Shawn W. Crispin/CPJ Southeast Asia Representative
CPJ Senior Southeast Asia Representative Shawn W. Crispin is based in Bangkok, Thailand, where he has worked as a journalist and editor for more than 15 years. He has led CPJ missions throughout the region and is the author of several CPJ special reports.

Small attack on Thai newspaper has large implications
To head off rising tensions between supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and cartoonist Somchai Katanyutanan, who faces possible criminal defamation charges for critical comments he posted on his personal Facebook page, Thailand’s government has to make sure police fully investigate this weekend’s attack on Thai Rath, the country’s largest circulation daily newspaper. The government’s…

As censorship wanes, cyberattacks rise in Burma
Cyberattacks on news websites and apparent government hacking into journalists’ email accounts have raised new questions about the integrity of media reforms in Burma. The New York Times reported on Sunday that several journalists who regularly cover Burma-related news recently received warning messages from Google that their email accounts may have been hacked by “state-sponsored…
Thailand responds to CPJ about recent attacks on the press
Thailand’s Washington-based embassy issued an official reply to CPJ’s June 7 letter addressed to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva in which we expressed our concerns about the country’s deteriorating security situation for journalists. CPJ’s letter highlighted in particular our concerns about two journalists—Reuters cameraman Hiro Muramoto and freelance photographer Fabio Polenghi—who were killed while covering recent clashes between anti-government protestors and security forces.

Garcia-Esperat murder suspects back at work in Philippines
On the run for more than a calendar year from court-ordered arrest warrants, Osmeña Montañer and Estrella Sabay, the alleged masterminds in the 2005 murder of Philippine investigative journalist Marlene Garcia-Esperat, at left, are now out of hiding and back at work as senior Department of Agriculture finance officials, according to recent reports in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Report: Why haven’t Maguindanao gunmen been arrested?
International press freedom groups, including CPJ, have released a new, in-depth report into the November massacre of 30 journalists and two media support workers in Maguindanao province, Philippines. The 32-page document questions why roughly 100 gunmen believed to be involved in the election-related killings have yet to be arrested, and it emphasizes the need for…