6/11/22, 12:15 PM Myanmar’s military junta eliminates independent media | RSF an undertaking to stop covering the events taking place in Myanmar. The other, Mizzima News journalist Than Htike Aung, is still being held. Of the at least 45 journalists arrested since the coup, 25 have been released. The others are still held. Finally, the military authorities are now imposing drastic restrictions on access to the Internet, which was the only way to see reliable, independent reporting. Fixed-line Internet is disconnected every night, mobile Internet has been blocked for the past 11 days, and access to public Wi-Fi networks has been reduced for the past week, according to the Internet freedom watchdog NetBlocks. “The actions taken by the military junta to eliminate news pluralism and press freedom and to persecute those journalists trying against all odds to keep working have unfortunately succeeded and access to news and information has not been in such danger in Myanmar since its democratisation in 2011,” RSF editor-in-chief Pauline Adès-Mével said. “After targeting the newspapers, the military authorities led by Gen. Min Aung Hlaing are now blocking the digital domain in order to prevent Myanmar’s people from keeping informed about the military’s bloody crackdown on demonstrators. We urge them to immediately restore press freedom, restore Internet networks and stop targeting the journalists still daring to report in the field.” Hide or flee Thein Zaw, an Associated Press journalist held for more than three weeks, was finally released yesterday after charges were dropped against him. He had been violently arrested while photographing policemen during a demonstration on 27 February. Robert Bociaga, a Polish photo-journalist arrested nearly two weeks ago, was also released yesterday and is awaiting deportation. https://rsf.org/en/myanmars-military-junta-eliminates-independent-media 3/4