Walkleytalks Podcast

In Egypt, Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste and others have been arrested for reporting both sides of the story – and this is getting lots of attention, as it should. But what of media workers in South East Asia being routinely punished for questioning authority or putting forward an alternative point of view? In Vietnam and Myanmar, journalists, bloggers and human rights activists are routinely jailed for their reporting. In Cambodia, journalists reporting stories counter to powerful interests have been assassinated and in the Philippines, journalists are often killed for doing their work, making it one of the most dangerous reporting environments in the world. In Thailand, there's a culture of media self-censorship over the monarchy: websites discussing politics are shut down by the government and laws like lese majeste and the computer crimes act are used to intimidate and punish journalists. And in Malaysia, the public discourse is controlled by state-owned media, which allows for little real political