Democrats and Dictators: Southeast Asia's Uneven Information Landscape
Author(s)
Chua, Yvonne T.
Abstract
In 2001, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) and the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) published a study of eight countries in the region, entitled The Right to Know: Access to Information in Southeast Asia. The book considers the ways in which the changes that have swept across Southeast Asia during the past 20 years have affected information access. In particular, it examines laws that guarantee or restrict access, the political and social environments in which information is given out or withheld, and the state of the media. Against the background of these dramatic political changes in the region, this paper examines what the present situation is, country by country.
