Press Freedom News: Myanmar’s Government Takes a Big Step Backward
The conviction of two local Reuters reporters in Yangon, Myanmar, last month ignited protests in major cities and attracted scorching condemnation from foreign embassies and NGO’s.
Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were arrested in December 2017, during their investigation into the military massacre of 10 Rohingya men at the height of the crisis that has plagued Rakhine State. On Sept. 3, after a nine-month trial, the pair were convicted under the colonial-era State Secrets Act and sentenced to seven years’ jail time with hard labor.
Immediately after the ruling, 83 local organizations, including media groups and human rights activists, released a letter calling for their release and slamming the Aung San Suu Kyi-led government. The administration was accused of backsliding on press freedoms that had been expanded during the preceding quasi-civilian Thein Sein administration.
“We take this as a crackdown on the rights of access to information and media freedom, and an oppressive gesture towards all concerned people of Myanmar who aspire to build a society characterized by the rule of law, accountability, freedom and justice,” the statement read.
Support for the pair is strong among local journalists, who say the verdict will have a chilling effect on investigative reporters. Freelance photojournalist Tin Htet Paing fears the police may target her and her work, saying, “Personally, it scares me. I try to be more secretive and cautious now.”
She pointed to evidence against the Reuters duo that was cited by the ruling judge – the presence of ethnic army members’ contacts in the two journalists’ phones. The use of such “evidence,” she believes, means that any reporter could now be targeted.
Outraged journalists launched an #ArrestMeToo campaign on social media shortly after the shock verdict was announced. The online campaign statement reads: “If a journalist was arrested for the data and phone numbers they collected . . . arrest me too.”
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo’s detainment and subsequent trial had become a landmark press freedom case under the National League for Democracy government. Observers expected the NLD government would prioritize press freedom, particularly given that many are former political prisoners, writers and poets. It was those credentials that helped propel the former opposition party to its landslide victory in 2015.
Reporter Aye Naing, who was arrested with two colleagues in 2017 after covering a drug burning ceremony held by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, says journalists were safer under former president Thein Sein, who abolished newspaper censorship and ushered in the freest media climate in decades.
“Under the U Thein Sein government, Myanmar opened to the world, and foreign journalists could enter the country,” he said. “The world praised the previous government. It did the right thing. And we expected press freedom would improve under the NLD government because we believed in our [the NLD] leaders. In fact, it has not been what we expected.”
Both Aye Naing and Tin Htet Paing maintain that the government has wrongly charged domestic media with failing to protect the country’s reputation. Deputy Information Minister Aung Hla Tun – himself a former Reuters correspondent – has frequently cited “safe- guarding” the national image as a priority for reporters.
But Tin Htet Paing says Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo’s actions are proof they are committed to Myanmar. “They did what they did because they care about this crisis, they care about wrongdoings that should not be allowed to continue,” she said.
Reflecting on Minister Aung Hla Tun’s warnings, Aye Naing went further: “If a journalist discloses a truth, it does not mean that they are betraying Myanmar. Disclosing the truth is good for the country. If journalists give priority to the truth, the country will project a good image to the rest of the world.”
