The state, the military, and the market: Capture in the new Burmese media landscape Burma’s political transition. A secret military court acquitted two soldiers accused of his murder in May 2015, underlining the problem of longstanding impunity. Daily Eleven crime reporter Soe Moe Tun was the second journalist killed, this time in Monywa, Sagaing Region in Upper Burma, in December 2016 (Committee to Protect Journalists 2016). Still unresolved, these cases have had a chilling effect on the media community (Committee to Protect Journalists 2014). During the time of the military junta Burma’s legal framework for journalism, free expression, and media independence was considered one of the most restrictive in the world. Unfortunately, since the beginning of the political transition legal and regulatory reforms have not kept pace with political ones (PEN America 2015). Although Article 23 of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) protects the right to free expression in member states, Burma’s own constitution does not explicitly protect press freedom or access to information.56 Some relevant laws have been amended (the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Act), enacted (the Citizens Personal Privacy and Personal Security Law), and abolished (the Emergency Act and the State Protection Law), although not always according to international standards. And laws from the military and colonial eras are still being used to charge and prosecute journalists and editors.57 Criminal defamation provisions in both the Penal Code and the News Media Law, for example, continue to be used against journalists. In Kachin and Shan States and Tanintharyi Region, to name a few, defamation cases have been wielded by private companies, ethnic armed groups, and regional governments.58 According to Human Rights Watch, the “legal architecture of repression” that has put journalists behind bars remains largely in place (Human Rights Watch 2016). Journalists say this continues to have a widespread chilling effect and fosters self-censorship. An increased use of the Penal Code for insulting or defaming religion or beliefs has been linked to religious extremism (Lewis 2016). After stating that the racist speech of monks ran counter to Buddhist teachings, the writer Htin Lin Oo spent more than a year in prison with hard labor, before being released in the NLD political prisoner amnesty in April 2016. The new NLD civilian government has gone some way toward calming this extremist behavior, particularly with regard to the most notorious Buddhist group, Ma Ba Tha (Aung Kyaw Min 2016). This was illustrated in April 2017 when, in an unprecedented move, the Ministry of Religious Affairs publically supported the award-winning investigative journalist Swe Win after Ma Ba Tha leader Wirathu sued him for defamation. The case has nonetheless continued (ARKAR/DVB 2017; Agence France-Presse 2017). Yet Myanmar Journalism Institute head Thiha Saw cautions that legal reform will have little to no impact until the judiciary becomes independent.59 “Until that happens, media cannot escape capture.” 73