Media in Laos

This chapter discusses the media and social media landscape in the Lao PDR. It begins with a historical overview of the party-state’s ‘traditional’ media apparatus: print, loudspeakers, radio, television, film and cinema. It then examines the rise of digital technology and social media and its impact on contemporary state-society relations. In its multifaceted sum, this chapter argues that while fear and (self-)censorship are very real and inhibiting factors, it is an oversimplification to reduce the Lao government’s stance on the media and social media solely to repression and control. Rather, and buoyed by nearly 50 years of (nominally) Marxist-Leninist rule, there is a fundamental tension in official views on media and social media in Laos today. On one hand, media and social media are considered ‘mouthpieces’ ( kaboksiang ) of the paternalistic party-state. On the other hand, they are posited as an ‘arena’ ( vethi ) for ‘democratic’ expression. In recent decades, market mechanisms, technology and globalisation have blended with the party-state’s long-proclaimed pursuit of constructive criticism to tentatively (re)open spaces for an often underacknowledged plethora of voices. Ultimately, however, the notion that Lao media and social media must serve the LPRP’s rule and transformative agenda remains firmly entrenched.