News trends across the region

In August 2024, the Centre for Media Transition brought together a group of editors from Malaysia, Indonesia, India and the Philippines to exchange information on how bad the problem of mis- and disinformation is in their respective countries, and more importantly what they felt they could do to combat it.

We share many of their challenges as of course mis- and disinformation is a global threat and one often distributed by multinational tech companies that appear unhappy to be regulated. 

But for some of the journalists who joined us, a polluted information ecosystem is not the biggest problem. For Victor Mambor, the Editor-in-Chief of the Papua-based media outlet Jubi, a significantly more confronting challenge is personal safety.

In October 2024, Jubi’s offices were attacked – and not for the first time. Vehicles outside were set on fire by Molotov cocktails. Victor and his crew are safe and we’re keeping in touch with him.

In this episode of Double Take, South Asia media expert Kean Wong also asks the editors who came to UTS what they took away from the forum, what they're doing to stave off financial ruin in a media world hard hit by Covid 19, how they would like to see digital platforms regulated whilst maintaining freedom of speech, and finally, what they're doing to capture new audiences – especially Gen Z.   

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