PRESS FREEDOM UNDER SIEGE Effects of market forces, government controls and journalism practices

The right to freedom of information and responsible journalism are fundamental to economic and human development. However these concepts are applied differently from country to country. It can be implied that press freedom is continuously under siege through either subtle or more emphatic means of pressure. The media also function as gatekeepers. The very first underlying cause of this siege is rooted in the process of news production in which we find concepts that determine how the news is "manufactured" prior to publication. In Asia, despite its remarkable economic development, the press continues to be controlled by governments' approach to journalism as a tool of "social responsibility" or to foster governments' objectives.