Laos / Asia

For all its faults, Facebook is a lifeline for journalists in less developed countries By Karen Coates Squeezed between China and Vietnam, Phongsali is the northernmost province of Laos, a land of mountains, valleys and isolated villages that is home to more than 15 ethnic groups. As recently as a...

Dear President Obama: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to express our enduring concern about the press freedom situation in Southeast Asia ahead of the summit meeting you will host for regional leaders from February 15 to February 16.

Across Asia, press freedom conditions varied radically in 2003, from authoritarian regimes with strictly regulated state-controlled media in North Korea and Laos, to democratic nations with outspoken and diverse journalism in India and Taiwan. Members of the media throughout the region struggled against excessive government interference, outdated press laws, violent...

New York, July 10, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the release today of Belgian journalist Thierry Falise, French cameraman Vincent Reynaud, and their American translator and guide, Rev. Naw Karl Mua. Their release comes one week after the three were each sentenced to 15 years in prison for...

New York, July 9, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the release today of Belgian journalist Thierry Falise, French cameraman Vincent Reynaud, and their American translator and guide, Rev. Naw Karl Mua. Their release comes one week after the three were each sentenced to 15 years in prison for...

New York, June 30, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged that two journalists and their American translator were convicted today by a Laotian court in Phonesavan, a town in the northeastern Xieng Khuang province. Although it is unclear what the charges were, CPJ has confirmed that Belgian journalist...

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the safety of two European journalists and their American guide who were arrested last week by Laotian authorities: Thierry Falise, a Belgian free-lance photographer and reporter; Vincent Reynaud, a French free-lance photographer and cameraman; and Naw Karl Mua, a U.S. citizen of ethnic Hmong origin who was working with the two journalists as a guide and translator. Falise and Reynaud are well-regarded, professional journalists based in Bangkok, Thailand.

The vicious murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan focused international attention on the dangers faced by journalists covering the U.S. "war on terror," yet most attacks on journalists in Asia happened far from the eyes of the international press. In countries such as Bangladesh and the...

Although Laos is an increasingly popular destination for budget travelers, it is not a very hospitable place for journalists. The ruling Communist Lao People's Revolutionary Party, which brooks no dissent, owns all of the country's media outlets....

Shortly after U.S. president George W. Bush arrived in South Korea's capital, Seoul, in February 2002 for a state visit, the North Korean state news agency, KCNA, reported a miracle: that a cloud in the shape of a Kimjongilia, the flower named after the country's leader, Kim Jong Il, had...