Burma Appeal for Foreign Journalist

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Subject: Burma Appeal for Foreign Journalists

If you are a journalist or writer, or member of a press organisation,
please take note of the following story on  Slorc's next propaganda
strategy as we confront the real problem of getting objective and
accurate news out of Burma. Clearly, some of the major international
news organisations have been severely controlled, and still must report
directly to General Khin Nyunt to obtain entry visas.
Rather than an internatoinal outcry, there is strange silence to these
increasing abuses of the liberty of the free press, by both the
repressed organisations and individuals, as well as those organisations
and individuals which still enjoy press privileges.

 If any of you have experiences that you would care to communicate on or
off the record, please send them to us here at EuroBurmanet. The
strictest confidentiality will be assured. Our intention is to find ways
and means to fight back for increased freedom of the press in Burma.

begin story text

JUNTA MULLS NEW WAYS TO HANDLE PRESS
13.5.97/BANGKOK POST
REUTERS

CANCELLED CONFERENCES STYMIE FOREIGN MEDIA


Burma's military government, which has cancelled its last two
monthly news conferences for foreign journalists, is mulling new
ways of dealing with the media, a government official said
yesterday.

"We're hoping to come up with a new method," the official said by
telephone from Rangoon. "We want to find new methods of updating
the flow of information." 

Last July, Burma heralded a new era of open communications when
the government's revamped information committee announced it
would hold regular news briefings at the beginning of each month
for local and visiting foreign correspondents.

The idea was to give journalists especially from foreign
organisations who were not allowed regular access to the country
easier access to developments in Burma, the ruling State Law and
Order Restoration Council (Slorc) had said.

Burma's official press regularly attacks the foreign media for
reports critical of the military government.

But the government cancelled briefings for April and May.

The official said on yesterday he was not sure if the briefings
would be cancelled altogether or if they would just be changed.

"We have been told that there is a lot of good information coming
from the briefings but sometimes it is old news," he said. "So we
are finding ways and means to change this."

Analysts and diplomats say the Slorc is unhappy with the
anti-government news that is published while foreign media are in
Burma for the monthly briefings.

The visits give foreign reporters virtually the only chance to
talk with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. She is usually
unreachable since her telephone line is often cut.

The monthly briefings have coincided with uprisings or unrest
related to the opposition movement.

end of story


Orchestrated Slorc press conferences are not the only means of access to
information. As Slorc increases its repression on the democratic forces,
further restrictions obstructing the free flow of information by the
foreign press, while favoring foreign press like Radio France
International, France's government radio service known for distributing
pro-Slorc stories, plays into the Slorc strategy of manipulation and
propaganda. 

To combat Slorc's onslaught against the free press, I suggest that
journalists and agencies organise in a joint-effort and lobby a joint
statement not to allow Slorc's repression and control of the press to
hinder, obstruct and endanger their profession in the performance of
their duty, and their responsibility to the media of the free world. 
Slorc's represssion of the foreign press is totally unacceptable and
cannot be justified or permitted to pass unchecked.

In solidarity,

Dawn Star
EuroBurmanet -paris
http://www-uvi.eunet.fr/asia/euro-burma/