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A NEW ERA is to begin in Myanmar tomorrow when decades of restrictions on the country’s print media are relaxed.
The previous military junta’s 50-year-old restrictions on private media – with only state-run newspapers allowed to publish on a daily basis, as other titles were relegated to weekly (or even more infrequent publication) – are to come to an end at the turn of the month.
16 titles – which were previously only issued in heavy, bound ‘journal’ format – are being allowed to publish daily editions as part of the relaxation of censorship rules by the semi-civilian administration that has been in power since 2011.
Last year the administration lifted its requirement that all printed works be pre-approved – a rule which meant that even non-threatening works like children’s storybooks had to be submitted for official inspection before being released to the public.
Since then, criticism of the administration has become commonplace – while reporting of parliamentary affairs, and in particular of the contributions from opposition parties like Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, is no longer the taboo it once was.
That party’s newspaper, ‘D-Wave’, is one of the 16 papers which will turn daily in the coming months.
“Newspapers are really important because they are the mirror of the people,” said Nyan Win, a party spokesman, who told AFP that the party was likely to see extra revenue from newspaper sales – though it could be difficult to find enough content for daily editions given the relatively poor journalistic history in the country.
He said the party had not decided whether to expand editorial coverage to include general, non-political news – but that the question would not arise until July, when the paper gathers enough editorial staff to begin a daily edition.
The developments could prove an interesting experiment in seeing how news is consumed in developing countries. Having been a virtual no-go area for foreign investment under military rule, Myanmar is now aggressively marketing itself as being ripe for an economic boom.
However, the country’s population is still largely centred around the capital, Yangon – and transport difficulties mean only those living in the capital will be able to receive a paper on a daily basis.
But that could change dramatically as economic development increases, and a reliance on foreign corporations brings the inevitable wave of mobile phones.
As the Nieman Lab reports, mobile phone ownership in Yangon and the second city of Mandalay has exploded in the last year – bringing with it a wave of interest in websites like Facebook.
The immediate surge in mobile ownership has already seen some of the restricted titles move to a digital-first model, where news is posted to the web in order to allow immediate distribution before censors can step in.
In many cases – including that of The Irrawaddy, the news website with the largest global profile – it is easier to provide news from abroad, with journalists living just over the border in Thailand or India posting updates for the native population.
It remains to be seen whether economic expansion will mean a wider proliferation of mobile phones, and of resulting internet use – but the effects of an independent media being spread to the 90 per cent of residents who don’t have bank accounts, let alone an internet connection, could be very profound.
Additional reporting by AFP
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You can get some dodgy fifty euro notes in the south. This is old news, to me anyhow.
You are dead right Paul. You earn the money you decide how to spend it. If I lived closer to the border I would definitely shop north. The biggest reason for higher prices here is “rip off”. And to all the red thumb merchants. B******s.
Dead right, I buy Irish goods from Irish suppliers and English goods from English suppliers. Why should I buy English goods at inflated prices from an Irish middle man? Only exception I make is on the rare occasion when I have bought Irish goods in England cheaper than in Ireland. Now that’s wrong pricing somewhere surely! Source of origin on food labels is misleading and almost impossible to ascertain. For instance a food product can be imported from abroad and repackaged with a local suppliers ID labelling, so the country of origin is lost to the consumer.
Why tell them that? They are worse than the TD’s stealing from the people. People who shop in the north should go live up there and earn their living up there. If they ever need an ambulance , fire brigade, police, etc go and call the services up north as that is what you are doing by shopping up there. If you want to keep the few people who have jobs in work in the south ie your neighbour or family member than stay and pay a little towards their employment. Dare I suggest you reduce your purchases by 10% in the south and everybody would be better off. When I see the fat people from the south pushing trolled in the stores up north I think they could do with a lot less shopping.
I go up north and do some shopping. I did it last weekend actually! I spent 170 euro on beer, and a net book. Everything else was more or less the same price or cheaper down south. But I didn’t go up north to save money ( although I did ) I went up for the day out. I can’t afford holidays anywhere. I stay at my house for my holidays. I work and have practically zero left ( some months less than zero left) each month. I pay way more than my fair share of taxes and I am entitled to spend 175 euro while I am on my ( holidays).
I assume that you holiday at home, buy only Irish products every week?
Don’t judge me, you don’t know me! Besides, I believe in a United Ireland. Our government has cross border trade and governmental institutions set up. If our government says by it’s actions that it is ok then it’s ok by me. And another thing, the majority of the civil construction tenders are awarded by our government departments to northern construction companies because of price, so cop on and grow up.
I use PayPal for everything
Interesting that you judge me – I may be disabled for all you know! Construction workers are loosing jobs to northern contractors you say – I rest my case. When you are directly impacted it is wrong yet when our retailers and producers are impacted it is not a concern to you. It makes the case for the government shopping up north for cheaper contractors. I think it is wrong yet I am on my own on this I think.
We have plenty of fake banknotes down here. They are called “euros”.
Just use a credit card for shopping And pay it off in full, easiet way.
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