11/22/22, 4:58 PM The ‘extraordinary evolution of Myanmar media’ | Frontier Myanmar The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports that globally Myanmar became the second-worst jailer of journalists in 2021, behind only China. Opinions on sensitive issues such as Rohingya identity may be slowly changing, but due to the military’s extensive propaganda campaigns, the public are now starkly divided into two camps when it comes to the media they consume: pro-military and pro-democracy. Going for big lies The regime’s attempts to control the press and communicate a pro-military narrative have been exhaustive but largely unpersuasive. On June 30 last year the junta’s Ministry of Information used the Global New Light of Myanmar to announce they had banned local media from using the words “junta” and “coup” and warned foreign media outlets not to use these words either. Few, if any, independent media outlets have respected the prohibition. The junta has used the media it controls to portray a level of approval and support for the military that appears far from reality. It has recently taken to publishing stories purporting to show a return to normalcy in cities like Yangon and Mandalay, despite reports of near daily bombings in the cities and airstrikes continuing unabated in Kayin State and elsewhere. During Thingyan, the military staged celebrations which were portrayed in regime-controlled media as hugely successful but were reported by observers as largely empty save for the attendance of military families. The junta has been airing anti-resistance propaganda in a wide range of state-controlled TV channels, newspapers and pro-military media outlets, issuing a press release on December 21 accusing the pro-democracy movement of “undermining peace and stability of the State”. It was published by the GNLM alongside graphic photos of supposed victims of the pro-democracy groups, which have now been declared “terrorists”. Despite the visible arrests and crackdown on the media, the military’s information minister U Maung Maung Ohn discussed “Ensuring the rights of journalists and protecting freedom of media,” during a dinner with members of the Myanmar Press Council on November 24 last year, as reported by the GNLM. Shortly after the coup, the MPC was rocked by a mass walkout of members who were then replaced with pro-military figures. The government under Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party had its own shortcomings when it came to Myanmar’s press freedom. Most famously was the arrest of Reuters reporters Ko Wa Lone and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo, who were imprisoned for investigating the killings of Rohingya people by military forces. The Noble laureate defended the arrests saying “they have broken the Official Secrets Act” in comments she made during the World Economic Forum in Hanoi in 2018. Ms Gwen Robinson, Editor-at-Large at Nikkei Asia, said that she has witnessed an “extraordinary evolution of Myanmar media” since she began covering the country in early 2011. “Censorship was pervasive and absolute during my first visits in early 2011, I remember visiting The Myanmar Times and the news editor showed me copy that had been returned by the censorship authorities with big red pencil marks through various lines,” she told Frontier on April 21 via email. “Now, the SAC has gone further than the junta under Than Shwe or any other previous regime. Instead of just censoring, they have destroyed independent media – revoked licenses, targeted TV reception dishes, and tried to shut down the internet. They have jailed or harassed journalists. At least several media have been tortured and some have been killed,” she added. “There is obviously a ‘playbook’ from the previous era but this junta has gone way beyond that, it makes up its own rules. It is generally not out to censor, it’s out to destroy any independent media,” Gwen Robinson told Frontier. https://www.frontiermyanmar.net/en/the-extraordinary-evolution-of-myanmar-media/ 2/9