In the Service of Power: Media Capture and the Threat to Democracy State-controlled media in Burma Myanma Ahlin Daily Kyaymon (The Mirror) Daily Ministry of Information MRTV (Myanmar Radio and Television) Mayu FM (Maungdaw, Rakhine state-launched in February 2017) Mayanmar Radio (AM) Paudaukmyay Radio (AM) into public companies with public shareholders.22 In the meantime, the Ministry of Information is continuing to expand state media, most recently by announcing the launch of a digital version of its English-language print daily. Information Minister Pe Myint talked about this new initiative in the Myanmar Times: “We don’t want people to assume that this is a business or personal competition with the newspapers. We are just trying our best to do our jobs“ (Pyae Thet Phyo 2017). The MOI is also continuing to encourage private media to produce content for the state media that it controls. This approach, where independent media act as content producers for government-controlled media and thus depend on it for income, is a risky undertaking. For some media, however, including Mizzima Media Co. Ltd., producing programming for MRTV has proven to be a lucrative venture.23 The future of the state broadcaster Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) also remains uncertain (Australian Broadcasting Corporation 2017). While the plan to transform MRTV into a public service broadcaster enjoys wide support,24 the wrenching reform process has made little concrete progress. Despite numerous attempts around the world in the past quarter-century, from South Africa to Central Europe to Afghanistan, it is difficult to point to a successful and sustainable transformation of a state into a genuine public service broadcaster.25 The dozens of ethnic media in Burma are also struggling. Operating in the country’s resource-rich ethnic states, and instrumental in the coverage of peace and conflict, ethnic media present a unique challenge and opportunity for the government. In the pre-election period, the Ministry of Information made concerted efforts to capture struggling ethnic media with offers of direct financial support and partnerships with state media. At the 4th annual Ethnic Media Conference in Mrauk Oo, Rakhine State in February 2016, the then-MOI permanent secretary, and former head of the now defunct censorship board, Tint Swe, declared that the survival of ethnic media was linked to that of state media.26 Yet ethnic media leaders were quick to counter this unsubstantiated claim. Instead of offering direct financial support that could jeopardize their independence, they called 66