ABOUT the research A few years ago, simply displaying a picture of the opposition politician in a Burmese newspaper would risk arrest and imprisonment Ecosystems in Political Transition 7 Day News Journal - Kyaik Hto - Zay Yar Mon Ward through formal edicts, but counter intuitively, also through formal and less formal relationships that developed between soldiers and citizens in areas where they lived in close contact for decades. The ethnic armies (often highly mobile) were also key sources of information for citizens in conflict zones. Meanwhile state radio was the most accessible media source to all parties – a ubiquitous kind of information “wallpaper” common to all. Such a situation raises intriguing questions about citizen attitudes towards choice, agency and trust in ecosystems where information has traditionally been owned and transmitted primarily by those vested with some sort of authority. Myanmar Media Landscape 2012-2014 Myanmar’s media landscape has changed dramatically in the last two years since the 2010 election, the release of Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest and the commencement of the current government-managed reform process. A few years ago, simply displaying a picture of the opposition politician in a Burmese newspaper or on the streets of Yangon would risk arrest and imprisonment. Foreign news sources such as the BBC and Radio Free Asia (RFA), and Burmese exile media including the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), The Irrawaddy, and Mizzima News, were outright banned. Today, such restrictions on media access no longer exist. Importantly, pre-publication censorship of all media has been abolished. In June 2011, the Myanmar government began easing media control by allowing non-political newspapers to publish without first submitting all articles to the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD), the Orwellian-sounding government censorship bureau. By August 2012, the government had announced the end to prior censorship for all publications, a practice that began in 1964 during the early days of General Ne Win’s military regime. Publishers of exiled media, including Mizzima, DVB, and Irrawaddy, have now officially entered Myanmar and set up bureaus in Yangon. In April, for the first time since the 1960s, the government began allowing private daily newspapers to print. Media choices in Myanmar are growing quickly and offer the prospect of greater choice and range of viewpoints, but remain primarily defined by the mainstream media that vary in accessibility and quality. Newspapers have been proliferating in the cities while new television programs, driven particularly by satellite TV services, have expanded the range of content and programming available within the country. These range from rich political discussion via DVB-Burmese to a variety of entertainment, including popular Burmese and Korean soap operas and even Myanmar Idol, a Burmese version of the popular music competition. However, despite Myanmar’s expanding media choices, most options remain limited to urban centers and entrenched in old interests. According to a report from Reporters Without Borders, “There are more than 300 newspapers in Burma, of which around 100 are based in and around Rangoon and only about 30 cover the news.”24 Moreover, according to the NLD elder statesman Win Tin, “Only 25 percent of the newspapers are independent, that is to say, entirely financed by the private sector. The other 75 percent are linked to military leaders.”25 Similarly, in TV and radio, the stations with the most extensive reach and popularity remain in the government’s hands—state-run Nay Pyi Daw Myanmar Radio National Service (Nay Pyi Daw Myanma Ah-Than) has served as a government mouthpiece and had little in the way of entertainment programs, while popular MRTV is a joint venture between the government and the private firm Forever Group Ltd. Still, even these are 24 Reporters Without Borders, “Burmese Media Spring” (December 2012). 25 Ibid. 16 INFORMATION ECOSYSTEMS in transition: a case study from myanmar part one: rese arch findings evolving. In Mon State, Nay Pyi Daw Myanmar Radio broadcasts Mon language programs, which have proved popular with many respondents, while MRTV does not have the appearance of being government-owned, running everything from music and food programming to game shows. For Internet, three providers exist in Myanmar: Red Link Communications, Sky Net MPS, and Yatanarpon Teleport. All three work under the regulation of stateowned Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT), which controls all aspects of Myanmar’s communications sector, including landlines, street phone kiosks, and mobile phones. At the current time, connecting to the Internet outside of Internet cafes is beyond the financial reach of most of Myanmar’s citizens and the country still has one of the lowest degrees of internet penetration in the world: 1-2%. Increased Access Does Not Necessarily Mean Better Informed It is intuitive to think that an overall increase in the supply of media inputs channeled to local and national information ecosystems will result in all citizens becoming “better informed.” Similar assumptions lie behind Communication for Development approaches that inject public service messages into target communities. There is, however, a body of evidence that suggests these assumptions are not necessarily well founded: that both media content and C4D messages can easily miss their mark, and that unintended consequences can ensue. For those who 17 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