A top aide to Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to journalist and government critic Maria Ressa was proof that "press freedom is alive" in the country.Ressa, co-founder of news website Rappler, and Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov were awarded the prize on Friday for their efforts to "safeguard freedom of expression".Since Duterte took power in 2016, Ressa and Rappler have faced a series of criminal charges and investi

Veteran Philippine journalist Maria Ressa on Saturday said her Nobel Peace Prize was for "all journalists around the world", as she vowed to continue her battle for press freedom.Ressa, co-founder of news website Rappler, and Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov were awarded the prize on Friday for their efforts to "safeguard freedom of expression"."This is really for all journalists around the world," Ressa, a vocal critic of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte,

The Myanmar junta has charged a Japanese journalist under a "fake news" law, a report said Tuesday, in the latest blow to press freedom since the military seized power.Freelance reporter Yuki Kitazumi was arrested last month and charged on Monday – World Press Freedom Day – with spreading fake news, according to a report by Kyodo news agency.He is one of 50 journalists currently held in Myanmar as part of the junta's crackdown on widespread protests against its 1 February coup.

An Indonesian palm oil executive has been arrested for allegedly ordering the killing of two activist journalists who were mediating a land dispute between his company and local residents, police said Saturday.Maraden Sianipar’s body was found last week in a ditch near a palm plantation in Labuhan Batu in North Sumatra province.Police found the remains of his colleague, Maratua Siregar, in the same area a day later.

As media practitioners across the world gather tomorrow to commemorate the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, reporters in the Philippines have little to celebrate.For the third year in a row, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) Global Impunity Index has named the Philippines as the country with the most unsolved murders of journalists, with perpetrators of 41 killings over the past 10 years yet to be served justice.The Philippines was second to Iraq fro

The trial of two former Radio Free Asia (RFA) journalists in Cambodia on charges of espionage tomorrow promises to be a closely-watched affair.RFA’s former Phnom Penh bureau office manager Yeang Sothearin and former videographer Uon Chhin were arrested in November 2017 after Cambodian police found recording and broadcasting equipment in a hotel room they raided, this coming two months after the United States (US)-based RFA shut down its Phnom Penh office citing government pressure on independ