Description:
"In October 2008, the Myanmar censorship board suspended the publication of True News
weekly journal for two months as the journal had violated the censorship rules.
The censorship board, also known as the Press Security and Registration Board (PSRD),
penalized the journal for publishing a photo of child labour on its front-page and failing
to submit adequate information prior to publication.
The suspension was a big loss for the journal that had been launched a month previously.
It forced the journal to reorganize its editorial team and persuade its staff not to leave the
paper. The most unfortunate effect was that the journal lost the bulk of its readership.
Myanmar is one of the most highly censored countries in the world and it is not unusual
for private publications to face punishments such as the one experienced by True News.
Because of the strict nature of the censorship policy in Myanmar, private papers have to
take extra care not to break the rules.
In the authoritarian context, the rulers view the press as a servant of the state and the
press is completely dominated by the state, whereas in the context of Libertarian theory
the press is viewed as an independent institution that informs and entertains the general
public, discovers the truth, promotes democracy and performs the role of watchdog of
government accountability1.
The Myanmar government, like other authoritarian regimes, heavily censors publications
and penalizes the private press if they violate the censorship policy. Private newspapers
in Myanmar are either directly or indirectly affected by the government censorship
policy.
An interest group called the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has described the
censorship process in Myanmar as ‘arbitrary, intensive, and highly restrictive’2. Since
publications are still facing suspension and closure orders, publishing a newspaper in
Myanmar is considered to be a risky business.
In addition, journalists who are associated with exiled media groups are targeted and
arrested by the regime and given long prison terms. In September 2011, the nominally-
civilian government gave a ten-year prison sentence to twenty-one year old Sithu Zeya
who was working for the exiled media group Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), based
in Norway3.
According to a CPJ 2011 Special Report, Myanmar ranked among the ‘world’s five worst
jailers of the press for four consecutive years’4. CPJ said at least fourteen journalists and
media support workers were in prisons across the country as of September 2011, while
the independent media freedom monitoring group, Reporters Without Borders, reported
that seventeen journalists and three netizens were behind bars as of 20115.
The CPJ report said, “Journalists are typically charged with violating the country’s
censorship laws, among the strictest in the world, or engaging in “anti-state” activities
such as disseminating information to the outside world”6.
Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Index 2010 stated that Myanmar is one of the
world’s most repressive countries, together with Iran, North Korea and Syria, toward the
press and journalists.
It put Myanmar at 174 out of 178 in its annual Press Freedom Index as the government
imposed strict censorship rules on the press, restricted the freedom of journalists to report
and detained journalists.
Fortunately, True News has survived although it faced one of the most severe
punishments in PSRD history. However, The Action Times journal that was banned for a
month at the same time never appeared in the market again. In Action Times’ case, the
journal was suspended for ‘modification of the approved version’ when it was published7.
According to journalists interviewed, the suspension of The Action Times for a month so
financially threatened the journal that is was forced to close.
With a population of over fifty-eight million8 and total adult literacy rate of 92%9, the
press industry in Myanmar has a lot of potential to expand its market.
A report released by Reporters Without Borders in 2010 said Myanmar’s people are ‘big
media consumers’. The report was based on a poll of 2,950 people across the country
who were asked how the public get their news. The report said the rate of reading print
media in Myanmar (36 %) is ‘high for a developing country’.
Although the press industry in Myanmar has the potential to expand its market, many
scholars, rights groups and media professionals claim that the development of press
industry is hindered by the strict censorship policy.
Nwe Nwe Aye (2010: 56) claimed that “the circulation of state-owned daily newspapers
and private owned weekly journals combined remains relatively low compared to
countries in the region”. For example, whereas Thailand with a population of sixty-five
million published 3 million copies per day in 2007, Myanmar with fifty-four million
people published only 400,000 copies a day in 2005. The Press Freedom Index shows
that Thai media enjoys more media freedom than their counterparts in Myanmar.
Critics claim that censorship undermines journalistic work and the development of
private press industry as a whole. They say that media in an authoritarian context can
neither assume a watchdog role nor promote democracy.
1.1 Rationale of the study
The aim of the study is to access the impact of censorship on the private press industry
and journalistic work in Myanmar. While the study will include discussion of the
potential for more media freedom under the new government, it mainly focuses on the
media under the military government from 1988-2010.
This report is based on surveys and in-depth interviews with journalists, publishers and
executives from newspapers, journals and publishing houses in Myanmar. The survey
was carried out from August to September 2011, including 77 journalists who
represent over 10 private publications in Myanmar. In addition, in-depth interviews
with publishers were also included to study the impact of censorship on the
business of private newspapers. The interviews with publishers and experts were
conducted via emails and personal meetings throughout my fellowship period from
October 2011 to March 2012.
They were asked questions regarding censorship and how it impacts on their
reporting and creativity, as well as on the business of the newspapers. The study
focuses on Myanmar’s two biggest cities Yangon and Mandalay, which are home to most
of the media companies in the country. In addition, the study also included journalists in
Nay Pyi Taw, the new capital city where government ministries are located.
The paper tries to answer two key questions:
1. What has been the impact of censorship on journalistic work and the quality of
newspaper publishing?
2. What has been the impact of censorship on the private press industry?
1.2 Organization of the paper
This paper has been organized into five parts. Chapter 1 includes an introduction that
describes censorship in Myanmar and the rationale behind the research study.
Chapters 2 will emphasize the history of censorship, why governments use censorship
and how it evolves. In addition, a comparative study of the censorship of authoritarian
states such as Zimbabwe, Syria, and Vietnam will be presented.
Chapter 3 includes a brief history of print news media in Myanmar. This part will focus
on the period after independence and up to the present day. Because the British
introduced the newspaper to Myanmar, a brief background of colonial rule in Myanmar
will also be included to explain the history of the press industry in Myanmar. In addition,
newspaper history will be presented in order to compare the newspaper industry in the
colonial period, after independence, under the socialist regime and most recently, under
the military government.
Chapter 4 contains the major part of this study, covering the impact of censorship on
journalistic work and the production of quality newspapers. Moreover, it closely looks
into the relationship between the development of the private press industry and
censorship.
Surveys and in-depth interviews with nearly 80 reporters and editors will be included to
assess the impact of censorship on journalistic works and publishing quality newspapers.
Interviews with ten publishers and media executives will be described in order to assess
the impact of censorship on newspaper businesses. This section also explores the
censorship’s impact on revenue, readership and brand image of the newspaper. In
addition, this chapter will look at the prospect of media freedom and market potential.
Chapter 5 is the conclusion of the report. This chapter will present major findings and
give recommendations based on the findings..."
Source/publisher:
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and University of Oxford
Date of Publication:
2012-00-00
Date of entry:
2021-10-13
Grouping:
- Individual Documents
Category:
Countries:
Myanmar, Global
Language:
English
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Format:
pdf
Size:
484.66 KB (56 pages)
Resource Type:
text
Text quality:
- Good