Media Backlash to Censorship Begins

[Admin]

While the international community praises President Thein Sein for his bold program of democratic reform, private weekly newspapers in Burma must now take greater care than ever with the stark return of censorship.

The relationship between journalists and the country’s Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD) turned sour on Tuesday when two weekly newspapers were banned indefinitely for alleged violations of the government’s draconian code of ethics.

Thura Myo, a journalist from a local news agency, told The Irrawaddy that he felt cheated as the Ministry of Information previously said the PSRD would be abolished by the end of June with the introduction of the new media law.

“Now with no new media law in sight and the suspension of the journals, they are showing that the PSRD is still in power to threaten us,” he said.

The Voice Weekly and Envoy journals were subjected to indefinite bans earlier this week for publishing a seemingly harmless story about a cabinet reshuffle, a satirical cartoon and translated excerpts from an ill-tempered interview that MP Aung Thein Linn held with the Chinese Southern Weekend journal.

Tint Swe, the PSRD’s deputy director-general, said the journals had violated “many PSRD rules” including the publishing of news reports that had not been passed by the censorship board.

In Burma, for half-a-century, every song, printed word, film or piece of art has had to seek government permission.

However, since Thein Sein’s government took office last year, there have been some relaxations on the media submitting stories is no longer a ritual and some weeklies have been publishing without prior approval.

An editor of a Rangoon-based journal, who asked to remain anonymous, said that her editorial team uses their own judgment when deciding whether to skip the submission process.

“If a story is nothing to do with government policy, we let it go without seeking permission.” she said. “If it’s something politically sensitive, we take it to the censorship channel. We have received warnings for skipping the screening process.”

She claimed that the PSRD is biased and has no consistency in its censorship. This leaves some papers feeling “betrayed” as a sensitive story might be forbidden in one journal but can appear in another.

“In the cases of The Voice and Envoy, I think they don’t want to be left behind. They have juicy news and know it would be censored if submitted. But they know it will be on the front page of others, so they might as well just take the risk,” she added.

The suspension of the two journals caused a shockwave throughout the Burmese media industry and renewed mistrust of the Ministry of Information.

“Now we are thinking ‘who’s next’ and ‘when’s my turn?’” said Tha Lun Zaung Htet, the editor-in-chief of Venus Weekly.

Thura Myo pointed out that the Ministry of Information has taken a sudden U-turn while other departments are moving forward with Thein Sein’s reform process.

“The Ministry of Home Affairs has changed a lot,” he said. “Contrary to what they did before, police stations are now ready to take our questions. They welcome us. But the PSRD is still living on the wrong side.”

FULL STORY: Irrawaddy

[KoKo]

Myanmar’s newly assertive press corps rallied Saturday against the suspension of two weekly magazines in a once unthinkable act of defiance against government censors.

Dressed in black T-shirts that read “Stop Killing Media,” about 60 journalists held a petition drive to collect signatures from members of the media. The petition, addressed to President Thein Sein, calls for an end to censorship.

Thein Sein has eased censorship as part of sweeping reforms after decades of repressive military rule, but some forms of control still exist, as authorities made clear by suspending the Voice Weekly and Envoy this past week.

The Press Scrutiny Board informed the two weeklies that their publications were suspended for violating regulations, but did not explain further.

Reporters at the publications said they suspected the suspensions were linked to articles speculating about the details of an anticipated Cabinet reshuffle. The flourishing of press freedom has brought serious investigative reporting as well as sensationalism, both of which make the government uncomfortable.

A day after the suspension, nearly 100 journalists formed a group called the Committee for Freedom of the Press, which organized Saturday’s rally in which journalists went to six media offices to gather signatures for the petition.

“News media are still being censored,” says the petition drafted by the committee. “The recent suspension of (the two publications) shows the threats media face and the negative signs that exist despite the democratization process of Myanmar.”

Journalists at the event called it historic.

“I’ve been working in media for 14 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Kyaw Naing, an editor from Voice Weekly. “We’ve never had the opportunity to speak our minds on press freedoms.”

But in a sign of the limitations that still exist, censors declared that information about Saturday’s event was not suitable for publication.

