Burma: The Censored Land
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Kyaw Hsan, who assumed his post after former Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt was unceremoniously sacked in 2004, has proven to be a savvy manipulator of the media.
Besides winning the cooperation of a select group of editors, he has held press conferences and allowed reporters to cover topics which were previously off limits, such as natural disasters, public health issues and poverty.
The privilege of reporting on these subjects was at first limited to The Myanmar Times, but has since been extended to other publications run by editors close to the information minister.
Despite these limited measures to ensure a more compliant press, journalists say they still must tread carefully when touching upon sensitive issues.
“When you report on something serious, they watch you very closely,” said a senior editor in Rangoon. “If they think you are being critical [of the regime], you will be blacklisted. That’s the end of your career, because then they won’t allow your name to appear in print anywhere.
“This has been the death of many journalists,” he added.
The profession of journalism has always commanded real respect in Burma, a country that has traditionally valued literacy and the power of the written word. And with the advent of information technology, young Burmese are more likely than ever to see the media as a means of addressing important issues.
In January, a number of “citizen journalists” witnessed an attempt by municipal authorities at Rangoon’s Thiri Mingalar Market to turn over four jobless youths to an army sergeant for forcible recruitment.
These witnesses immediately contacted the Burmese-language services of the BBC, Voice of America and the Democratic Voice of Burma to report what they saw. In a rare instance of successful intervention against an illegal act committed by the authorities, the boys were released after reports of their arrest were broadcast.
Increasingly, ordinary Burmese are learning that they have an active role to play in reporting the news. No longer content to simply listen to shortwave radio stations based abroad, they can now tell their own stories and hear them as they are relayed to the rest of the country and around the world.
Although the generals pulled the plug on the Internet at the height of their crackdown on the September protests, it was not before the country’s IT generation had a chance to flex its muscles and demonstrate that the flow of information can no longer be micromanaged to suit the powers that be.
Armed with cell phones and digital cameras, and with access to the Internet, a determined handful of Burmese are communicating with each other and the outside world as never before.
In their blogs and chat rooms, and through the exiled media, they are demonstrating the same resourcefulness that has confounded the country’s mind-control experts for decades.
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