Southeast Asian Media: Patterns of Production and Consumption A survey of national media in 10 countries of Southeast Asia By Jeremy Wagstaff SOUTHEAST ASIAN MEDIA : PATTERNS OF PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION Table of Contents I. Introduction .................................................................. 7 II. Country highlights ..................................................... 12 1. Burma ..................................................................... 12 1.1 Television ....................................................... 13 1.2 Radio .............................................................. 14 1.3 Print ............................................................... 15 1.4 Online ............................................................ 17 1.5 Telecommunications ....................................... 19 1.6 Journalists ....................................................... 19 1.7 External reporting ........................................... 20 2. Cambodia ............................................................... 22 2.1 Television ....................................................... 22 2.1.1 TV technologies ..................................... 24 2.2 Radio .............................................................. 24 2.3 Print ............................................................... 25 2.4 Online ............................................................ 27 2.5 Telecommunications ....................................... 28 2.6 Journalists ....................................................... 30 3. Indonesia ................................................................ 32 3.1 Context .......................................................... 32 3.1.1 From State oversight to political influence ................................................. 32 3.1.2 A return to censorship? ........................... 34 3.2 Television ....................................................... 34 3.2.1 Providers ................................................ 34 3.2.2 Content and consumption ...................... 35 3.2.3 TV Technologies .................................... 37 3.3 Radio .............................................................. 38 3.4 Print ............................................................... 39 3.4.1 Consumption ......................................... 39 3.4.2 Players .................................................... 40 3.5 Telecommunications and internet ................... 40 MEDIA PROGRAM 3 SOUTHEAST ASIAN MEDIA : PATTERNS OF PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION 3.5.1 Telephones ............................................. 40 3.5.2 Internet ................................................... 41 3.5.3 Online .................................................... 42 4. Laos ........................................................................ 46 4.1 Limited reach .................................................. 46 4.2 Journalism ...................................................... 48 4.3 Television ....................................................... 49 4.4 Radio .............................................................. 50 4.5 Print ............................................................... 50 4.6 Telecoms and internet ..................................... 51 5. Malaysia .................................................................. 53 5.1 Context ........................................................... 53 5.1.1 Bias ......................................................... 53 5.1.2 Censorship .............................................. 54 5.1.3 Ownership .............................................. 55 5.1.4 Consumption ......................................... 55 5.2 Television ....................................................... 55 5.2.1 TV consumption .................................... 56 5.2.2 Digital television ..................................... 57 5.2.3 Direct-To-Home Satellite Broadcasting .. 57 5.2.4 IPTV ...................................................... 58 5.3 Radio .............................................................. 58 5.3.1 Radio consumption ................................ 59 5.4 Print ............................................................... 59 5.5 Telecommunications and internet ................... 61 5.6 Online ............................................................ 64 5.6.1 News online ............................................ 65 5.7 Mobile access .................................................. 67 6. The Philippines ....................................................... 69 6.1 Balance and danger ......................................... 69 6.2 Consumption .................................................. 70 6.3 Television ....................................................... 71 6.3.1 Digital television ..................................... 72 4 OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATION SOUTHEAST ASIAN MEDIA : PATTERNS OF PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION 6.4 Radio .............................................................. 72 6.5 Print ............................................................... 72 6.5.1 Consumption ......................................... 73 6.6 Telecommunications and internet ................... 74 6.6.1 Cellular phones ....................................... 74 6.6.2 Internet .................................................. 75 6.7 Online ............................................................ 76 7. Singapore ................................................................ 80 7.1 Television ....................................................... 82 7.1.1 Mobile TV, IPTV, web TV .................... 82 7.2 Radio .............................................................. 83 7.3 Print ............................................................... 83 7.3.1 Consumption ......................................... 84 7.4 Online ............................................................ 84 8. Thailand ................................................................. 89 8.1 Polarisation, bias and delayed reform .............. 89 8.2 Consumption ................................................. 89 8.3 Television ....................................................... 90 8.4 Radio .............................................................. 92 8.5 Print ............................................................... 92 8.6 Telecommunications ....................................... 94 8.7 Online ............................................................ 95 8.8 Social media .................................................... 96 9. Timor-Leste ............................................................ 99 9.1 Language ........................................................ 99 9.2 Journalism .................................................... 100 9.3 Consumption ............................................... 100 9.4 Telecommunications ..................................... 102 9.5 Television ..................................................... 104 9.5.1 Resources .............................................. 104 9.6 Radio ............................................................ 105 9.7 Print ............................................................. 105 9.8 Online .......................................................... 106 10. Vietnam ................................................................ 107 MEDIA PROGRAM 5 SOUTHEAST ASIAN MEDIA : PATTERNS OF PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION 10.1 Television ..................................................... 108 10.2 Radio ............................................................ 109 10.3 Print ............................................................. 109 10.4 Online .......................................................... 111 10.5 Bloggers ........................................................ 114 10.6 Telecommunications ..................................... 114 Annex 1: Regional Data and Figures ............................ 117 Annex 2: List of Abbreviations .................................... 122 Annex 3: List of Companies mentioned ....................... 125 Annex 4: List of Tables and Charts .............................. 127 6 OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATION INTRODUCTION I. INTRODUCTION This report is an overview of national media in 10 of the 11 countries of Southeast Asia, looking at the kind and variety of news and information that are available to the public on a national scale. It is not intended to be comprehensive, given the constraints of time and resources, and while I have attempted to make entries as up-to-date as possible, I have had to rely on information that has no doubt already been overtaken by events. I apologise in advance for such shortcomings and would welcome comments or corrections. I am grateful to all those who helped via interviews, data and comments; many of you asked to remain nameless, so not everyone is cited in the footnotes. Finding common themes in a region so disparate is hard. Perhaps the most obvious theme is that each country is so different that cookie-cutter approaches to any sort of endeavour, whether commercial, political, social or developmental, are likely to face significant challenges. The region spans some of the most repressive regimes and some of the most open, some of the most advanced countries technologically and some of the least developed, some of the most vibrant media landscapes and some of the most constrained. That said, I would venture the following observations: Online is the new underground With the possible exception of Laos, journalists,