Thant Zin, chief editor of The Nation news weekly, said it had hoped to publish a story on its front page and sent a draft to the censorship board, as is required. They received a prompt reply.

“We were informed by the censorship board that this news is not allowed to be published,” he said.

Source: Washington Post

[Pear]

The suspension last week of a prominent Yangon-based newsweekly has raised new questions about Myanmar's commitment to press freedom.

The country's widely praised changes over the past year, as its leaders try to turn the page on decades of harsh military rule and attract more Western investment, have included a loosening of restrictions on the press and Internet as cornerstones. And the U.S. and Europe have responded to the changes by lifting some sanctions.

But Tuesday the government's Press Scrutiny and Registration Division suspended publication of the Voice Weekly journal for violating censorship rules.

Full Story: Wall Street Journal

[Poi]

Myanmar's government has agreed to lift suspensions on two weekly journals within two weeks, their editors said on Monday, just days after rare protests by journalists in two cities to demand more press freedom.

Editors of the Burmese-language Voice Weekly and The Envoy told Reuters that Myanmar's censorship board had informed them they could resume publishing by Aug. 18, without giving a reason for why the suspensions would be lifted.

Publication of the journals was halted indefinitely late last month, promoting an outcry among journalists who are enjoying freedom to publish not seen under the five decades of authoritarian military rule that ended in March last year.

The quasi-civilian government has loosened its grip on the press as part of a surprise reform drive. But some press censorship still remains and journalists pushing the boundaries of the restrictions have complained that suspensions are tantamount to intimidation.

Nearly 100 journalists rallied against the suspension in Yangon on Saturday and about 60 protested in the second-biggest city, Mandalay a day later, most wearing black T shirts saying "stop killing the press".

"The reason for lifting the suspension, I think, would be because of the rallies by the journalists," said an editor of another journal, who asked not to be named.

Monday's edition of the Messenger journal blacked-out its entire front page and cited a line from the constitution that guarantees freedom of expression.

The Nation journal went a step further, uploading on its Facebook page what it said was a censored copy of its front page story of the protest, which was covered with crosses in red ink.

It was not known exactly why the two publications were suspended. The Press Scrutiny and Registration Division, as the censors are called, said they had "violated rules and regulations", without elaborating.

The Voice is also facing a lawsuit, lodged by Myanmar's Ministry of Mines, after it published a report alleging graft by ministries under the previous government.

Myanmar's government has insisted it will scrap censorship as soon as a press law is promulgated, but journalists are concerned some restrictions will remain and recommendations for the legislation might be ignored.

The government's mouthpiece, the New Light of Myanmar, carried an editorial in its Sunday edition, apparently in response to the protests, calling for patience and reiterating that censorship would soon be abolished.

Source: Reuters

[Admin]

On 6 August (Monday), some most important news journals – such as The Messenger, The Nation and so forth - in Burma blackened their cover pages as a sign of protest in order to show the current rising discontentment with long-lasting limits on the ‘Freedom of Press’.

On the same day, officials of the Press Scrutiny and Registration Department (PSRD) met with publishers and editors of the Voice Weekly Journal and the Envoy Journal on Monday and gave explanation about the suspension of the two weekly journals for breaking the 44th directives of the Printers and Publishers Registration and Press Scrutiny and Distribution Central Supervisory Committee, The New Light of Myanmar said today.

The PSRD said during the meeting that it has suspended the two weekly journals just for two weeks as a punishment. The state-run newspaper said the two sides openly discussed the challenges and sought ways for coordination between them.

According to the PSRD, it met with the publisher and the editor of the Envoy Journal on 5 May, 2012, and the Voice Weekly journal on 18 June, 2012, and gave notice them as the journals break the rules to follow the directives of the central supervisory committee. The PSRD said it had no alternative but to suspend the two weekly journals for two weeks as they broke the instructions of the department again, the paper reported.

Several dozens of journalists wearing black T-shirts decorated with the slogan ‘STOP KILLING PRESS’ launched a protest in Yangon and Mandalay on Saturday to defy the suspension of two journals. It happened in the course of uncertainties since PSRD’s bureaucrats are returning strict draconian censorship laws.

