Ban on CNN May Be Related to Haiti Coverage
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Burma

Ban on CNN May Be Related to Haiti Coverage


By WAI MOE Saturday, February 6, 2010


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MRTV-4, Burma's only provider of non-state television stations, has stopped broadcasting US-based news network CNN, possibly because of its extensive coverage of US troops involved in the Haiti earthquake relief effort.

“Since Feb.1, MRTV-4 has stopped broadcasting CNN,” said a housewife in Rangoon. “In the past, MRTV-4 cut Burma-related news, but now they've cut the news network completely.”

Sources in Rangoon said the operators of MRTV-4 decided to exclude CNN after Ministry of Information officials complained that the network's coverage of international humanitarian efforts in Haiti featured too many images of US troops.

According to its Web site, MRTV-4 is a joint venture between the Ministry of Information, Forever Group Co Ltd and Family Entertainment Group. Since it was formed in 2005, MRTV-4 has carried CNN as its only international news channel.

Until it was cut completely on Feb. 1, CNN was aired with a 20-30 minute delay to allow censors to remove Burma-related reports or any other international coverage deemed sensitive by the country's ruling junta.

Since coming under heavy criticism for its response to Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, the regime has been wary of reporting on similar disasters elsewhere in the world, particularly in cases where the US military has played a major role in providing relief.

The high death toll from Cyclone Nargis, estimated at around 140,000, has often been ascribed to the junta's reluctance to allow international aid workers into the country in the critical weeks immediately after the disaster struck.

Although Haiti also faced delays in the initial stages of the relief effort, these were mostly due to severely damaged infrastructure and the virtual collapse of the government in the impoverished Caribbean nation.
Haiti’s catastrophe is believed to have claimed between 100,000 and 200,000 lives.

In early May 2008, as some two million people were left homeless by Cyclone Nargis, the Burmese regime pressed ahead with plans to stage a national referendum on a Constitution it had drafted the year before, leaving victims of the disaster to fend for themselves.

With concerns mounting over the fate of survivors, the US, UK and France sent warships with relief supplies close to Burmese territorial waters.

Only after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon personally interceded at the end of May did the regime allow international non-governmental organizations to provide assistance in the cyclone-stricken Irrawaddy delta.

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Myanmar Patriot 4 UMPF Wrote:
13/02/2010
Kyaik-ka-san Wrote: 09/02/2010

"Than Shwe and stupid cronies think that by blacking out the media their crimes will be forgotten. They are a group of people disliked by Phaya, Taya, Thanga, Meebah and Sayar."
COMMENT: you plagiarized part of our message that was censored by The Irrawaddy.


Kyaik-ka-san Wrote:
09/02/2010
Than Shwe and stupid cronies think that by blacking out the media their crimes will be forgotten. They are a group of people disliked by Phaya, Taya, Thanga, Meebah and Sayar. Their lives are always associated with killing, corrupting, raping, telling lies and supporting drug trafficking. Five Precepts or Nga-Bha-Sila that TS and group never care about.

The Burmese people are cleverer than stupid Than Shwe and cronies. The powerful mass media and Burma VJ have exposed exclusively the ugly face of the junta globally as power abuser, torturer, monk killer, applying rape as a tool, child soldiers, forced labor, war crimes, drug producer, women trafficking, and unethical burglar (to name few examples).

As a result, Than Shwe surely will be a No. 2 sitting head of state to receive a second arrest warrant after al-Bashir of Sudan issued by ICC. Who will be the next from Burma? Maybe the chief of the USDA and members of Kyant-Phut who were stained with the blood of monks and peaceful demonstrators.

ukyawmya Wrote:
08/02/2010
Than Shwe does not want the people to know that US troops are helping the earthquake victims. So that the public may raise voice and set awareness regarding for the choosing of a new leader in the coming election.

Chandra Khanal Wrote:
08/02/2010
Than Shwe does not have courage to see good things happen to the people,like in the Haiti earthquake victims rescue, that's why he blocked the CNN.

Vantlang Mualcin Wrote:
07/02/2010
Blocking CNN by the SPDC proves again that Than Shwe acknowledges his wrongdoings to the victims of Nargis. What kind of leader is this dictator? He must rather turn over the ruling power to the citizens instead of pulling the tiger's tail longer. He will lose it sooner or later anyway.

Ngal Hriang Wrote:
07/02/2010
Cutting off CNN may not stop the citizens of the Union of Burma to receive Than Shwe's crookedness. What a shame!

Kerry Wrote:
07/02/2010
The Burmese generals do not want the Burmese people to see that the whole world knows what is happening in Burma.

The Burmese people know the Generals want them dead.

Cutting off the internet does not change the fact that Burma will be freed, that there will be war crimes tribunals, but first Burma must be released by the world from this horror.

If the generals were wise, or intelligent, they would ask Aung San Suu Kyi to negotiate with the world for them now. Even a single good deed, one less rape or murder, would help their case.

China has enough problems, as it too has been exposed to the world. It does not need to side any further with attempted genocide.

Andrew Bowe Wrote:
07/02/2010
I feel that US CNN International is important to the Burmese people who care that the Junta removes Burma-related reports from it. The Burmese should be able to have forigeners in their homes

Soe Thane Wrote:
06/02/2010
No, it's because of the new EU sanctions on Burmese media entities. It meant that CNN had to drop its contract with Myanmar-TV.

I'm sure that's going to help bring about democracy in Burma

nooone Wrote:
06/02/2010
typical of ostriches.

Robert Wrote:
06/02/2010
It is better anyhow to show Thai TV, with real Thai soldiers sending refugees to their death...

Confused Wrote:
06/02/2010
Gosh, no wonder they can't think anything useful and productive for the country! Little brains they have are exhausted on such absurdities!

Myanmar Patriot 4 UMPF Wrote:
06/02/2010
Burmese people should understand the immense power of mass media, the mind benders. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the SPDC insofar as domestic policies are concerned, censorship of any media, domestic or alien, that can harm the state and society of Burma is fully justified.

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