Philippine journalist Maria Ressa was freed on bail on Thursday following an arrest that sparked international censure and allegations she is being targeted over her news site's criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, whose news site has repeatedly clashed with President Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested at her Manila office on Wednesday in what press freedom advocates branded an act of "persecution".Her detention on a charge of "cyber libel" is a dramatic escalation in government pressure bearing down on Ressa and her website Rappler, which was already facing tax evasion charges that could shut it down.It comes after Duterte has cracked down on high-profi

Fake news is a serious matter. Fake news in India, for example, has even led to the deaths of many through numerous lynching incidents. However, in dealing with fake news, there is a thin yet important line that – if crossed – encroaches into the territory of press freedom, hampering its ability to play watchdog.Member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), have gained notoriety for their lack of press freedom over the years.

Being a journalist has never been easy. Many of them work long hours, travel to faraway places and go through plenty of mud just to get a story. Being a journalist in Southeast Asia however, requires an even stronger character. While the rest of the world might lament that the social media fuelled media landscape helps conceive fake news, many journalists in the region are being locked up for merely reporting the truth.

Myanmar, facing international outrage over the jailing of Reuters journalists for their reporting on a massacre of Rohingya Muslims, is conducting a "political campaign" against independent journalism, the United Nations (UN) said Tuesday.A fresh report from the UN rights office decried "the instrumentalisation of the law and of the courts by the government and military in what constitutes a political campaign against independent journalism".It slammed the "failure of

A free press has always been an integral institutional safeguard to any self-professed democracy in the world. In Cambodia, things are slightly different.

Every year on May 3 – World Press Freedom Day – news producers and consumers pause to reflect on the state of global media. This year, as journalists and government officials gather in Ghana for the event’s 25th observance, attention will turn to the myriad pressures and challenges confronting the profession worldwide, and how official and state-sponsored hostility toward the press is threatening democracy.But these concerns, though certainly valid, are not the entire story.

 University of Oxford published a study last year titled “Troops, Trolls and Troublemakers: A Global Inventory of Organised Social Media Manipulation” which highlighted “cyber troops” that governments or political parties would use to manipulate public opinion over social media. One of the countries that was included in the study was the Philippines.

Spotlight on energyThis week, The ASEAN Post highlighted some challenges that ASEAN is facing in terms of deploying renewable energy and electrification throughout the region. As the region’s energy demands grows, countries such as Myanmar are moving forward in order to quench the thirst for electricity.

In the Philippines, it is just not drug-related criminals at risk of targeted murder, even journalists fall under the same threat. Based on a recent journalist death tally report by the International Press Institute (IPI), Philippines is the most dangerous country in Southeast Asia for journalists.