Introduction

Today in states across Asia, a range of different forms of violent political transaction operate through the mass media. This includes separatist movements driven by various ethnic, nationalist and religious factors; revolutionary groups seeking to subvert the state; inter-communal violence; and terrorist groups pursuing a variety of national and regional objectives. The majority of these conflicts are indigenous in nature, involving national groups seeking specific national objectives, although the interconnections between combatant groups in different countries in Asia were progressively strengthened during the 1990s, partly as a result of the expansion of the al Qaeda network (Gunaratna 2003). The nature, origins and drivers of these conflicts are often very different, but what each type of conflict has in common is the role that the media plays as an interlocutor between the government, combatants and society.