SHRINKING MEDIA PROFESSIONALS No one can deny that Myanmar’s media and journalist industry and information access is the danger of shrinking or becoming totally authoritative. Journalists are abandoning the profession either transitioning to other sectors or fleeing the country, driven by the junta’s arrests, torture, and draconian sentencing. Compounding this is a severe funding crisis within the media and development sectors in recent years. Both exiled and local journalists face intense financial pressure and dwindling professional opportunities, which leads to a steady erosion of independent media capacity. For the public, the shrinking space for independent journalism reduces access to reliable information on issues such as conflict, governance, and humanitarian conditions. This creates the risk of premature engagement or normalisation without meaningful improvements in media freedom or human rights. Update on Journalism and Media Safety in Myanmar 12