In the Service of Power: Media Capture and the Threat to Democracy Key Burmese publications that have closed (2014-2016) Emperor Daily 2014 Myanmar Freedom Daily Feb Yangon Times Daily Mar New Golden Land Daily Khit Thit Daily Shwe Naing Gan Thit Daily Myanmar Newsweek Daily Unity Journal Daily 2015 Feb Venus News Weekly Jun Dec 2016 The Irrawady Weekly Mandalay Ahlinn Daily News Mizzima Daily Jan Feb Pyi Myanmar Daily True News Weekly Jul A glance at government and private media joint ventures in Burma Media business cronies and tycoons31 are among the big winners in Burma’s political transition. The country’s own class of oligarchs, some have consolidated media power bases long entrenched under the military dictatorship, while others have used their wealth since the beginning of the transition to buy existing media operations and/or create new ones (Rutherfurd 2015). One of the most prominent broadcasting companies, Shwe Than Lwin Co., for example, built a large construction and media conglomerate during the time of the military regime that owns the Sky Net satellite television channel and other media interests (Ye Mon 2016). By contrast, DVB Multimedia Group, the only Burmese-owned independent broadcaster currently operating inside the country, continues to broadcast by satellite from Thailand, much as it did before the political transition began. It cannot 68

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