Authorized persons of the PSRD said that after the new government took office, the Information Ministry laid down two policies regarding the publishers. The first policy is to adjust the rules and laws and directives of the 1962 Printers and Publishers Registration Act to be in consistency with the transitional period before the new print media law is ratified. The second policy is to draft the new print media law.

The officials of the PSRD clarified that corresponding to the first policy, it had changed its policy and relaxed four steps from June, 2011, to May, 2012 and it has currently worked to go into the fifth step.

As said by the state-run newspaper, the new print media law has been drafting with reference to the second policy. The Information Ministry has drawn the draft from July to December 2011 and sent the first draft to the Union Attorney- General Office in January, 2012. Then, the process went on with the second draft in April, 2012, the third draft in May, 2012, the fourth and fifth draft in June, 2012 respectively.

The PSRD officials said that the draft media law was sent to the President Office in June, 2012 and accepted the advices of the legal advisory group of the President in July, 2012. The Information Ministry and the Union Attorney-General Office are in coordination with each other to complete the bill. They confirmed that the bill will be introduced to the ongoing Parliament soon after seeking authorization from the President Office.

FULL STORY: Asian Tribune

[Saiua]

Myanmar has formed a 20-member Core Press Council aimed at protecting journalists, laying down professional ethics and settling media disputes.

It has been formed during the period before parliament prescribes a media law , according to a government announcement Friday.

The Core Press Council was set up with retired Supreme Court judge U Khin Maung Aye as chairman, retired principal of the UN System Staff College Aung Tun Thet and retired Myanmar language professor Khin Aye as two vice chairmen and U Ko Ko-Setmu Tekkutho as the secretary, reported Xinhua.

The council is tasked to safeguard freedom of press under law, to settle disputes and complaints from inside and outside the media and to act as a bridge among the people, the government and the press.

The announcement also said the council is to establish connections with the international organizations, handle disputes of newspersons in collecting and writing news, advise the government as to press affairs and coordinate with the government over matters related to press council among others.

The formation of the Core Press Council came more than a week after the Press Scrutiny and Registration Department temporarily suspended the publication of two private news journals - Voice and Envoy - for two weeks for allegedly breaking a directive of the Central Supervisory Committee.

The two suspended journals are expected to be able to resume publication by next week.

Source: Two Circles

[Admin]

Postcard from Burma: An Orwellian Flashback
When I was in Rangoon not long ago, reporting “The Burmese Spring”, nobody I met seemed more energized by the signs of political change than Burmese reporters. For decades, until Burma’s military dictatorship began to unwind itself last year, local journalists labored under a censorship system that was diligent even by the standards of autocracy: the Ministry of Information Press Scrutiny and Registration Department applied its red pen not only to the news but also to fairy tales and winning lottery numbers and horoscopes. Last year, Burma extended a four-year reign in the world’s top five jailers of the press, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. A newspaper editor once showed me how the censorship system worked. He handed me a four-inch stack of paper, his latest batch of rejections from the censors, each page marked with red-ink circles around offending phrases. A typical cut: a sentence comparing the architecture of the capital, Naypitaw, to architecture in Pyongyang. Also censored: the word “censored.”

So, it was difficult to know how much to believe, early this year, when the head of the scrutiny department, U Tint Swe, began proclaiming himself a dinosaur. “By this time next year,” he told Burmese journalists in March, “if you want to see censorship, don’t come to Myanmar, go to China.” (The Chinese Embassy complained.) The censor-in-chief seemed to be savoring the pose of liberator, telling a local paper in June, “When we have parliament and government working on democratic process, how can censorship work at the same time?” He was right, of course, not that anyone expected him to be the one to point it out. Even the building where the censors conducted their daily ministrations seemed to be poised for extinction. The sign outside had become so bedraggled that, when I paid a visit in April, the “o” was dangling off the bottom of “Inf rmation.”

