4. Discussion 4.1. Professionalism As outlined in Table 1, Voltmer’s theories identify factors closely related to political parallelism as the main obstacles impeding journalistic professionalism during liberalization. Journalists eschew their neutral watchdog role to become opposition activists (bottom–up liberalization) or guard dogs protecting the interests of their economic and political paymasters (top–down liberalization). The media in exile that are a feature of externally-influenced liberalization are also far from neutral, framing their reports to undermine support for the existing regime. Undoubtedly, reporting in the Myanmar media was highly politicized during the country’s liberalization. Issues relating to political bias, however, are discussed in the next section on political parallelism. Interviews for this study reveal that poor education, the influence of social media and ethnic tensions, as well as political factors undermine the application of internationally recognized professional standards in the Myanmar media. Journalists in liberalizing states often poorly understand the norms expected of their profession in a democracy, as for decades state censors externally imposed standards on the media. In many democratizing societies, media organizations are young and inexperienced, since older, more seasoned journalists are often associated with the state-controlled media of the former regime. In 2012, the average Myanmar journalist was 25 (International Media Support, 2012). Even chief editors are unlikely to be much older than 30. The inexperience of many Myanmar journalists is compounded by a relative lack of professional training opportunities. Journalism schools have only recently appeared and places remain scarce.1 There are not enough qualified media professionals to fill the demands of Myanmar’s expanding media market. ‘Anyone who wants to can get into the media’, says a reporter at SkyNet News, herself one of the few at the satellite television channel with a degree in journalism.2 State-owned media often pay better salaries than their commercial competitors and therefore attract a larger share of journalism school graduates. Even at leading commercial newspaper Seven Day News, fewer than 10 percent of reporters have a professional qualification.3 Competition for qualified journalists and editors increased following the government’s decision to allow private newspapers to resume publishing daily editions from 1 April 2013.4 A senior editor at Seven Day News explains: When we decided to run a daily newspaper, we advertised for new reporters. But in most cases the applications we received were not suitable. Some applicants admitted they didn’t even read the newspapers. We couldn’t find any appropriate candidates to add to our editorial team. We therefore have to edit our daily newspaper with the same number of editors who previously worked at our weekly edition.5 Finding qualified media trainers is another challenge, as is accessing training materials in Burmese language. International media training organizations like BBC Media Action and Internews are helping to cover the shortfall in training opportunities by provide professional development courses for Myanmar’s journalists both domestically and overseas. But these courses are oversubscribed and usually only last a few months.6 Courses provided by international organizations are generally more accessible for journalists in urban centers and/or with English language ability.7 During Myanmar’s liberalization period, a large number of those being trained by the BBC, Associated Press, Kyodo News and other international news agencies worked for state-run media. It is questionable whether training journalists to do a better job promoting the military-backed government’s propaganda was helpful to Myanmar’s democratization (Moe, 2014). Training opportunities, however, are expanding, with several international organizations targeting courses at journalists from Myanmar’s ethnic-minority media.8 In states like Myanmar where foreign media were taboo, journalists lack not only adequate training opportunities, but also access to foreign colleagues from whom they could learn international professional norms. By 2012, this situation was improving, as more international journalists and media organizations began to receive government permission to work in Myanmar. But despite growing exposure to international professional standards, ethical norms remained underdeveloped among Myanmar’s media professionals. A journalist at Seven Day News estimates that only half of her colleagues understand the meaning of ethical journalism: In my opinion, 50 percent of journalists behave ethically and 50 percent do not. Many of my junior colleagues confuse fact with opinion and often mix the two in the same article. Sometimes this is not deliberate, but a product of their poor education. But in other cases, journalists deliberately distort the truth to make their reports more sensational. These journalists are more interested being popular and getting 1 Author’s interview with Pae Tin Thran editor, December 2013. Author’s interview with SkyNet News reporter, December 2013. 3 Author’s interview with Seven Day News editor, December 2013. 4 All private dailies in Myanmar were shut down in 1964. Until 2013, the authorities allowed publication of state-run dailies, but only permitted the private media to publish weekly editions (Committee to Protect Journalists, 2012). 5 Author’s interview with Seven Day News editor December 2014. 6 Author’s interview with Internews trainer, December 2013. 7 Author’s interview with a Yangon-based media trainer, December 2013. 8 Author’s interview with a representative of Burma News International, December 2014. 2 Politics and Governance, 2017, Volume 5, Issue 2, Pages 41–58 45