BANGKOK (AP) – Myanmar’s military-controlled government is cracking down on media coverage of protests against its takeover, while journalists and ordinary citizens strive to inform people inside and outside the country about what is happening.
Authorities raided two media companies on Tuesday, arresting two people. On Monday, they canceled the licenses of five local media outlets that offered extensive coverage of the protests and tried to fully withdraw such freedoms a decade after the country began its shaky transition to democracy.
The government has detained dozens of journalists since the February 1 coup, including Thein Zaw of The Associated Press.
The repression comes because the military has increased violence against mass protests. Independent media reports continue to provide important information about arrests and shootings by troops in cities across Myanmar. And they use other platforms to spread their reports like social media.
Here is a look at the media situation in Myanmar:
HOW DOES THE GOVERNMENT EARN NEWS?
Authorities raided the offices of Kamayut Media on Monday, arresting co-founder Han Thar Nyein and editor-in-chief Nathan Maung. According to a member of Han Thar Nyein’s family, witnesses said seven military trucks were involved in the raid. The army also raided the offices of Mizzima News. A day earlier, five local stores – Mizzima, DVB, Khit Thit Media, Myanmar Now and 7Day News – were banned from broadcasting any media platform or providing information after their licenses were canceled, MRTV reported. Everyone discussed the protest commands extensively and regularly posted live videos. Myanmar Now, an independent news service, reported that police broke down the door of his office on Monday and confiscated computers, printers and parts of the news service’s server. It quoted unnamed witnesses and showed a photo of CCTV recordings. But it is said that the office was vacated at the end of January. The government has arrested dozens of journalists, including Thein Zaw of The Associated Press. “This ban is clearly part of a much larger military junta attack on press freedom and the ability of journalists to do their jobs without harassment, intimidation or arrest,” Human Rights Watch deputy director Phil Robertson said in a statement. statement said. Tuesday. The International Press Institute, which promotes press freedom, strongly condemned the move and urged the international community to ‘strongly resist the ongoing assault on independent media’.
HOW do media outlets react?
Myanmar journalists are at risk of being killed or jailed for doing their job, and Swe Win, editor-in-chief of Myanmar Now, said the attack showed the government intended to show press freedom without tolerance. “What is certain is that we will not stop covering the enormous crimes committed by the regime throughout the country,” he said. Mizzima, another independent, privately owned local news agency, posted a statement on its website saying it “continues to fight the military coup and for the restoration of democracy and human rights” through various online and multimedia platforms to use. Other stores also reported protests on Tuesday. Some media already have experience abroad.
WHICH MEDIA IS STILL LEGALLY WORKING IN MYANMAR?
Myanmar is apparently returning to a situation in which the officially approved media is completely state-controlled, as before August 2012. Even before the coup, under the military-dominated, quasi-civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, reporters faced arrest and harassment due to reporting on sensitive topics such as abuse of his Rohingya Muslim ethnic minority. Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were sentenced to seven years in prison but later forgiven for trying to investigate a massacre of Rohingya citizens. Myanmar ranks 139th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Reporters Without Borders Index by 2020. Journalists have often been prosecuted for online defamation. The English-language Myanmar Times has announced that all publications have been suspended for three months from 21 February. The move came after many of the staff stopped protesting over the newspaper’s agreement to follow a junta order not to use the word ‘coup d’etat’ to mark the military takeover. Another state-run newspaper, the Global New Light of Myanmar, is still publishing. Other state media include the Myanmar News Agency and Myawaddy TV by the Army.
WHAT IS THE EXTENSION OF LONGER TERM?
To suppress all reporting, it will probably be necessary to completely eliminate all internet and satellite communications. Apart from the legal and human rights implications, this would be a major setback for the country’s economy. Myanmar’s businesses are heavily dependent on the Internet and digital platforms such as Facebook, and have developed rapidly over the past few years after decades of relative isolation under previous military governments. So far, the junta has chosen to close internet links at night, obstructing such communication but not stopping it completely. As modern businesses rely heavily on the Internet and the free flow of communication and information, the actions of the military are damaging a business and investment environment that has already been devastated by the coup and its aftermath.