THE EXISTING MEDIA STRUCTURE: READILY AVAILABLE TOOLS FOR THE DICTATORS As Joseph Wright and Abel Escribà-Folch argue, “while authoritarian legislatures increase the stability of dictators, political parties — even when devised to quell internal threats — can destabilize dictators”.16 Myanmar journalists were eager to get rid of the authoritarian legislature before the coup and repeatedly asked to proceed with reforms.17 UNESCO and international donors had been suggesting that media reform be sped up, as recommended by a comprehensive 2016 report , the Assessment of Media Development in Myanmar,18 however such entreaties were largely ignored by the NLD government. With respect to a set of 56 recommendations to guide media development in Myanmar, the NLD government which succeeded the USDP saw many ongoing reforms as the legacy of the previous administration and did not take any action on 65 percent of them. Among them, the following are notable recommendations: (1) to turn state-owned broadcasters into public service or private broadcasters; (2) to recognize the role of community broadcasters and introduce interim licenses to give the civil society and non-profit sector more space in broadcasting media; (3) to implement the formation of the National Broadcasting Council and the drafting of broadcasting bylaws by allowing broader consultation with civil society and media practitioners; (4) to amend the Broadcasting Law to introduce a media regulatory body with greater autonomy by allowing the nomination of council members by civil society and parliament; (5) to implement the amendment of the 2014 Printing and Publishing Enterprise Law to protect the confidentiality of journalists’ sources; (6) to remove the restrictions on freedom of expression stipulated in the Electronic Transaction Law and the Telecommunications Law, especially the defamation ruling in Section 66(d), and to prevent the imposition of general suspensions. Although these specific recommendations did not intend to create a perfect media ecosystem in Myanmar’s transitional democracy, implementation of these steps will help Myanmar eliminate the heavy presence of the state in the media landscape and create a more diverse ethnic media, whose voices are a prerequisite for turning Myanmar into a federal democracy. Although the NLD realized the flaws of the media system left behind by the previous government, it was far from making the radical changes necessary to reverse course away from authoritarianism. The MOI under the NLD did not favour radical change, and its failure to take action eventually led to its finding favour with the coup leaders. Perhaps, had the state-owned media been drastically transformed in the last five years, the military’s ISA might not be as strong as it is, or the people might have had a more reliable and independent media which could fight back against the military’s misinformation and disinformation system. IMPACT OF THE COUP ON THE BROADCASTING SECTOR After the military’s return to power, one of the first things they implemented was the seizure of the state-owned media. As soon as the military coup had been staged in Nay Pyi Taw, the broadcasting media outlets under the MOI and its joint ventures came under the control of the military. As 90 percent of Myanmar’s broadcasting sector was occupied by the state-run media and their joint ventures, the military considered that control of broadcasters should be their first course of action. The soldiers had been heavily deployed in the main broadcasting stations in Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon since the early hours of the day of the coup. In Yangon station, which is attached to a residential compound of the staff of MRTV (Myanmar Radio and Television), the area was shut down by the army and no one from the residences was allowed to enter the offices of the broadcasting stations. 16 J. Wright and A. Escribà-Folch, “Authoritarian institutions and regime survival: Transitions to democracy and subsequent autocracy”, British Journal of Political Science, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 283–309. 17 R. Gerin, “Myanmar Press Freedom Decline Dashes High Hopes For ‘Lady of Yangon’”, Radio Free Asia, 30 April 2020, available at https://www.rfa.org/ english/news/myanmar/press-freedom-04302020213703.html. 18 UNESCO, Assessment of Media Development in Myanmar. 7