INFORMATION FLOWS CASE STUDY 3: COMMUNAL VIOLENCE IN RAKHINE STATE, JUNE – DECEMBER 2012 The communal violence that first broke out in June 2012 between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State has tragically continued to spread to other areas of Myanmar. Behind the violence lie previously existing tensions between Buddhists, Muslims, and those of South Asian descent, inflamed by recent events and even the greater media freedom that now exists. As explained in the section of this report on trust and influence, the differences between domestic coverage of the conflict and foreign coverage, with the former tending to be more sympathetic to the side of Myanmar Buddhists and the latter far more critical of events and supportive toward the Rohingya, have caused unprecedented bias against foreign news sources. In Mon State, 82% of respondents heard of the news of the violence in Rakhine State. News of the violence arrived by word of mouth through close friends (28% of those who heard), domestic radio (22%), foreign radio (13%), domestic TV (11%), family (10%), and foreign TV (6%). Similar trends regarding TV and radio use in urban and rural locations held in this case as well. After receiving the news from foreign media sources, some respondents doubted the news’ authenticity, due to the distance of the events from Mon State, and perhaps due to bias generated by the more critical foreign reports. NO RESPONSE CLOSE FRIENDS FOREIGN TV HAVE YOU HEARD OF RECENT EVENTS IN RAKHINE STATE? FIGURE 15 WHOM DID YOU TALK TO ABOUT THE ROHINGYA EVENTS AFTER YOU FIRST HEARD ABOUT THEM? 93% 10% FAMILY FIGURE 13 6% 28% 91% CLOSE FRIENDS 83% 79% 68% 86% FAMILY/CLOSE RELATIVES FIGURE 12 10% 11% SOURCES OF NEWS ON COMMUNAL VIOLENCE IN RAKHINE STATE, JUNE-DEC.- 2012 23% COMMUNITY ELDERS URBAN 13% FOREIGN RADIO 27% RELIGIOUS LEADER-MONKS/NUNS 22% DOMESTIC TV 42% WORK COLLEAGUES/CLASSMATES RURAL NON-CONFLICT CONFLICT (FORMER) BASE: 409 RESPONDENTS WHO HEARD OF THE EVENTS DOMESTIC RADIO COMMUNITY LEADERS /VILLAGE HEAD PERSONS 12% BASE: 304 RESPONDENTS SHARED THE NEWS WITH OTHERS DIAGRAM 6 COMMUNAL VIOLENCE IN RAKHINE STATE, 2012: NEWS FLOWS INDIVIDUALS IN URBAN COMMUNITIES One minor theme within the research did point to a sentiment among respondents that foreign news sources were not always accurate for news happening inside Myanmar because they were far from the events, and in some cases, got the details wrong. Similar trends regarding the sharing of information presented themselves, as in the other cases. Yet because of the racial and religious sensitivities of the issue, some people were also more hesitant to share the news. KEY: WORD OF MOUTH/FACE TO FACE TELEVISION MOBILE PHONE/SMS RADIO LESS TRUSTED DOMESTIC NEWS ORGS INTERNATIONAL NEWS ORGS INDIVIDUALS IN RURAL COMMUNITIES just knew about the news of the Rakhine conflict ““we by way of people who came back from the area. Although we heard this news from overseas radio channels and we read it in the journals, we didn't trust their news at first. For us, the conflict was happening so far from us, that we couldn't decide if this news was correct or not." 22% CASUAL ACQUAINTANCES FRIENDS AND FAMILY INDIVIDUALS IN FORMER CONFLICT AREAS M a l e , a g e 6 0 , rura l , f o rm e r c o n f l i c t ar e a , K aw D u t V i l l a g e , Y e T o w n s hi p 46 INFORMATION ECOSYSTEMS in transition: a case study from myanmar part one: rese arch findings 47 how to inform, empower, and impact communities INFORMATION ECOSYSTEMS in transition: a case study from myanmar how to inform, empower, and impact communities PART ONE: RESEARCH FINDINGS