And yet, in a reminder of how fragile Burma’s changes may be, the regime’s instincts for thought control are still firing erratically. In March, a prominent astrologer predicted that the regime would not grant full freedom of the press this year, and, sure enough, the scrutiny board promptly struck the astrologer’s remark from any press reports. More serious, the government let it be known that it intended to keep a tight grip on the press. More than two months after officials promised to close the scrutiny board, it endures, and two weeks ago it suspended the publication of two journals—the Voice Weekly and Envoy—for violating unspecified “rules and regulations.” Reported rebelled; they organized rallies against the suspension, and marched through Rangoon and Mandalay wearing T shirts that said “Stop Killing the Press.” To everyone’s surprise, the state backed down, agreeing to allow them to resume publication.

More trouble remained, however: last Friday, the government announced the formation of the Myanmar Core Press Council to regulate the press. It didn’t take long for the editor Thiha Saw to discover, as he put it, that the new body “looks like it will be replacing the tasks of the censorship board.” Reporters rebelled once more, and, once more, the state backed down, agreeing to postpone the formation of the council until an understanding can be reached.

Viewed one way, all this back and forth is strangely encouraging; under the old system, nobody would’ve been able to criticize the censorship board, much less take those objections to the street. But it is also a reminder that the new government has adopted more of the vocabulary of freedom than the spirit of it. In the Myanmar Times, in May, the outgoing head of the scrutiny department, U Tint Swe, outlined his image of the future, when publishers who “break our rules” will not be punished as criminals, but sued in civil court. And then, in a phrase that Orwell could scarcely have improved upon, he added, “All citizens have the right to write what they believe and think, but not necessarily to distribute it.”

SOURCE: New Yorker

[Saiua]

The weekend before last, black-clad Burmese journalists took to the streets of main city Rangoon to rail against the suspension of two local newspapers by the country's censorship board.

An estimated 300 protesters wore black t-shirts with the logo "Stop Killing the Press" after The Voice Weekly and The Envoy were suspended for not submitting stories for pre-publication scrutiny, a legacy of the bad old days of arbitrary rule that the government has said will soon be history.

The Voice Weekly was curbed due to an article about a rumored cabinet reshuffle, which it published without the censor's go-ahead. "It seems the censor board is flexing its muscles to remind everyone they are still there," said Sein Win, editor of Mizzima, another newspaper.

The protest and other related developments show how finely balanced emerging press and speech freedoms are in Myanmar. In a sense, that the protest was allowed to take place at all shows that Myanmar's reforms are giving people at least more leeway to publicly voice their opinions, and notably, the suspension has since been lifted, in response to the protestors.

But then, on Aug. 10, in another reminder that old regime ways die hard, the government announced a new press council, to be staffed by officials rather than journalists. This means the council will be a government entity rather than a self-regulating media body as is often the case with press councils in other countries.

Elsewhere, newfound freedoms have allowed old tensions between some of Myanmar's dozens of ethnic and religious groups to come to the fore.

Two steps forward, one step back

Before a civilian government took office in March, replacing the former military rulers, there was no chance such a protest would take place—or if it did the demonstrators would have been arrested, put through a show trial and possibly given lengthy, trumped-up jail terms.

The government is civilian in name only, as it is made up of mostly former army cadres and backed by various legislatures featuring almost 80 percent army or army-backed lawmakers.

Nonetheless, the government has made numerous changes over the past year, such as freeing hundreds of political prisoners and allowing free and fair by-elections on April 1, during which famous opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi won a parliamentary seat. Last week, the government even funded commemorations of the August 1988 student protests against the then-government, demonstrations that resulted in the army killing an estimated 3,000 civilians.

Prior to the recent, mostly informal relaxation of media freedom, the newspapers in question could not have run anything critical of the government or even published something as seemingly innocuous as a photo of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Changes still needed

But the latest suspensions are a reminder that the Burmese government can still apply the letter of the law if it so chooses and that draconian laws curbing freedom of expression remain on the books.

Shawn Crispin, Southeast Asia representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said, "We are also concerned that even if the media law includes liberal provisions, they will be trumped by the various other draconian laws on the books, including the Electronics Act, that have historically been used to threaten and jail journalists."

