Women in the media $H 0 H ? "I '$+/ , &<$H & $+"&J '*.% & =K In 2013, the government abolished the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division, ending decades of pre-publication censorship. Later that year, the government began to give licences for private daily newspapers. While 26 licences were given initially, less than half that number of newspapers remains in daily print today. The newspapers with the largest circulation figures are still the state-owned newspapers which benefit not only from state funding but also from logistical support from the state. Ownership of the private media is largely opaque; although rumours circulate as to how close each media company is to the government and, in particular, to the military. The lack of broadcasting regulation has resulted in there being state-owned channels and channels with questionable links to the government.117 The government has proposed a broadcasting law to give licences to non-state channels, but the bill has been held up in parliament due to public concerns about its provisions. Another bill which would have created a semi-independent public service broadcaster was withdrawn by the government in 2015 following widespread criticism. Media professionals work in a complex and risky environment. The government and others have used a range of out-dated criminal laws to prosecute journalists on the grounds of defamation, official secrets, trespass, contacting “illegal organisations” and national security, sentencing them to long prison terms. Media workers are also vulnerable to violence and widespread impunity. Journalists and other media workers are represented primarily through three associations, all bearing similar names: the Myanmar Journalists Association, the Myanmar Journalists Network and the Myanmar Journalists Union. The government has also created an Interim Press Council due to be made permanent through the News Media Law, and responsible for developing media policy and receiving complaints. The number of journalists working in Myanmar is estimated to be around 5,000.118 There are no nationwide estimates of the number of women or third gender journalists, although participants in our research believed that there had been very few women journalists before 2010. There was a perception among participants that there is little gender-based discrimination in the Myanmar media. The participants justified this perception on the basis that women journalists are visible in media companies. Even the lowest estimate among the participants was that women make up 25% of journalists, and some believed the number to be closer to 50%. ARTICLE 19’s survey of the three private newspapers with the highest circulation found some support for this (Table 1). This perception is also supported by the purposeful attempt of some media companies, such as the broadcaster Democratic Voice of Burma, to create all-women shortlists for new journalist positions. However, while all the participants believed that the number of women employed in the media sector is encouraging, a number of gender-based issues were discovered upon closer analysis, some of which the participants also observed. ARTICLE 19 - Censored gender: Women’s right to freedom of expression and information in Myanmar - Page 33