Burma’s Press Scrutiny and Registration Board, or PSRB, recently allowed a number of private magazines that were previously published under licenses issued through the Office of the Chief of Military Intelligence, or OCMI, to re-register them in their owners’ names, according to journalists in Rangoon.

The editor of a weekly journal who was also summoned to the PSRB last Friday told The Irrawaddy by telephone on Wednesday that he was invited to apply for license under his own name instead of the current name of an OCMI staffer. He was informed that permission would be granted within one week.

The editor said that other formerly OCMI-linked journals and magazines have already registered in their owner’s names, including Wuntharnu, International News, First Eleven and Shwe Mandalay. A staff member at First Eleven confirmed by telephone on Wednesday that the journal is now being published under its owner’s name.

According to Rangoon journalists, there were about 30 journals and magazines published under licenses held by the OCMI or its staffers, mostly based in Rangoon. It was rumored that some were to be closed by the government following last month’s ouster of concurrent OCMI chief and prime minister Gen Khin Nyunt.

The Myanmar Times weekly newspaper, co-founded by Sonny Swe (the son of Brig-Gen Thein Swe the head of the OCMI’s International Relations Department who retired just prior to the palace coup), missed one issue in October. But Sonny Swe told The Irrawaddy at the time that it was because the publication was moving premises. 

A Rangoon journalist said that director of the PSRB Maj Aye Tun remains in charge of the board even though his deputy Capt Win Shein and a number of other staff were transferred. Both Aye Tun and Win Shein are believed to be former military intelligence officers.

The journalist claimed that all publications must now be submitted to PSRB for censorship. In the past, a number of journals were granted an exemption, including the Myanmar Times.