Myanmar | RSF 5/5/25, 3:42 PM Burma, a media emblematic of the fight for press freedom. Many media outlets forced into exile have had to return to clandestine reporting techniques developed during the previous decades of military dictatorship to continue gathering reliable information inside the country. The government-controlled media, on the other hand, are just propaganda outlets that receive scant attention from the population. Political context The State Administration Council does not tolerate an alternative to its narrative. To this end, it has reestablished the system of prior censorship and prevented the media from covering the numerous human rights violations. The head of the junta, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, openly promotes a policy of terror towards journalists who do not toe the junta’s line. Legal framework As well as often taking completely arbitrary action, the generals almost systematically invoke the very vaguely worded Section 505 (a) of the Penal Code, under which “false information” is punishable by three years in prison. Use is also made of Section 66 (d) of the telecommunications law, another legal archaism that criminalises defamation and can be used to send a journalist to prison if anyone disputes what they have written. The junta's Ministry of Information frequently issues statements threatening action against media outlets that it accuses of promoting "terrorism, fear or instability." This broad classification is often applied to news articles documenting the country's ongoing conflicts. Economic context The privately owned media’s economic model was already fragile before the coup. Reporting by sites such as Myanmar Now and Mizzima had relatively few readers. As a result of the coup’s upheaval, the pro-government media have taken over the newsstands and airwaves, and the independent media have been reduced to clandestinity and therefore to even more uncertain modes of financing. At the start of 2022, the junta introduced a new system of taxation of Internet services, starting with SIM cards, the sole purpose of which is to make it harder for people to get news and information and to communicate online. Sociocultural context Before the 2021 coup, under the government of Aung San Suu Kyi, the climate surrounding press freedom was already difficult with the persistence of taboo issues, such as the plight of ethnic minorities. The biggest blow was the 2018 arrests of two Reuters journalists who had investigated a massacre of Rohingya civilians. They were subjected to a sham trial and finally pardoned. The case was followed by a surge in disinformation and hate speech on Facebook, whose failure to regulate content had a disastrous impact on public debate in Myanmar. Since the coup, the public has https://rsf.org/en/country/myanmar Page 2 of 3