Reporting from the Darkness: Journalism and Media in Myanmar 2023 Q4 and Annual Report The licence of one news organisation, Mekong News, was revoked in 2023, coming more than a year after the cancellation of the Irrawaddy's permit in October 2022. Since the coup, the SAC has issued cancellations of 15 news licences and 9 printing and publishing permits. Highlights of the Myanmar news situation in 2023 include the impact of widespread armed conflict on news, as well as media outlets' efforts at better viability and sustainability. Different groups of Myanmar journalists and newsrooms also launched initiatives and projects aimed at contributing to media independence, professionalism and greater collaboration. Security challenges for journalists, including citizen journalists working on the ground in Myanmar, have become worse as armed conflict now affects majority (some say over 90 percent) of the country's 330 townships. Among these are regions like central Sagaing, which did not see armed insurgencies in decades past. Some journalists continue to work in secret inside the country. But for many, heightened conflict situations are making them feel even more vulnerable when obtaining and verifying news. They need to deal with the military, resistance groups and ethnic armed organisations to get and verify information - and this makes it harder to hide their identities. Some journalists choose to leave the country due to safety reasons, but this leaves their immediate family members in an insecure situation. Others have stopped reporting, or have shifted to other ways of making a living inside the country. In the later part of 2023, Myanmar made international headlines due to the launch in October of a massive armed operation (Operation 1027) in northern Shan state led by the Three Brotherhood Alliance. The alliance, composed of the Arakan Army, Ta’ang National Liberation Army, and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, reported successes such as the seizure of junta-held towns and the surrender of soldiers and officers. More information from conflicts and support for safer news work are needed in Myanmar's conflict and crisis. But its media community is feeling the impact of more limited funding support from external sources at a time of more conflicts and humanitarian crises in the world. At the same time, the collapse of junta control over 'liberated' areas has provided some more freedom of movement for local journalists. 11