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Even the latest organization seen as independent at a distance, the Cambodian Center for Independent Media and its affiliated station, Voice of Democracy, feels the pressure to avoid hot topics in order to stay out of government. "We are still doing our daily work, but we are trying to avoid some critical issues," such as the election, corruption, and border issues with Vietnam, said Sek Sophal, a member of the CCIM staff. and VOD. trying to think of long-term consequences … We know that we will not win if we confront ourselves directly with the government, so we will not do it … But this does not mean that we are going to back down, so we are trying other ways that are not really direct. Journalists in the organization are often far from government departments and offices; As a precaution, colleagues inform each other after work to make sure they are safe and sound.
In Cambodia and Southeast Asia, it is becoming increasingly difficult for journalists to do their job. this trend: according to the 1965 Reporters Without Borders Freedom Index (19659002), no country in Southeast Asia exceeds 124 (Indonesia) and one , Vietnam, ranks among the last 10 countries (175). Cambodia, ranked at 142, lost 10 places in just one year.
Journalists in the Philippines, although relatively free from their Cambodian counterparts, face abuses from their ever-frank president and an army of online trolls lined up in the state . After the critical reporting of his organization on the deadly drug war of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Maria Ressa, the chief of information on-line Rappler received threats of repeated rape and death of the part of these trolls The correspondent of Duterte was banned from the presidential palace, and Duterte himself threatened to revoke the license of the publication. Sometimes violent threats go beyond social media: Reporters Without Borders ranks the Philippines among the deadliest countries for journalists in Asia, with four journalists killed in 2017 alone. "Just make us cry," said Ressa at a conference in Singapore last month
Rodrigo Duterte's thug call
In Malaysia, the Anti-Fake News Act made the headlines it imposed on anyone discovered to spread misinformation: up to six years in prison and a fine of about $ 125,000, both for Malaysians only for foreigners. "It is not a beautiful distinction to be the first country to put a law on the term of Donald Trump " Darshini Kandasamy, deputy editor of Malaysiakini, Largest online news organization, I said. It is not just the anti-Fake News law: six national security laws, since the country was still confronted with communist threats, have been used to prosecute journalists. Yet, Malaysian reporters say that there is reason to believe that a positive change is on the horizon. The country's new prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, promised to repeal the anti-Fake News Act and expand access to independent media outlets.
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