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This article examines the ways in which populist president Rodrigo Duterte has managed and controlled the Philippines media since his election victory in 2016. Existing literature has pointed to the important role the media has played in electing and sustaining the popularity of Duterte, but have not examined the role of 'media elites'. Through personal interviews with media owners and others in Manila, this empirical research provides insights into the challenges facing the contemporary Philippines media, in particular those media elites whose companies criticise his administration. While Duterte – like most populists – claims to be challenging powerful 'oligarchs', in reality his administration has cracked down severely against some media elites and has nurtured coercive relationships with others. The result is a landscape where media elites are unable to coalesce around media freedom. The research provides relevant findings supporting global literature on the role of populists in enabling greater crackdowns on the mainstream and independent media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antje Missbach, Troubled Transit: Asylum Seekers Stuck in Indonesia Singapore: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, 2015. 289 pages. Soft cover, $29.90. isbn: 978-981-4620-56-7. THE PHENOMENON OF transit migration is a growing concern [...]

This article examines Australian press coverage of the Indonesian killings of 1965-66, and considers its legacy for the historical consciousness of events in Indonesia. The Indonesian killings of 1965-66 occurred on Australia's doorstep, at a time when the Cold War dominated the front pages of Australian newspapers. By examining articles from one of Australia's leading newspapers, The Sydney Morning Herald, we show that press coverage of the killings was both limited and distorted. Comments made by correspondents reporting from Indonesia at the time suggest reasons why this was the case. In the rush to write a 'first rough draft of history', the killings in Indonesia were treated as background to the story of leadership change in Jakarta and the defeat of Communism.