29.03.2012
Bowing to pressure from the international community, Burma’s government will allow journalists unprecedented freedom to cover this Sunday’s by-elections.
The polls are significant as they mark the return to electoral politics of Aung San Suu Kyi, the iconic leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) who, until November last year, had been detained in one way or another for almost 20 years.
The move is part of a new wave of media freedom in a country newly emerged from some four decades of military dictatorship.
“It’s a real difference,” said Thiha Saw, 60, chief editor of weekly Open News.
In the 2010 general election, journalists and diplomats were shepherded around polling stations in buses. This time, they are free to visit as many as they wish — and independently.
Burma’s media, though, remains hampered. The local media is short of resources and ethnic minorities are hardly visible in the profession.
Reporting on ethnic conflict in the north — considered one of the biggest threats to stability and reform — is still off limits for the local media. So is any in-depth reporting on the politics of Buddhist monks, considered sensitive since the failed monk-led ‘saffron uprising’ of 2007.
While there are too few seats up for grabs for any change in government, a win for Suu Kyi, say analysts, would be hugely symbolic of her inclusion in the political process. It is also key to satisfying Western powers who will then consider lifting remaining economic sanctions.
There were 48 by-elections originally scheduled for April 1: 46 in the two Houses of the national legislature and two in regional Parliaments. But voting in three constituencies in Kachin state has been postponed over security concerns, and an NLD candidate has been disqualified, so the NLD can win no more than 42 seats in the 1,158-seat legislature.
Self-exiled Burmese journalists, who wondered if they would ever set foot in their own country again, have been welcomed back on visits and invited to meetings with ministers.
Ritual condemnation of foreign media is a thing of the past, and visas are now being granted to foreign journalists. There has been talk of abolishing pre-publication censorship, and President Thein Sein is said to be interested in setting up a Press Council.
Last week saw a two-day conference in Yangon, organized by Unesco and Myanmar’s Ministry of Information, on a new law to regulate the media in a freer environment. Previously, the media operated under government ownership or stifling controls.
In his opening speech, Information and Culture Minister Kyaw Hsan said: “We have made a resolve for the success of our ongoing media reforms, and international cooperation is very much important.”
In a test of the boundaries in the new environment, earlier this month, the weekly The Voice was sued by a Ministry of Mines official for citing a report by the Auditor-General’s Office noting misappropriation of funds and accounting irregularities.
Whether flirtation with media freedom blossoms into a honeymoon depends on a new law on print media, due to be presented in Parliament in August. New laws on broadcast and electronic media will also be required as the country opens up.
Thiha Saw, who was a panelist and rapporteur at the conference, said: “Our job is to push the liberals (in the government) to an irreversible point.”
And until the regulatory environment becomes clear, Burma’s exiled media still has a role, he told foreign journalists at a panel discussion in Bangkok on Monday. “There are still lots of things we can’t report,” he said.
The polls are significant as they mark the return to electoral politics of Aung San Suu Kyi, the iconic leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) who, until November last year, had been detained in one way or another for almost 20 years.
The move is part of a new wave of media freedom in a country newly emerged from some four decades of military dictatorship.
“It’s a real difference,” said Thiha Saw, 60, chief editor of weekly Open News.
In the 2010 general election, journalists and diplomats were shepherded around polling stations in buses. This time, they are free to visit as many as they wish — and independently.
Burma’s media, though, remains hampered. The local media is short of resources and ethnic minorities are hardly visible in the profession.
Reporting on ethnic conflict in the north — considered one of the biggest threats to stability and reform — is still off limits for the local media. So is any in-depth reporting on the politics of Buddhist monks, considered sensitive since the failed monk-led ‘saffron uprising’ of 2007.
While there are too few seats up for grabs for any change in government, a win for Suu Kyi, say analysts, would be hugely symbolic of her inclusion in the political process. It is also key to satisfying Western powers who will then consider lifting remaining economic sanctions.
There were 48 by-elections originally scheduled for April 1: 46 in the two Houses of the national legislature and two in regional Parliaments. But voting in three constituencies in Kachin state has been postponed over security concerns, and an NLD candidate has been disqualified, so the NLD can win no more than 42 seats in the 1,158-seat legislature.
Self-exiled Burmese journalists, who wondered if they would ever set foot in their own country again, have been welcomed back on visits and invited to meetings with ministers.
Ritual condemnation of foreign media is a thing of the past, and visas are now being granted to foreign journalists. There has been talk of abolishing pre-publication censorship, and President Thein Sein is said to be interested in setting up a Press Council.
Last week saw a two-day conference in Yangon, organized by Unesco and Myanmar’s Ministry of Information, on a new law to regulate the media in a freer environment. Previously, the media operated under government ownership or stifling controls.
In his opening speech, Information and Culture Minister Kyaw Hsan said: “We have made a resolve for the success of our ongoing media reforms, and international cooperation is very much important.”
In a test of the boundaries in the new environment, earlier this month, the weekly The Voice was sued by a Ministry of Mines official for citing a report by the Auditor-General’s Office noting misappropriation of funds and accounting irregularities.
Whether flirtation with media freedom blossoms into a honeymoon depends on a new law on print media, due to be presented in Parliament in August. New laws on broadcast and electronic media will also be required as the country opens up.
Thiha Saw, who was a panelist and rapporteur at the conference, said: “Our job is to push the liberals (in the government) to an irreversible point.”
And until the regulatory environment becomes clear, Burma’s exiled media still has a role, he told foreign journalists at a panel discussion in Bangkok on Monday. “There are still lots of things we can’t report,” he said.
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