Myanmar: Outline of Rules Affecting Freedom of Expression In some countries, bodies – such as a press council – are established by law to provide those who feel they have been wronged by material disseminated through the print media with an opportunity to complain. While this can provide an effective means of balancing the need to address unprofessional media behaviour and to protect media freedom, where an effective self-regulatory complaints body exists, one should not be imposed by law. Any statutory complaints body should, as with all regulatory bodies, be independent. Furthermore, complaints should be judged against a pre-established code of conduct, which has been developed in consultation with all stakeholders, and the only sanction should be a requirement to print a message acknowledging the wrong. 3.2.3. Private Broadcasters Unlike the print media, it is necessary to license broadcasters, at least inasmuch as they use the radio spectrum to disseminate their products, if only to ensure orderly use of the airwaves. The airwaves are a limited public resource and it is accepted that regulation may also ensure that they are used in the public interest. In many countries, regulation comprises both licensing of broadcasters and oversight of content. The licensing process should be in accordance with a developed frequency plan. In higher population density areas, where demand for spectrum resources is expected to exceed supply, licences should be offered on a competitive tender basis. In lower density areas, an open application or open bidding system may be employed. The process of assessing applications, whether pursuant to a competitive tender or open process, should be fair and transparent, and allow for public input. Applications should be assessed by an independent regulator in a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory manner against criteria which are published in advance, and which include the goal of promoting media diversity in the areas of content, outlet and source. To promote diversity, the ownership structure of licence applicants should be included as part of the application, along with an overview of the programming proposed to be provided. Where granting an applicant a licence would either increase concentration of media ownership or fail to ensure a greater range of material is available to the public, this should be taken into account in deciding whether or not to issue the licence. Licensing can be done in a way that contributes to all three of the types of diversity (content, source and outlet). Content diversity can be promoted by making this an explicit licensing criterion, so that aspirant broadcasters which are proposing a greater degree of content diversity should have a greater chance of being awarded a licence. Similarly, the need to allocate licences to all three types of broadcasters – public service, commercial and community – can be built directly into the licensing process, supporting outlet diversity. Finally, source diversity can be promoted by licensing rules which prohibit the allocation of further licences to owners who already control too many broadcasters. The Centre for Law and Democracy is a non-profit human rights organisation working internationally to provide legal expertise on foundational rights for democracy. 17