May 3 marks World Press Freedom Day, a day to commemorate the importance of freedom of the press.

This year’s theme, “journalism without fear or favour“, is particularly apt considering the world today, when reporting on the coronavirus has become “the new scapegoat for media censorship“. Around the world, journalists have gone missing or have been arrested for reporting on COVID-19 and government responses to the pandemic. On top of these events, journalists are also combatting the equally contagious infodemic and governments’ strategy of media capture to stifle editorial independence.

Despite new challenges in covering issues of public interest during the pandemic, journalists continue to persevere in reporting news that matters, without fear or favour, by adapting to the “new normal” through using more digital means to pursue leads and stories. They press on despite attacks on press freedom, harassment, scarce access to government information, and other challenges. With this, support and advocacy related to journalists and media freedom should be sustained during and after the pandemic.

In celebration of World Press Freedom Day, we shine the spotlight on the Coconet community’s journalists and media workers who are working in the Asia-Pacific.  We asked them to respond to one question, so that we in civil society can help them continue their work without fear or favour.

How can civil society support journalists to continue reporting without fear or favour, especially in the time of COVID-19?

Vicheika Kann, a journalist with Voice of America Cambodia and vice president of Cambodian Journalists Alliance, stresses the importance of advocating for journalists. “Civil society is a group of people who always stay behind journalists to report the sensitive stories without fear or favour. They have advocated for journalists rights and the truth for society. Especially the truth about COVID-19 epidemic.”

Zevonia Vieira, a journalist with Tafara.tl and president of the Timor-Leste Journalist Association, echoes Vicheika’s sentiments. Civil society, she says, should be “fighting against false or fake information about COVID-19 and defending human rights, especially the people affected by the coronavirus and during the lockdown.” In a separate interview, Zevonia also talks about her experience on the frontlines as a journalist and working parent.

With COVID-19, such use of emergency powers to silence media is not uncommon. One such state of emergency is in Thailand, which critics say has resulted in a clamping down of free speech. Similar decrees have been used to arrest critics in Vietnam and Laos.

“One of the most important things that civil society can do to help journalists to fulfil their mission is to monitor the governments’ decisions, to question and challenge any ill intent from governments in keeping journalist from information, from the truth,” she adds.

Aie Balagtas See, an investigative journalist from the Philippines, echoes Bui’s call for civil society to “oppose moves that muzzle free press and free speech”. She adds: “Defend the press, stand with them. Especially each time fake news peddlers or autocrats attack them. A society is not free unless the press is truly free.”

Aie also says civil society can “donate or subscribe to newspapers or media outlets. Don’t let lack of advertisers kill legitimate media firms, and if you can, pay for the news you consume”. Because the internet allows us to access information without payment, particularly on social media, newsrooms around the world have been struggling with getting audiences to pay for their content.

Kathryn Raymundo, media specialist with Internews Philippines, also stresses the need to validate journalists, whether through protecting them or paying for the news. She writes: “The best way to support journalism is to validate their good work — share the stories that made an impact, news that mattered to me and my community. I value independent, quality reporting. I subscribe to news organizations and promote their innovation, especially those of the local news’.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen journalists around the globe collaborate on collective resources to better their coverage of the pandemic.

She adds: “Finally, I advocate for free expression and press freedom. Our journalists are the most curious, hardworking, and passionate people I know. I hope people realize how important journalism is in our society. Media help make sense of what is happening around us.

“For keeping us informed, thank you.”

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked the degree of freedom available to journalists in 180 countries through the 2020 World Press Freedom Index. You may check out the rankings here. Learn more about World Press Freedom Day here.

Coconet is a community of changemakers in the Asia-Pacific dedicated to digital rights movement building in the region. Among the members of the network are journalists from the region who continue reporting with fear or favour.

