Burma's censors have been ordered to block publication of interviews with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, according to editors of local journals and officials from the ruling regime's censorship board, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD).

The PSRD, which operates under the Ministry of Information, exercises draconian control over all publications in Burma, and has recently been told to step up its efforts to prevent privately owned journals from pushing the envelope in their coverage of Suu Kyi.

“This week we received requests from several journals that wanted to run interviews with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, but we are under orders from Naypyidaw not to allow them to go into print,” a PSRD proofreader told The Irrawaddy.

Since Tuesday, one month after her release from seven continuous years of house arrest, Suu Kyi has spoken privately with a number of reporters from leading publications and Rangoon-based foreign correspondents, according to local media sources. 

The sources said that many journalists in the former capital were testing the waters to see how far they could go in playing a role in the country’s recent political developments.

Officials from Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), said they appreciate the efforts of the Burmese press to cover the activities of the party and its leader.

Pe Myint, a well-known writer and the editor of the Rangoon-based weekly, Pyithukhit (“People’s Era”), told The Irrawaddy that efforts to cover news related to Suu Kyi were not about boosting sales, but a response to the PSRD's apparent relaxation of restrictions on covering political issues, noting that interviews with some other politicians have recently appeared in print.

Accustomed to working in an extremely restrictive media environment, Burmese journalists are careful about dealing with politically sensitive issues, but are also adept at getting around the censors.

Last month, however, nine Burmese publications were penalized for crossing the line in their coverage of Suu Kyi's release. Two journals, First Eleven and Hot News, were ordered suspended for two weeks, while 7 Days News, The Voice, Venus News, Pyithu Khit, Myanmar Post, The Snap Shot and Myanmar Newsweek were given one-week suspensions.

Burma currently has more than 100 privately owned publications, all of which are subject to PSRD scrutiny. After several journals produced special pages devoted to Suu Kyi’s release and put them over their front pages, the head of the PSRD, former army major Tint Swe, summoned the editors to warn them against further violations, without explaining what the alleged transgressions were.

The PSRD later sent them a list of 10 rules for editors and the sanctions they will incur for not respecting them. The penalties included confiscation of printed material; temporary or permanent suspension of publishing rights; confiscation of printing presses; and lengthy prison sentences under laws first introduced in 1962, when the military seized power.

“It confirms that Burma continues to be a paradise for censors. And the military will stop at nothing to ensure that no embarrassing news items slips through the net,” said Paris-based Reporters Without Borders and its partner organization, the Burma Media Association, in a recent press release.

The organizations said the intimidation directed at the publications “highlights the scale of the censorship and threats with which the privately owned media are confronted while trying to inform the public.”

Since then, publishers and editors of publications seeking to improve relations with Naypyidaw have reportedly warned reporters to stay away from Suu Kyi and her political allies, according to several sources close to those respective publications.

In an apparent attempt to distract readers from news about Suu Kyi, Popular News, run by Kalayar, daughter of ex-Lt-Gen Win Myint, Secretary 3 of the former junta, the State Law and Order Restoration Council, published a front-page story announcing that residents of Rangoon’s North Dagon Township had seen a UFO.

Meanwhile, the PSRD has forced all local journals this week to print a propaganda article titled “Don’t Trivialize the National Cause,” cheering the junta's seven-step road map to democracy and stating that holding a second Panglong-style conference with Burma's ethnic groups, as proposed by Suu Kyi and her political allies, is impossible.

It was the first time in three months that privately owned journals were ordered to print a propaganda article.