#mediafreedom

Media Freedom in Southeast Asia Report is out

According to article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” Freedom of information is a basic human right. People should be able to receive information via any media. However, together with the global pandemic problem, governments tend to control the media outlets by using various methods such as the SLAPP law or the fake news law. People in the news and media sector got affected heavily, especially in the Southeast Asia region. The line of human rights protection is blurred due to the lack of concrete regulation to protect human rights. The turbulent political situations in countries like Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines are causing the violation of human rights to the media person such as journalists.

Media Freedom in Southeast Asia: Repeal Restrictive Laws, Strengthen Quality Journalism is a collaborated project between Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom Southeast and East Asia and Asia Centre to research through the situations that affected journalism in this region. If you are interested in the report, you can download the report here.