Memes have become a fundamental aspect of Internet culture and the native language of social media. With their ability to easily convey a message and to be easily shared, they have been adopted by many movements, especially in the Asia-Pacific. Meme creation is driven by remixing and recontextualizing popular images to create interesting ways of distributing messages. Memes within the context of movements tend to be inherently political. Using political humour on the Internet can contribute to the creation and consolidation of a network of shared meanings which then reframes content from mainstream culture. Humour is a means for politics to be explored and understood.

Memes are a cultural product based on social relations, memories, historic, geographic and economic references as well as specific conjectural aspects. Memes that Internet users post, share, and like best are what they find interesting and humorous, reflect their impression of a topic and affect or sensitize them to a topic. Memes can allow non-elite Internet users to yield influence and make their voices heard. Through this, memes can become a tool for grassroots action in human rights movements as memes can be utilized to spread messages quickly.

To demonstrate this, eight political memes from Southeast Asia will be reflected on.

The meme above utilizes the popular Drake meme format known is Drakeposting. This meme typically has two images of the rapper Drake with one representing that he doesn’t approve of something and the other representing that he does approve. The Drakeposting meme is utilized here to criticize Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

This meme has remixed the Drakeposting format by removing the second image of Drake. This was done to convey a particular message. The absence of the second image of Drake is meant to imply that when one was critical of Indonesian brutal military dictator General Suharto, who was in power from 1967 until 1998, they would disappear in some manner.

This is an example of the Cat Drake meme format which has become a popular remixing of the original Drake meme. This meme is criticizing Indonesians for the ongoing conflict in West Papua where the people of West Papua are fighting for their independence from Indonesia. This meme is conveying that though Indonesians are against colonization such as the Dutch colonization of Indonesia, they reject the idea of the Indonesian colonization of West Papua.

This meme takes on a popular format of utilizing a topical cultural image with an overlaid humorous text to make a political statement. This image is of former vice presidential candidate Sandiaga Uno with the current vice president, Ma’ruf Amin, before a national debate showing him paying respect to his elder as culturally dictated by kissing his hand even though he is his competitor.

This meme also uses a culturally relevant image overlaid with text to make a political point. This image, however, has been photoshopped to add different shoes and a communist bandana utilizing the ‘ugly aesthetic’ often used in memes. This meme is commenting on Bong Go – a Filipino politician – stating that students go up into the mountains in the night to work for the communist party.

This meme is less focused on criticizing Duterte and more focused on making fun of him. Using humour this way is a common aspect of political meme culture. This meme was posted in a meme Facebook group soon after a report was released that Duterte had fallen from his motorcycle. Though some might see this meme and think it is supporting Duterte, this meme, in fact, does nothing of the sort.  A reading of or direct knowledge of Psalm 109:8 – “May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership” – is required to fully understand the humour within the multiple layers of context used in this meme.

This is a remixed version of the popular I Am The Senate meme. This meme was remixed to criticize Thailand Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. Prayut is not only the Prime Minister but he also serves as Thailand’s Defence Minister and head of the Royal Thai Police. Therefore, by repurposing this meme, it is able to criticize Prayut’s overarching control of the government that goes against the will of the people.

This meme comments on the Thai election and a secret parliament vote that resulted in the former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva quitting parliament after his party – the Democrat Party – voted to join the junta-aligned coalition backing Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s bid to become Prime Minister. The Distracted Boyfriend meme was remixed with photoshopped images to represent the feelings of the citizens. Here, the distracted boyfriend has the Democrat party logo photoshopped on him. He is looking back at another girl with the photoshopped face of Prayuth Chan-o-cha while his upset girlfriend has text over her that reads ‘us citizens’. Through this, a message of feeling ignored by the Democrat party is conveyed.

Carmen Ferri is the Asia policy and countering hate speech intern at the Association For Progressive Communications (APC) and is currently based in the Philippines. Carmen holds an MA in New Media and Digital Culture from the University of Amsterdam and an undergraduate in Liberal Arts: Cultural Studies and Sociology from Maastricht University. Her areas of interest include subculture construction in online spaces, online community building, issue mapping, and online political movements.