Freedom is a precious thing

The Nation, Asia News Network, Bangkok

World Press Freedom Day today is a time for reflection on what has been gained over recent years and what has been lost since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Since those incredible incidents, journalists have been forced to switch quiet pride in their achievements to growing unease at how press freedom is being whittled away under the guise of the anti-terrorism campaign.

The continuing murders of journalists around the world -- brought glaringly into focus by the Daniel Pearl case in February -- remain in our minds. They remind us of the dangers faced by reporters seeking the truth: Between 1992 and 2001, 176 out of 243 journalists killed were in conflict zones.

According to Reporters Without Frontiers, some of these victims were deliberately gunned down after identifying themselves as journalists. As never before, the life and safety of journalists are at stake, especially in countries where government security forces themselves are the terrorists.

Meanwhile, since Sept. 11, numerous countries have adopted new laws and measures that limit media coverage and access to information. They argue that to fight terrorism properly, the right to know must be curtailed. But history has shown that a free media in time of emergency is an advantage and not a handicap.

Here in Southeast Asia we have not escaped the effects of the Sept. 11 aftermath. The climate of insecurity has been used by various governments to initiate restrictive measures -- some new, some that had been shelved in the pre-Sept. 11 era of openness. During that era, the media situation reflected political and cultural diversity. A free media was burgeoning. Indonesia and Cambodia, especially, were adding to the vibrancy of Southeast Asia.

But since the attacks, even the most open of countries has had to fight increased government interference.

In the Philippines and Thailand, the popularly-elected leaders have sought to crack down on the media for fear their popularity will be damaged by critical media reports and analysis. But therein lies the rub -- it was the Filipinos' desire for truth and their rejection of Joseph Estrada's media cronies that eventually brought down the former president and his corrupt government.

Here in Thailand we have witnessed similar Estrada-like tactics to control and influence reporting. But Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has gone further than any other regional leader. Using his unchallenged political, economic and executive powers, he has tried to systematically emasculate the media.

Knowing well the independence of Thai journalists, Thaksin is hitting where it hurts most -- by manipulating advertising funds, the lifeblood of the private media.

Few media companies have fully recovered from the 1997 economic crisis, so it is a simple task for him to tighten the screws on advertising budgets. Only the Thaksin-friendly media are being given lucrative contracts.

Concomitantly, various other types of pressure have been brought to bear on Thai journalists and news organizations. Most notably, the majority ownership of iTV was taken up by Shin Corp, Thaksin's very own flagship company, which resulted in the editorial independence of one of Thailand's best broadcast news outlets being destroyed. Today, iTV is but a shadow of its former self. Nowhere in the free world would this have been allowed to happen.

The Thaksin administration has also made it clear that it will favor only those journalists it deems are "on its side", while making it difficult for those openly critical of it to gain access to ministers and senior officials, a crucial part of an open society.

While we are mindful of the dangers to journalists in other parts of the world, the threat to media freedom in the region is real and worrying. Lest we forget, the struggle for media freedom in Southeast Asia has been long and difficult, albeit fatality- free for the most part.

We should honor the memory of those killed elsewhere by continuing that struggle.