Press Freedom in Contemporary Asia / Edition 1

by Tina Burrett, Jeffrey Kingston

Overview

This book analyzes the constraints on press freedom and the ways in which independent reporting and reporters are at risk in contemporary Asia to provide a barometer of democratic development in the region.

Based on in-depth country case studies written by academics and journalists, and some who straddle both professions, from across the region, this book explores the roles of mainstream and online media, and how they are subject to abuse by the state and vested interests. Specific country chapters provide up-to-date information on Bangladesh, Kashmir, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as on growing populist and nationalist challenges to media freedom in the Philippines, India, Indonesia and Japan. The book includes a theoretical chapter pulling together trends and common constraints facing newsrooms across Asia and a regional overview on the impact of social media. Three chapters on China provide insights into the country’s tightening information environment under President Xi Jinping. Moreover, the legal environment of the media, political and external pressures, economic considerations, audience support and journalists’ standards and ethics are explored.

As an international and interdisciplinary study, this book will appeal to undergraduates, graduates and scholars engaged in human rights, media studies, democratization, authoritarianism and Asian Studies, as well as Asia specialists, journalists, legal scholars, historians and political scientists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138584839
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/19/2019
Pages:	414
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Tina Burrett is Associate Professor of Political Science at the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Sophia University, Japan. She is also the author of Television and Presidential Power in Putin’s Russia (Routledge, 2013).

Jeff Kingston is Professor of History and Director of Asian Studies at Temple University, Japan. His recent publications include Contemporary Japan 2nd ed. (Routledge, 2019), Japan’s Foreign Relations with Asia (Routledge, 2018) and Press Freedom in Japan (Routledge, 2017).

Table of Contents

1 Introduction; 2 Theorising Media Freedom in Asia; Part 1 - East Asia; 3 Social Media with Chinese Characteristics: Implications for Press Freedom; 4 Borrowing, Buying and Building Boats: How China Exerts its Influence Over the Press in Asia; 5 Press Freedom in China Under Xi Jinping; 6 Japan’s Activist News Media: How and Why Reporters and News Organizations Became a Positive Force in Confronting a Negative Past; 7 Fortress Okinawa: Japan’s Media and the US Military Footprint; 8 Press Freedom in South Korea; 9 External Threat and Internal Defense: Freedom of the Press in Taiwan 2008-2018; Part 2 - South East Asia; 10 The Indonesian Press: Between the State, Market, Politics and Society; 11 Press Freedom in Malaysia: An Awakening for the Media?; 12 Media Freedom in Myanmar: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back; 13 Press Repression in Myanmar: Aung San Suu Kyi, the Reuters Reporters and the Rohingya; 14 Press Freedom in the Philippines; 15 Press Freedom Chained in Thailand; 16 Vietnamese Media Going Social: Connectivism, Collectivism, and Conservatism; Part 3 - South Asia; 17 Press freedom in Bangladesh: How to Kill the Fourth Estate in 48 Years or Less; 18 Killing Press Freedom in India, Siddhartha Deb; 19 Muzzling the Press: Military Control and Journalism in Jammu and Kashmir; 20 Challenges of Press Freedom in Nepal; 21 Pakistan’s Media under Siege; 22 Free and Fair Media: A Distant Dream for Sri Lanka; Part 4 - Internet Freedom; 23 The Polemics of Internet Freedom in Asia: Reality, Perception and Attitudes