Today is World Press Freedom Day, and the Asia Media Centre is putting the spotlight on five journalists working to promote press freedom and freedom of expression in Asia.
1. Maria Ressa | @mariaressa
Maria Ressa is internationally known for her role as CEO of Rappler, an online news startup and vocal critic of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. In February 2019, she was arrested for “cyber libel,” and Rappler has faced charges of tax evasion. The charges against her and Rappler are viewed by many international critics as politically motivated. In December 2018, she was named a Time Person of the Year for her role in combating the “War on Truth". She also won the 2018 Tully Award for Free Speech.
Journalists back Rappler plea to end Duterte coverage ban:https://t.co/FPQsUb9h40 via @ABSCBNNews
— Maria Ressa (@mariaressa) April 30, 2019
2. Kirsten Han | @kixes
Kirsten Han is a freelance journalist and editor-in-chief of New Naratif, a media startup for Southeast Asian journalism, research, art and community-building. She also curates the weekly We, The Citizens newsletter on Singaporean politics, social justice and civil society. She has been a leading critic of Singapore’s proposed “fake news” legislation.
3. Lu Pin | @pinerpiner
Lu Pin is a former journalist for the state-run "China Women’s News", and founding editor-in-chief of Feminist Voices, a Sina Weibo account for feminist activism in China that the PRC government shut down in 2018. She relocated to the US after the 2015 Feminist Five arrests, where she has continued her activist work on feminism and the #MeToo movement.
After Weibo banned the “super topic”( similar with tag) of “les(bian)”with 480 million hits and WeChat forbiddened using rainbow emoji in usernames, online protest is raising again this weekend. pic.twitter.com/KyIthaCqQI
— 吕频Lü Pin (@pinerpiner) April 15, 2019
4. Zunar | @zunarkartunis
Zunar (real name Zulkiflee Sm Anwar Ulhaque) is a political cartoonist from Malaysia. He has criticised corruption and abuse of power by the government through political cartoons, and was subject to repeated arrests, censorship, and travel restrictions under former prime minister Najib Razak. Since the 2018 surprise election defeat of Najib, Zunar has been cleared of various charges, awarded damages for a ban on one of his books and had his travel restrictions removed.
International feedback on CNN News https://t.co/8WpPBVjhBh pic.twitter.com/9I0744vkNI
— Zunar Cartoonist (@zunarkartunis) April 2, 2019
5. Nikhil Pahwa | @nixxin
Nikhil Pahwa is an Indian journalist, digital rights activist and founder of MediaNama, a publication focusing on India’s digital ecosystem. He has been active on issues around digital media, net neutrality, censorship, and the internet in India, and is the founder of the “Save the Internet” movement opposing Facebook’s Free Basics programme.
Statutory power to censor or force censorship on platforms is limited by fundamental rights. As a country we have a responsibility to give the right to platforms to choose, and not censor via them.
— Nikhil Pahwa (@nixxin) April 25, 2019
As a platform, a private party, we have the right to choose. No contradiction. https://t.co/oT0UrFCKQs
- Asia Media Centre
