Reporting from the Darkness: Journalism and Media in Myanmar
2023 Q4 and Annual Report
Summary and trends
This annual report for 2023 covers some of the main developments, trends and highlights
relating to the safety of Myanmar journalists, as well as the news environment under the
military regime. The first part of the report summarises events and issues in the fourth quarter
of 2023.
As the coup of 1 February 2021 reaches its third anniversary, Myanmar’s military junta, called
the State Administration Council (SAC), and its security apparatus continue to repress
independent media and other forms of open public discussion. Journalists inside Myanmar,
including citizen journalists, operate in an environment where independent news work has
become a difficult, dangerous and life-threatening profession.
Over the last three years, the SAC has set up a system of restrictions on media, speech and
expression, including through judicial persecution through the use of the "law", closure of
media outlets and other publishing outlets, various forms of harassment (including online) by
its proxies and supporters. At the same time, it allows pro-junta media outfits to operate in the
country.
As part of its efforts to restrict and control spaces for news, information and public discussion
and promote its agenda, the SAC uses internet restrictions and shutdowns, which often take
place in regions of active conflict with anti-junta resistance forces.
Arrests, prosecutions, and convictions persisted through 2023, though these incidents were
fewer in number compared to the previous two years. The year saw the longest combined prison
sentence handed down since the coup – 20 years for Myanmar Now's Sai Zaw Theik.
In 2023, a total of 13 journalists and news workers were arrested, including five in the last
quarter of the year. Six journalists were sentenced under security-related laws. Seventeen were
released during the year.
As of end-December 2023, 64 journalists and news professionals remained behind bars.
Majority of them are male and are reporters or photojournalists.
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