Freedom of the press in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand) faces serious threats at the advent of the 1980s, as governments promote development communication and redefine older concepts such as freedom and democracy. More often than not, officialdom has taken the previously meritorious notion of development journalism (reporting impartially on a nation's development) and has converted it into government say-so or commitment journalism, used in some cases to push ideologies and campaigns of governments or political parties. Simultaneously, leaders and their entourages have redefined goals of journalists, saying that they should be cooperative and guided by government, rather than be its adversaries. The same authorities point out that press freedom is not a priority of Third World nations which are trying to feed and keep healthy their growing populations, that actually press freedom is a Western borrowed value-a luxury that their nations cannot afford because of national security, or stability or public welfare, or ethnicity, or other problems. Apparently, even some of these leaders do not fully believe what they are espousing, for, at various times, they temporarily loosen their control of media, allowing some freedom of expression. The martial law government of the Philippines, for example, has at times encouraged a more lively press criticism (most recently before the 1978 election); however, once the government feels the slightest tinge of insecurity, the screws are tightened again.1