Myanmar's media from an audience perspective / 13 That’s news to me What people understand to be news differs across regions and gender. What constitutes “news” is closely connected to the specific interests, problems and concerns of the individual. A highly educated young man from Yangon has different worries and interests to a poorly educated elderly woman living in an IDP-camp in Kachin, which in turn influences their distinct perception of news. Looking at the understanding of news from a gender perspective, in comparison to men, women tend to place higher emphasis on health-related news and news about education – two topics that concern the well-being and prospects of the family. “Weather reports about cyclones and health-related news are news. I always listen to such kind of reports because a cyclone may come, and for health related news, as my mom is suffering from paralysis.” (8-year-old woman from rural Rakhine). In contrast, men tend to place higher emphasis on political news and sports. Both place emphasis on the weather and the economy – with the latter being more about commodity prices than national economic concerns. From a regional perspective, the understanding of news is closely connected to the specific challenges of the region in question. In the more conflict-prone areas such as Rakhine and Kachin, people are more concerned about the impacts of the ongoing conflicts on their daily lives. Is the conflict moving closer to them? Are any of their friends or relatives in any kind of danger? Although the ongoing conflicts of the country are also on people’s minds in other regions, they are not mentioned as frequently by the participants from Yangon and Mandalay. What is happening locally is far more important to the individual than concerns of a more national scope. In short, the sense of national identity is evidently not as strong when it comes to what news people are most interested in.