Government moves to clarify media law

Government moves to clarify media law

By Sandar Lwin   |   Monday, 26 May 2014

Publishers have welcomed efforts by the government to define hate speech and language detrimental to state security in an attempt to clarify the Printing and Publishing Enterprise Law passed last March.

The government is working with publishing and media representatives on definitions of offensive language, which can be banned by the courts, as part of the follow-up to the passage of the law.

The definitions would be contained in a by-law now being drafted by the Ministry of Information.

In a meeting with media and publishing organisations on drafting the by-law, the Deputy Minister for Information U Ye Htut said it was difficult to pinpoint speech detrimental to state security and hate speech because the original law did not define them, and warned that there was a risk of exceeding the original law.

According to section 8 of the law, a person or organisation can apply to the court to ban hate speech, speech detrimental to state security, the rule of law, public order and citizens' rights, or language that is offensive because of references to sex or gambling.

Although the ministry did not try to define these clauses, responding to the critics and advice from international consultants it will now try to identify factors to be considered in defining offensive speech, said the deputy minister.

"Critics say there could be bias in defining these categories of speech, but international consultants also say the laws in their countries usually include the ways judges and complainants should understand those clauses," he said.

"We will stipulate in the by-law the factors that should be considered in defining such speech," he said, adding that the Attorney General's Office might not agree to any stipulation that appeared to go beyond the original legislation.

The approval of Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, which ensures that by-laws enacted by the Union government are in line with the original legislation, would also be required.

Some of the factors being proposed for inclusion in the by-law are the stature of the publication in question, the target audience, the influence of the concerned person, the possible hidden purpose of the publication, the level of seriousness of the alleged offence, the level of attention generated by the publication and the conditions necessary to ban or not.

The Publishers' Association said it welcomed the ministry's attempts to define offensive speech and would submit further suggestions. "We will send feedback to the ministry after thoroughly considering the outline factors suggested by the ministry," U Myo Aung, chair of the Publishers' Association, said at the meeting.

Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2014/05/27/government-moves-to-clarify-media-law/