Growing pains: Myanmar's ethnic media

Growing pains: Myanmar's ethnic media

By Tim McLaughlin   |   Wednesday, 26 June 2013

AS daily newspapers return and an overhaul of state mouthpieces begins, Myanmar's ethnic media outlets are quietly finding their place in the country's shifting media landscape by expanding operations and offering more balanced reporting.

The largest of these ethnic outlets cooperate through Burma News International, a network of 11 independent news organisations, but there are also community newspapers and dozens of blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts manned by citizen-journalists that are reporting on ethnic regions.

They are testament to Myanmar's ethnic diversity but are united in their belief that Myanmar's more mainstream news coverage has predominately reported from the perspective of the majority Bamar. But this criticism not only applies to state-controlled broadcasters and private sector weekly and daily journals.

"True ethnic voices can be heard from ethnic media outlets while Bamar-dominated media outlets, including [British Broadcasting Corporation], [Voice of America] and [Radio Free Asia], mainly present news and perspectives from majority Bamar points of views," said Brang Hkangda, the editor of the English section of Kachinland News.

The agency which operates from the Kachin Independence Organisation capital of Laiza in Kachin State and the northern Californian city of Fremont.

Brang's sentiments are shared by many of his fellow journalists in the sector.

"It is important in the new media landscape in Burma that there is a diversity of 'voices' that represent the country's people," said Phil Thornton, a journalist and author who has covered Myanmar extensively and in June 2011 helped to start the not-for-profit Karen News.

The growing interest in Myanmar has driven up readership and ethnic media outlets are also beginning to find a seat at the country's media table gaining more acceptance by the government and mainstream outlets. But with this comes the challenge of finding a new editorial voice that avoids bias along ethnic or political lines. While most ethnic minority journalists accuse mainstream publications of bias, journalists in Yangon often view ethnic outlets as mouthpieces for armed groups and their political wings.

Mr Thornton said he believes that the issue is not unique to ethnic media outlets in Myanmar but sees progress being made.

He pointed to recent Karen News articles that criticised the Karen National Union and Karen National Liberation Army as indications that ethnic media outlets have begun to look at issues through a more objective lens. He said he hopes that a more balanced account of events will make Karen News a valuable source of information for other journalists reporting on Myanmar.

"It provides a great opportunity for other journalists to source information they can't access," said Mr Thornton.

Founder and editor-in-chief of the Independent Mon News Agency, Nai Kasauh Mon, conceded that in the past his agency was overly focused on the views of opposition groups in Mon State. However, he said the shift from Thailand to Mawlamyine earlier this year has allowed it to report in a more balanced manner.

"When we were outside writing the news was very difficult. We could only get one source from an opposition group and trying to confirm it we would find that no one wanted to talk to media that works outside. But now in [Mawlamyine] our publication can get all sources that we want to get," he said.

"Now we are more likely to maintain journalistic standards than when we were outside. It is an achievement."

While these publications are looking to improve their editorial standards and coverage they are also looking to expand their operations at a time when Myanmar is capturing the world's interest.

"It will definitely grow in terms of reporters and news coverage," Brang Hkangda said of Kachinland News.

However, he said that expansion was made difficult by the lack of properly trained journalists and secure income streams. These concerns were echoed by Mr Thornton and Nai Kasauh Mon.

Karen News "runs on the smell of an oily rag", Mr Thornton said of its budget, while Nai Kasauh Mon said his agency's "current situation is not sufficient financially".

Mr Thornton said, however, that there was no shortage of young people eager to become journalists and that the problem was access to training.

With important events often happening outside state capitals, Nai Kasauh Mon said he believed a special focus should be placed on training journalists who live in remote and rural areas.

"The remote areas we cannot reach within one day," Nai Kasauh Mon said, adding that travelling for stories place a significantstrain on his "very, very" small newsroom, which has six staff.

These are difficulties shared in Karen State, where the decades-old civil war has left a legacy of lack of development.

"To get the first-hand information or to talk to villagers, we have to travel to the area – it can take days or weeks and communication services are poor," said Karen News reporter, Saw Wei Thoo, adding that reporters also have to worry about landmines and disease when visiting remote areas.

Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2013/06/26/growing-pains-myanmars-ethnic-media/