Myanmar: Outline of Rules Affecting Freedom of Expression Special measures should be taken to promote community broadcasting in view of the often more modest resources of such outlets and their key role in the media ecosystem. To this end, in their 2007 Joint Declaration on Diversity in Broadcasting, the special international mandates on freedom of expression recommended the following: “Community broadcasting should be explicitly recognised in law as a distinct form of broadcasting, should benefit from fair and simple licensing procedures, should not have to meet stringent technological or other licence criteria, should benefit from concessionary licence fees and should have access to advertising.”19 It is common in many countries to impose certain positive obligations on broadcasters, which may be either general or specific in nature. The idea behind these obligations is to promote content diversity or, to put it differently, to ensure that the public receives a range of different types of content. In many countries, broadcasters are required to carry a certain amount of domestic, regional or even local programming. In many States, broadcasters are also required to carry programming produced by independent producers. The idea behind this is to promote wider access to the airwaves and, as a result, greater content diversity. It is common to impose minimum programme standards, or a code of conduct, on broadcasters by law, but where an effective self- or co-regulatory system is in place, this is not necessary. Where a statutory system is imposed, it should be based on an established code of conduct, developed in consultation with all stakeholders, as with any such code governing the print media. Sanctions should be graduated, starting with a warning and then a requirement to broadcast an acknowledgement of breach, and the goal should be to establish and promote professional standards, rather than to punish. More severe sanctions should be imposed only for serious and repeated breaches which lighter sanctions have failed to remedy. 3.2.4. Public Service Broadcasting As with other areas of media regulation, control by the government or political interests of a public broadcaster represents a breach of the right to freedom of expression. The governing boards of public broadcasters should be protected against such interference in the same way as other regulatory bodies. A key goal of public service broadcasting is to complement and enrich the content provided by commercial broadcasters. To do this, the former need to be able to operate relatively free of commercial pressures and this, in turn, requires that they receive public financial support. Such support should be adequate to enable them to fulfil their mandates and yet be protected against the possibility of being used to exert political pressure. The best way to do this is to 19 Note 13. The Centre for Law and Democracy is a non-profit human rights organisation working internationally to provide legal expertise on foundational rights for democracy. 18