Burmese Journalists Battle the Blue Pencil
OneWorld South Asia, Feb 15-2002
By Kalyani
Stifled by harsh junta rules regulating freedom of the press, journalists in Burma work under conditions rarely seen elsewhere in the world, according to a new report from a leading media watchdog. Members of Burma's media work under a "harsh regime of censorship, licensing, and threats," the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in its report, 'Under Pressure: How Burmese journalism survives in one of the world's most repressive regimes.'
The report's release Thursday coincided with a visit to the Southeast Asian country by United Nations envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro for an assessment its human rights record. To mark the occasion, Burma's military rulers released a group of political prisoners February 13, including journalist Myo Myint Nyein, who was among 12 journalists in jail for their work at the end of 2001.
"If you haven't been in jail you haven't been a reporter here," a retired Burmese newspaper-editor told the author of the report, Asia consultant A. Lin Neumann.
But Myint Nyein's release, said the CPJ report, would not put an end to the severe censorship imposed by the military regime's Press Scrutiny Board, an agency of the information ministry set up in the 1960s, which vets all publications.
The report pointed to media coverage of the role of opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party swept 1990 elections that were annulled by the ruling junta, and whose talks with the military have been subjected to a news blackout.
The talks were among a wide range of topics--from details on the September 11 attacks and AIDS, to floods and even soccer-match scores--which were considered off-limits for journalists because "Burmese censors are extremely wary of bad news," according to the report.
In addition, the public did not have access to Internet services, fax machines and cell phones had to be licensed, and few could afford satellite television.
"Burma is by far the most information-starved country in Southeast Asia. And yet the press refuses to die," said the report, which stressed that Burmese journalists continued to struggle against the restrictions, often resorting to long periods in exile, with clandestine news-gathering trips.
"Burma's journalists are reduced to working the margins, trying to put meaning between the lines of what they write, and waiting for better days," said CPJ. "Many had suffered harassment and jail time for their work. They risked their freedom just by talking to an international human rights organization."
After independence from Britain in 1949, there was a mushrooming of literary journals, popular dailies, and political newsletters. The situation changed drastically after a military takeover in 1962, when newspapers were nationalized and censorship applied. Today, Burma's four daily newspapers are published by a division of the country's information ministry. There are, in addition, some 50 private weekly and monthly magazines that work under junta supervision.