Press Freedom

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Mar 11 (IPS) - It may have not won an Oscar, but its having been a final contender for the prestigious statue at the U.S. Academy Awards on Mar. 7 has taken ‘Burma VJ’ to heights never achieved by previous films depicting the oppression and courage in military-ruled Burma.

BEIJING - China's technology ministry moved to tighten controls on Internet use on Feb 23, saying individuals who want to operate Web sites must first meet in person with regulators.

  By Baradan Kuppusamy

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 (Asia Media Forum) — The confiscation and banning of books by Malaysian authorities is sending alarm bells ringing among activists, who want the repeal of laws that the government is using to suppress freedom of expression.

JAKARTA — Indonesia is considering proposals to block Internet sites that are deemed to violate 'public decency' and privacy, provoking a barrage of criticism from bloggers and web users.

HANOI — Two pioneering Web sites that stretched the limits of free expression in Vietnam say they have been hacked and shut down, just months after the communist government blocked the social networking site Facebook.

'Thai E-News: News about Thailand that you may not have read in the news' is the slogan of one of Thailand's leading political websites. It has only content and no web board. It is unabashedly 'red', but red with a strange smell. It posts critical points of view from all circles.

Burmese media have been banned from publishing material covering political groups' preparations for the elections in March this year, while news of the elections themselves is allowed, reports Norway-based exiled media Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB).

The Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCCC) reported on Jan. 18 that the Google e-mail accounts of at least two foreign journalists have fallen prey to hackers, who are said to have attempted "sophisticated attacks" on the popular online site's security system.

   By Zofeen Ebrahim

KARACHI, May 4 (Asia Media Forum) - Till two months back, Shireen Zada of the private television channel Express News would carry a pistol wherever he did coverage from the restive valley of Swat in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).

   “But the day the peace accord was signed between the Taliban and the government, on February 16, I put away my gun,” he said.