Burma’s Journalists behind bars

 

_ By Taisamyone

Free speech is one of tenets of an open society – one in which the truth of events and different opinions can be expressed without fear or torture or imprisonment – one must of course add that in expressing views we do not offend a sector of the community on the basis of race, religion, etc.  This does not mean that we are nice to each other all of the time, but that we respect one another’s views, and can agree to disagree.  State control of media in the form of censorship is often invoked by countries to protect state secrets (especially in time of war) and to restrict pornographic or other offensive material.  This is usually achieved with legislation setting out the rules of the game between government and media. 

With the openness of modern internet and telephone communications, any censorship becomes almost meaningless on a world stage and only effective locally.  The Committee to Protect Journalists’ list of journalists imprisoned in 2006 ranked Burma as the fifth top jailer of journalists (China is number one), where “censorship and harassment of the local media were pervasive”.  But on the basis of this ranking the USA is number 7!  However, the regime of press censorship in Burma has been honed over the last 45 years of military rule to prevent any journalist the opportunity to publish material which the SPDC does not want published, and to prevent foreign journalists from entering the country to report events.  Internet censorship and control is considered to be more severe than even in China and Vietnam.

But it isn’t just repressive governments that impose press censorship; armed terrorist gangs and drug cartels are among the leaders in RSF’s Predators of Press Freedom (Than Shwe described as a paranoid general, Burma is listed as a paradise for censors).  The BBC has this week welcomed the release from captivity of Alan Johnson who had been abducted by the Army of Islam and held hostage for 16 weeks.  His release came after numerous Palestinian journalists and the BBC promoted a signature campaign and a Muslim Cleric group, the Popular Resistance Committee, negotiated with his abductors.  This is a remarkable achievement compared with the efforts of the UN and many international organisations to obtain release for the hostages of the SPDC’s repression of journalism.

According to the Committee for Protecting Journalists, Burma remained one of the most repressive places for journalists, trailing only North Korea on CPJ’s 10 Most Censored Countries list. Reporting on Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy political party, debates about government policies, news that unfavourably reflected upon the junta - all were strictly prohibited.

The journalist in detention the longest is U Win Tin, who has served 18 years on various anti-state charges. The 77-year-old’s health has deteriorated in recent years, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma (AAPPB), relying mostly on his family for treatment, with a 2-monthly check-up by the prison doctor. According to Amnesty International, U Win Tin was eligible for early release with time off for good behaviour in July 2006, but remains imprisoned.  RSF have just released a call for his release on the 18^th anniversary of his imprisonment, signed by numerous independent media organisations from around the world. 

Other writers and journalists have been imprisoned for writing poems obliquely referring to the NLD, a history of student politics, or taking unauthorised photographs of NayPyiDaw.  Journalists who attend the courses run by the US and UK embassies are openly criticised in the state media.  Local journalists are encouraged to attend state sponsored journalism courses, which promote the writing of articles showing the SPDC and its efforts in a positive light, while attacking any foreign reports or articles critical of the regime – i.e. a course to reinforce the censorship and state propaganda message and not one that seeks to develop an independent and truthful source of information.  The state information ministry has stepped up attempts in not only spreading dis-information (lies), but of refuting any criticism that appears in foreign reports (witness their recent attempt at discrediting the ICRC after the ICRC report on humanitarian abuses by the regime). 

The SPDC targets not just individual journalists, but public access to information from non-state owned and foreign media, with longer jail sentences for offenders.  E-Mail access is restricted, with most users forced to use the state controlled and hence state monitored e-mail service.  Google’s G-Mail voice service is suppressed, as it is difficult to monitor by Military Intelligence.  

References

¨       Reporters Without Borders - Burma - Annual report 2007

¨       CPJ – Burma – Attacks on the Press 2006

¨       Joint call for U Win Tin's release on 18th anniversary of his arrest

¨       World Press Freedom Day

¨       Committee to Protect Journalists

¨       Reporters Without Borders

¨       Amnesty International