This paper was presented at a conference on “The Changing World of International News in the 21st Century: The Impact of Digital Technology” organized by The Institute for Journalism and Society, Department of Journalism, Hong Kong Baptist University in collaboration with the Foreign Correspondents Club of Hong Kong, on April 14-16, 2009.
ABSTRACT
The impacts of international news today are unavoidable, among others, because of the availability of communication technologies including the Internet, global TV, and news wires. This paper is to discuss how the international news has had political, economic and cultural impacts in Southeast Asia. Three countries become the focus of the research, namely Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Indonesia’s liberal press has enabled the country to further international news to people at large, something that is still a luxury in Malaysia and Singapore. Malaysia’s “semi-democratic” government always tries to filter any news that potentially influences people politically. However, this effort in some cases has been proven failed due to the availability of the Internet. Likewise, Singapore autocratic government also watches closely any news that is deemed able to create instability. These conditions are possible because both in Malaysia and Singapore almost all the media are state-owned which automatically make the government the sole gate-keeper for any news. This paper finally will look at the prospects of international news in Southeast Asia by considering the newly issued ASEAN Charter which is committed to upholding human rights of which among other element is the rights to access to information.
ABSTRACT
The impacts of international news today are unavoidable, among others, because of the availability of communication technologies including the Internet, global TV, and news wires. This paper is to discuss how the international news has had political, economic and cultural impacts in Southeast Asia. Three countries become the focus of the research, namely Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Indonesia’s liberal press has enabled the country to further international news to people at large, something that is still a luxury in Malaysia and Singapore. Malaysia’s “semi-democratic” government always tries to filter any news that potentially influences people politically. However, this effort in some cases has been proven failed due to the availability of the Internet. Likewise, Singapore autocratic government also watches closely any news that is deemed able to create instability. These conditions are possible because both in Malaysia and Singapore almost all the media are state-owned which automatically make the government the sole gate-keeper for any news. This paper finally will look at the prospects of international news in Southeast Asia by considering the newly issued ASEAN Charter which is committed to upholding human rights of which among other element is the rights to access to information.