With press freedom curtailed in Myanmar in the past, many journalists fled abroad, running news agencies from Thailand or India. One, Kheunsai Jaiyen, heads the Shan Herald Agency, focusing on affairs in Shan state, a narcotics-producing region of Shan Herald bordering northern Thailand.

"For years we had to operate inside Shan state incognito," he recalled. "Now it is easier since the regime makes a show of opening up."

Some of Myanmar's exiled press, such as Mizzima, have opened offices in Myanmar in recent months, while others are mulling whether to establish a presence at home, pending finalization of the new press law, which will see the end of the government censors, according to the government itself. Kheunsai Jaiyen said, "We have yet to decide whether we will register officially in Burma."

New freedoms, new clashes

In June, deadly riots between Buddhist Arakanese and Muslims, mostly Rohingya, took place in Arakan in the west of Myanmar.

Many Arakanese and other Burmese regard the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, calling them "Bengalis" and worse. State-run media published the word "kalar" to describe the Rohingya, something akin to a U.S. newspaper using the word "nigger" in a news report.

With Internet access in Myanmar slowly expanding and—for those who can afford it or put up with glacial download speeds—access to the likes of Facebook and Twitter no longer blocked, freedom to say what's on one's mind has taken a nasty turn.

Burmese at home and among the millions of diaspora scattered across Southeast Asia, Europe and North America have taken to issuing diatribes about the Rohingya, with even former political prisoners under the old military junta taking to praising the current government and using ominous sounding nationalist and security justifications for supporting clamping down on what many describe as "so-called Rohingya."

In the meantime, the Rohingya issue has attracted the attention of Muslims overseas, including militants such as the Pakistani Taliban and Abu Bakr Basyir, currently in jail in Indonesia for funding terrorism. Online, doctored photos purporting to support unverified claims of a "genocide" of Rohingya have appeared, and Rohingya or foreign backers have fired out some splenetic pages and posts in turn.

"There are weaknesses in both domestic and foreign reporting. Most of the local news coverage is emotional, with a strong sentiment of patriotism," Sein Win said, hinting at the need for greater responsibility and balance in Burma's partly free press.

Source: World Press

[Poi]

The biggest challenge facing Myanmar is probably resolving long-standing ethnic conflicts and animosities. There has been an effort to reach out to some ethnic groups ... but overall the government continues to get bad marks in this area.

The international media spotlight has shone less on Thailand's neighbour to the west since the parliamentary by-elections that saw opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi take her place in government at long last. The news that does come out of Myanmar shows that even with the charismatic Nobel Prize winner leading the way, change is not likely to come quickly or easily. Instead, it will come in small steps along a path that is still largely determined by the same old status quo. An example is President Thein Sein's directive to public officials to disclose all assets and interests in accordance with a new law. This is indeed a step toward transparency, but the kicker is the information will likely not be made public.

It is also encouraging that Myanmar media now have more freedom to do their job. In the past it was difficult to find accurate news reports of the situation inside the country except in sources published by exiles outside the country, especially The Irrawaddy. Now local journals are allowed to report on issues which were off limits in the past, and last week it was announced that media outlets would no longer have to submit stories to the state censorship board for prior approval. However, there are still draconian laws in place, such as the 1962 Printers and Publishers Registration Act and the 2004 Electronics Act, and the government is persuing court action to silence media that have reported on subjects it deems sensitive. A court in Dagon Township is scheduled to decide on Sept 6 whether to proceed with a defamation case brought by the Ministry of Mines against The Voice Weekly over a report that said the Office of the Auditor General had uncovered evidence of corruption in that ministry and five others.

The biggest challenge facing Myanmar is probably resolving long-standing ethnic conflicts. There has been an effort to reach out to some ethnic groups, particularly the Karen, but overall the government continues to get bad marks in this area. The struggle in Kachin State between government forces and Kachin Independence Organisation soldiers has brought charges of atrocities and created a wave of refugees that the government seems unable or unwilling to do anything about. To complicate matters the Chinese government is forcibly repatriating ethnic Kachin who had sought refuge in Yunnan. Bill Frelick of Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused China of ''flouting its international legal obligations''.

