Law and ethics in the Asia-Pacific region

This chapter gives a broad sweep of the space for journalism ethics in the Asia-Pacific region. It observes that press freedom is correlated with other human rights. This suggests that the political and cultural context is important for press freedom. In the Asia-Pacific, the space available for the application of ethics is rather limited because of the strong presence of government regulation. And even in that limited space, regulations can be enforced by governments to restrict media freedoms further. The author notes the pressures to do the unethical from political and financial sources, and the lowering of the ethical firewall, as forces behind unethical action. The chapter then explores the possibility of a set of ethical guide-lines for the Asia-Pacific, finding that such guidelines would have to be culturally compatible, accommodating religious concerns as well. The chapter concludes that there are grounds for optimism that media will move toward being more ethical. There is the availability of "accountability technology" that surfaces false claims. There is also the desire of consumers for more reliable and trustworthy media.