Thailand
Of 185 cases, most are based on the “content” on the internet such as defamation, fraud, lèse majesté and others. These cases are offences under section 14-16 of the CCA, and 128 cases fall under this category. 45 cases are related to the “system” such as unauthorised access to computer systems, conducting fraud using a computer system, and dissemination of unlawful computer programmes. These cases are offences under section 5-13 of the Act. In 12 other cases the researchers have no specific data.
Comparison of the Situation, Law, and Online Media in Other Countries
When we compare the use of laws and policies in other countries on freedom of expression and access to information on the internet, we found that in Malaysia, there is no specific law directly related to online media. But governments can interpret certain existing laws to cover internet users. For instance, during a state of emergency, the executive has the power to pass laws that prohibit the discussion of issues related to citizenship and sovereignty. There are also laws related to confidential matters of the government, the Internal Security Act, and laws related to rioting.
In China, for the security of the Chinese government and Communist Party, people can make virtually no comment or criticism of the government. There are policies and laws that prohibit the right to freedom of expression and systematically control the media through the monopoly of telecommunication services. There are regulations that require internet users and website creators to monitor content as well as having software to prohibit full access to information. In Germany, apart from laws protecting children and youth from pornography, the dissemination of extremist right and left wing ideology and unauthorized gambling are unlawful. However, the laws related to these issues are very specific and are not written in a broad manner. The court can be requested to investigate the use of state power on these matters.
For the United States, there are high levels of freedom in online media especially with regard to political opinion. There are, however, two limitations which are: 1) the protection of children and youth from pornography and 2) the fear of terrorism. The government has regulations for surveillance of online information which includes specific laws to block websites and arrest large numbers of suspect.
Singapore’s Regulation of Online Media
Singapore recently announced a move to extend its regulation of local media to cover Internet news websites. The regulation came into effect on 1 June 2013, and will require all websites that report on Singaporean news to be licensed in the same manner as other traditional media in the city state, such as TV, radio and newspapers.Development Authority (MDA), the government statutory board which governs broadcast content in Singapore, stated that a site would require a license if: (i) it reports at least one article per week about Singapore – i.e. a site running any news, intelligence, reports of occurrence, or any matter of public interest, about any social, economic, political, cultural, artistic, sporting, scientific or any other aspect of Singapore in any language – over two months, and (ii) has more than 50,000 unique visitors each month, over two months. Websites will also require a ‘performance bond’ of SGD50,000 – small change to the big media players, but a sharp prohibition for small and medium enterprise (SME) players.
Philippines
Electronic media: Internet
The Philippines was linked to the Internet only in March 1994, when the term Internet was already a byword in Europe and the United States. Much of the credit for this goes to the. Philippine Network Foundation (PHNET), a group created with the support of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). The original members of PHNET were the University of the Philippines Diliman, University of the Philippines Los Baiios, Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle. PHNET set up the countrywide computer network in two phases. Phase 1 began in July 1993 and linked DOST, UP Diliman, UP Los Baiios, Ateneo de Manila and De La Salle University. Phase 2 expanded the network to twenty members, including the University of Santo Tomas, University of San Carlos, St. Louis University, Xavier University, and Industrial Research Foundation.
In 1996, two years after the introduction of the Internet, the Philippines had an estimated 40,000 Filipinos using it. The number grew to 2,000,000 in 2000, and to 7,820,000 in 2007. About half of the Internet users are in Metro Manila where only 13 percent of the population lives. The fast increase in the number of Internet users could be attributed to the increase in the number of commercial Internet Service Providers, the rise in telephone penetration, the lowering cost. of personal computers, increase in computer literacy, and greater affordability of Internet access. Although telephone penetration was low for a long time because of the monopoly by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Internet Service Providers (ISP) together with other entrepreneurs put up shared facilities and networked computers typically hooked up via dial phone lines to ISPs, commonly referred to as Internet cafes. Most of the slow dial phone Internet connections were eventually replaced with broadband connections in a few years.
Today there are as many as 5,000 Internet cafes in the Philippines, according to industry estimates. They are patronized mainly by students and most of them are located outside Manila. Through these Internet cafes, Internet access is made more affordable for students and young people. As of 2006, the Philippines had more than thirty known online news publications, although some had been inactive for some time. This figure includes only those that provide news as their main service, ranging from online versions of print newspapers to online daily newspapers, online weekly newspapers, online news magazines, and online newspaper-television joint ventures. Many of them are based in Metro Manila; the others are in the provinces. INQ7.net, a joint venture of a television network (GMA 7) and a major national daily (Philippine Daily Inquirer), claims the biggest readership.
Challenges of Online/Multimedia Journalist
Because of online media, journalists from traditional media outlets had to resort to asking online media sources to confirm that a news event had actually happened. Journalism really plays a big role in human’s life. Journalism is can be done in different ways, but as of the moment, one of the most popular journalism is the online because it is the easiest and efficient site that can disseminate information’s. But there are still challenges that online media journalists are facing and one of it is the accuracy. Because of the limited time given to them, the posted news has something to do with the true information’s because as we all know, fake news has been already gathered around the world and if the information that was posted online isn’t true, then it can be considered as fake news. One more challenges that online journalist encounters is the bad comments that their readers will give to them. Because of online, people are free to give comments or opinions about the thing that they red. Because of the bad comments that readers gave, it can affect the image of the journalist and especially their work. Bad reviews can be the reason why people will no longer be interested on the site.
But there still can be solutions regarding on the challenges of the online journalist and one of it is the connections. In order to have more relevant news, the journalist should have his/her connections. The journalist should be friendlier on his/her source in order to have complete information. Second is the journalist should limit himself/herself on adding opinions regarding on the topic. The journalist should also know to write a good and eye catching article because people are not just only after the facts that contains the article but also on how to write creatively.
Site Title 