CPJ promotes press freedom worldwide and defends the right of journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal.
#Burma
Myanmar: One year under Suu Kyi, press freedom lags behind democratic progress
When Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her long-persecuted National League for Democracy party won elected office in November 2015, bringing an end to nearly five decades of authoritarian military rule, many local journalists saw the democratic result as a de facto win for press freedom.
Myanmar’s previous military regimes imposed strict restrictions on the media, including a pre-publication censorship system that left any news or commentary even remotely critical of the junta or its commanding officers on news publications’ cutting room floors.
For decades, Myanmar, previously known as Burma, was home to one of Asia’s most repressive media environments, where scores of journalists who dared to shirk the regime’s censorship orders–either under pseudonyms or by filing secretly to exile-run independent media–were sentenced to jail terms in abysmal and often brutal prison conditions.
While those restrictions started to lift under previous President Thein Sein, including an end in August 2012 to pre-publication censorship and the release in November 2012 of political prisoners, including many journalists, in a mass presidential amnesty, self-censorship endured because laws used to stifle free expression and punish dissent remained on the books. In 2013, CPJ’s report “Burma falters, backtracks on press freedom,” found Thein Sein’s military-backed, quasi-civilian government lacked a genuine commitment to a more open press environment.
Than Htaik Thu, an editor for the weekly Myanmar Post, and Hsan Moe Tun, a reporter for the paper, were charged in February 2014 following a defamation complaint filed by a military lawmaker, according to news reports. Thaw Naing, the top editor for The Myanmar Post, said that the individual said he had been misquoted in a January 2014 article about parliament sharing seats between civilians and military representatives, the reports said. Thaw Naing said the newspaper stood by the story.
The journalists plan to appeal the conviction, news reports said.
Aung Nay Myo, a freelance photojournalist, was arrested at his home in Monywa town on accusations of violating the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act, according tonews reports. Police officials searched his house, initially saying they were looking for drugs, then confiscated his diary, laptop, USB sticks, and closed circuit television equipment, the reports said.
The accusations stemmed from an altered image that Aung Nay Myo posted on his personal Facebook page. The image was of a movie poster about a 1971 battle between China-backed communist rebels and the Myanmar army, news reports said. The altered image superimposed portraits of current government leaders, including Army Chief Min Aung Hlaing, in a satirical manner, news reports said.
Now editor-in-chief at one of Myanmar’s top media properties, former hijacker Soe Myint reflects on his country’s journey, and his own, with Asia Society’s Tom Nagorski.
In late September, freelance journalist Par Gyi went missing in Mon State, eastern Burma while covering clashes between Democratic Karen Benevolent Army rebels and government troops.
Burma’s army shot dead freelance reporter Aung Kyaw Naing while the journalist was in military custody, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the journalist’s killing, the first in Burma since 2007.
Aung Kyaw Naing, a Burmese freelance journalist based in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, was reporting from an area held by the rebel Democratic Karen Benevolent Army before he was apprehended in the government-controlled township, reports said. Naing contributes news and photos to local Burmese publications Eleven Media, Yangon Times, and The Voice, according to local journalists and news reports.
Burma is holding at least nine journalists in jail, all of them sentenced to prison in court decisions this year, according to CPJ research.
Photo caption & credit: Than Dar, the wife of missing journalist Aung Kyaw Naing, speaks during a press conference in Rangoon on Tuesday. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)
“How many journalists must be imprisoned before the international community recognizes that Burmese President Thein Sein’s democratic reform program is a complete and utter sham?"
Four journalists from Burma, Iran, Russia, and South Africa will be honored with the Committee to Protect Journalists’ 2014 International Press Freedom Awards, an annual recognition of courageous reporting. These journalists have faced imprisonment, violence, and censorship.
