Reporting from the Darkness: Journalism and Media in Myanmar 2023 Q4 and Annual Report On 16 November, the SAC enacted a second round of amendments to the Television and Radio Broadcasting Law that removes independent oversight of the industry and authorises the regime to appoint members to the National Broadcasting Council. Previously, the law had defined the council as “autonomous and independent from government authorities, members of the judiciary, and persons engaged in broadcasting services.” This change comes after the junta's an earlier amendment of this law on 1 November 2021, which expanded the definition of "broadcasting", added prison sentences for a number of actions and lengthened such sentences. "The current amendments utterly deprive the Act of any democratic legitimacy and further expand the already very extensive control of the military over the media inside Myanmar,” Toby Mendel, executive director of Centre for Law and Democracy, wrote in a brief. Widespread internet blackouts are being weaponized by the junta, making verification of reports of incidents like airstrikes and arson more difficult. (In such situations, national and international media rely on citizen journalists who send information, photographs and videos from their phones, often receiving little to no compensation.) The junta also tries to harass and discredit the media in different ways. For example, its Ministry of Information announced on 9 July that it would take legal action against independent (and now exiled) news organisations Mizzima Television and Democratic Voice of Burma Television (DVB TV), for overdue transmission fees incurred before the military coup. Typically, the military-controlled media discredit the independent news outlets and portrays them as an enemy of the nation. Journalists who have fled the country are depicted as traitors, and independent media are portrayed as extremists. Media outlets are accused of intentionally publishing false reports to incite racial and armed conflict. In December, the 'Rakhine Daily' Facebook page (run by the Arakan State military council) reported that the council was making a list of citizens who have posted on their walls, shared, copied or commented and on stories published by local media outlets, and that action would be taken against them. 14