Category Archives: media

Mga panganib ng mandatory SIM card registration

Sinulat para sa Pinoy Weekly Sa kabila ng pandemya at krisis sa ekonomiya, ang unang batas na pinirmahan ng administrasyon ni Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. ay ang Mandatory SIM Card Registration Act. Wala ito sa kanyang adyenda noong kampanya; hindi rin ito nabanggit sa kanyang proklamasyon at kahit noong State of the Nation Address. Marami […]

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IFEX Asia brief: October and November 2022

‘Environment of fear’, court convictions across Asia, and a new mandate for China’s Xi Jinping. Pakistani journalists attacked in and out of the country, 100 days of media freedom decline in the Philippines, court convictions and harassment across the region, and the human rights implication of Xi Jinping’s re-election as China’s supreme leader. Read more… […]

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IFEX Regional Briefs: July, August, September 2022

July 2022: “Lethal force behind a veil of legality”: Executions, repressive media laws, and protests across Asia. Attacks against the media did not stop even after a change in government in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Meanwhile, the junta in Myanmar has resorted to executing anti-coup activists. August 2022: Women’s rights crisis in Afghanistan, […]

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Freedom of Expression Declines Further Under Marcos

Written for The Diplomat Three months after coming to power, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has failed to reassure the media community and the public that he will promote freedom of expression and reverse the impunity that worsened during the term of his predecessor. To be sure, there was little expectation that the son of […]

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IFEX Regional briefs: January, February, March 2022

January 2022. Winter Olympics in “a sea of repression”, anniversary of a coup, and a new law against workplace harassment. Will there be ‘sportswashing” of China’s human rights situation during the Winter Olympics? Myanmar’s crackdown on journalists and dissenters continues ahead of coup anniversary. Pakistan enacts a new law that aims to protect women from […]

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IFEX Regional Brief: October, November, December 2021

October 2021: A Nobel for journalism, a mass release of prisoners, and a raft of repressive new laws. Maria Ressa became the first Filipino Nobel laureate for her work as a journalist and truth crusader. Journalists were among the prisoners released in Myanmar, but 20 are still in detention. Several laws that could undermine freedom […]

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Defund Duterte’s disinformation machinery

Published by the Philippine Daily Inquirer The Duterte administration’s so-called “whole-of-nation” approach in dealing with the communist movement has been exposed as nothing more than a costly “coordinated inauthentic behavior.” It is infuriating that public funds were utilized to spread disinformation targeting activists, leftists, and other critics of the government. The military said it supports […]

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IFEX Asia Regional Briefs: July, August, September 2021

July 2021: #FOEwatch in Malaysia, Hong Kong freedom in ‘tatters’, Kem Ley, and arrests in Vietnam. Artists and activists summoned by Malaysian police, the continuing fight for justice five years after Kem Ley’s death in Cambodia, Hong Kong media freedom in ‘tatters’, alarming arrests and convictions in Vietnam, released journalists share their prison ordeal in […]

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The Philippine Government’s Distrust of Fact-Checkers

Published by The Diplomat The Philippines’ Office of the Solicitor General has threatened to file a case in the court if the Commission on Elections (Comelec) does not unilaterally revoke its Memorandum of Agreement with news website Rappler on pursuing voter awareness and fact-checking campaigns ahead of the national and local elections scheduled for May […]

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IFEX spotlight: Resisting Asia’s digital authoritarians

Written for IFEX Reflecting on events from the first half of 2021, IFEX’s Asia and Pacific Editor explains how recent massive citizen protests and pushback against Asia’s digital authoritarians can provide lessons on what we need to do to support the region’s pro-democracy movements and human rights campaigns. Read more

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