184 Lisa Brooten International Journal of Communication 10(2016) lessons learned from countries undergoing transition that will hopefully be of use to scholars and policy makers. I will focus on those aspects of the transition that affect media—in particular the neoliberal nature of Myanmar’s reforms; the role of the military, the government, and journalists in the reform process; and the importance of both history and resistance. The empirical basis for this discussion includes interviews and other conversations with journalists, editors, advocacy groups, and policy makers as well as visits to offices and attendance at media-related events during periodic research visits to the country and its border with Thailand since 1999. This includes trips to Myanmar in July 2012, 2013, and 2014, years of great change. Recent Changes The years immediately following problematic elections in 2010 saw the release of political prisoners, including journalists and bloggers; the closing of the censorship body, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division; an end to the blocking of international and Burmese exile news websites; a decrease in surveillance and harassment of journalists; increasing freedom to write on formerly taboo subjects; permission to establish independent journalist organizations; the establishment of the interim Myanmar Press Council to improve the situation for journalists and draft new media laws; permission for the publication of private daily newspapers; invitations to exile media to return and open offices in the country; and licenses for ethnic language media after decades of prohibiting these languages from being taught in schools or used in private media. The market is adjusting to a number of new weeklies and monthlies as well as new private daily papers, many of which closed within the first year or two of operation. Exile media groups are returning to the country. Broadcasting remains in the control of the government, but a new broadcast law and publicservice media law are nearing completion. As of this writing in mid-2015, the bylaws are nearly completed for the Printers and Publishers Enterprise Act. In June, the Ministry of Information released the bylaws for the media law, including details on the right to information, the process for electing the Myanmar Press Council, the remediation process for disputes handled through the MPC, and how media outlets can obtain permission to cover protests and armed conflict.2 All these changes have hastened what was previously slow, clandestine work to support and democratize the Burmese media under the nose of the military dictatorship and from exile. Despite all the positive developments, intimidation, arrests, and attacks on journalists have continued since the Unity case, which sent a chill and reports of increasing self-censorship through the journalism community. Since early 2015, there have been especially several alarming events, including the arrest of at least 11 journalists and the disturbing killing of another. In October 2014, five staff members of the Bi-Midday Sun newspaper were each sentenced to two years imprisonment under the Penal Code, which prohibits offences against the state or “public tranquility,” after their paper published claims that opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and ethnic leaders had been elected as an interim government. Also in October, freelance journalist Aung Kyaw Naing was shot and killed in military custody 2 Both of these laws, however, have been critiqued by media freedom advocacy organizations (Article 19, 2014).