Looking Back and Looking Ahead The Press in Asean

This paper compares the situation of the press in Asia during the eighties and nineties. In, May 1988 a seminar was held in Jakarta on ʹPress Systems in Aseanʹ. Participants affirmed in their concluding report that the philosophy of the regional press systems is premised on an understanding of ʹholistic man, both rational and emotional, of man in his cultural context, rooted in his understanding of community, authority and religion or spiritual belief. Nearly a decade, later in 1996, an AMIC Seminar on ʹPress Freedom and Professional Standards in Asiaʹ provided an opportunity to review perceptions. While the focus of the two seminars was not entirely congruent, what is clearly discernible is an interesting shift away from justification of restraints on grounds of harmony at all costs to a critical evaluation of strengths and shortcomings and acceptance of the need for correctives.