question Najib about the scandal. The government has also blocked some new websites, including popular news portal Malaysian Insider, over critical reports of the government. The portal, owned by the Edge Media Group, shut down recently, citing a loss of income caused by the government’s ban.
India: Hindu hardliners
Intimidation of journalists is nothing new in India, but it has taken on a new element under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government. India, the world’s largest democracy, has a relatively free press, but the current BJP government has been criticised for not trying to stop fringe right-wing elements that threaten journalists and activists in the name of patriotism. During a court hearing for a Jawaharlal Nehru University student charged with sedition for allegedly making anti-India statements, lawyers beat reporters and damaged cameras and recording equipment while demanding they not cover public protests against the student’s arrest. Sujata Madhok, secretary-general of the Delhi Union of Journalists, accused the BJP of targeting Muslim and Christian religious minorities and the underprivileged Dalits.