HRW has also taken issue with the Myanmar government for failing to take proper action to settle the violence against ethnic Rohingya in Rakhine State. To his credit, President Thein Sein made an appeal for tolerance to the Myanmar people, saying, ''If we are sticking to endless hatred and revenge by killing each other, it's possible that the danger will be more widespread ...'' Later however, he made statements to the effect that Rohingya are not the country's problem because they are ''not an ethnic [group] in Burma''. However, on Aug 18 the government did announce the formation of a commission including religious leaders, artists and former dissidents to probe the causes of the violence and suggest ways forward.

Ethnic groups are also disproportionately affected by large-scale development projects. A case in point is the proposed Hatgyi dam on the Salween River, which would displace thousands of people, most of them ethnic Karen. The government's overtures to the Karen National Union are probably partly to facilitate the dam's construction. Seven dams are planned for the Myanmar portion of the Salween. A report from the group International Rivers released in June says: ''If the dams are built, the downstream effects stand to alter the lives of over half a million people.'' Yet there is little indication that the government of Myanmar has given this much thought.

To be fair, many countries with much longer and stronger traditions of democracy than Myanmar also struggle with issues of media freedom, ethnic strife, environmental responsibility and government transparency, but unless real progress is made in these areas Myanmar might return to its recent dark isolation. Myanmar's leadership is obviously sensitive to international opinion. While it is a matter of debate whether the democratisation of Myanmar is best encouraged by lifting or keeping international sanctions, it should be clear that international media attention should not be lifted.

Source: Bangkok Post

[Pear]

Myanmar's Committee for Press Freedom is gearing up for rallies ahead of next month's court decision regarding a major defamation case.

Police denied permission for the CPF to have its latest rally in front of Yangon's City Hall this week, saying the event would obstruct traffic.

The CPF rallies are in support of The Voice Weekly magazine which in March claimed the Office of the Auditor General had uncovered corruption in six government ministries, including the Ministry of Mines, The Irrawaddy news Web site reported.

Police refusal comes as a court in Yangon's Dagon Township last week said it would decide Sept. 6 whether to proceed with the defamation case against The Voice Weekly by the Ministry of Mines.

The Irrawaddy -- run by expatriate Myanmar journalists operating in Thailand -- reported that more than 30 journalists from local media were present to cover the hearing in Dagon Township. Many of the journalists wore black T-shirts with the words "Stop Killing Press" and black baseball caps with "Press Freedom" on them.

Kyaw Min Swe, editor in chief of The Voice Weekly, said both sides presented final arguments to the court last week.

The journal's lawyer, Win Shwe, said they would fight the case into an appeal if need be.

Immediately after The Voice made its allegations in March, Ministry of Mines officials denied the accusation in the state-run Kyemon newspaper, said a report by the Web site of the Democratic Voice of Burma, a non-profit Myanmar media organization in Oslo, Norway.

DVB said The Voice article cited a report submitted to the Public Accounts Committee by the Union Auditor General's Office. The report said half the shares for a copper mine in the northeast Sagaing region and owned the Ministry of Mines were sold to the military-owned Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings for $100 million.

The payment also was made by a "foreign company" thought to be Chinese owned, DVB reported.

A member of staff at the Voice Weekly told DVB that the publication has substantial evidence to back its claims.

The Voice also claimed the Ministry of Information had pocketed more than $2.5 million when it sold off government newspapers, the DVB reported.

CPF protests and trial of The Voice Weekly come amid the government's latest move to loosen media censorship.

Last week the press censorship board announced that it would end a 50-year-long requirement for pre-publication approval from the Press Scrutiny and Registration Department.

The move was welcomed by many media practitioners but more freedom is needed they said, including abolition of the need to submit their published articles to the PSRD to determine if publishing laws have been broken.

Thiha Saw, the editor of Open News Journal and Myanma Danna magazine, told Irrawaddy last week that some subjects including corruption -- something of which many of the country's top leaders have been accused -- will remain extremely sensitive for the government. Post-publication scrutiny is the PSRD's way of letting editors know the government is watching them.

Incurring the government's wrath could mean the withdrawal of a publication's license to print, a permit mandated under the Printers and Publishers Registration Act.

Source: UPI