While America Looks Away, Autocrats Crack Down on Digital News Sites

While America Looks Away, Autocrats Crack Down on Digital News Sites

the media equation

Independent journalism is on the defensive, from Hungary to Malaysia.

Steven Gan, the co-founder and editor in chief of Malaysia's most important political news site, says there is a good chance he will be going to jail on Monday.Credit...Rahman Roslan for The New York TimesJuly 12, 2020, 6:06 p.m. ET

Like many American media types, I spent a lot of time last week reading heated arguments about free speech. I was wondering if I, too, could count myself as a "veteran of the Twitter wars“ when Steven Gan distracted me by telling me about his car.

Mr. Gan, the co-founder and editor in chief of Malaysia's most important political news site, is leaving his hatchback at home on Monday morning and catching a ride to court with a colleague. That's because Mr. Gan thinks there's a good chance he'll be going straight from the courthouse to jail.

The nominal charge against him is contempt of court, a charge brought because his site, Malaysiakini, briefly hosted user comments insulting the judiciary. But his real crime, in the eyes of the government, appears to be his years of straightforward journalism, often chronicling the corruption of the faction that recently retook power in Malaysia.

"Power is