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Mind the gap, Tint Swe tells Rangoon journals
Irrawaddy - January 27, 2012
PSRD Director Tin Swe told the editors that Burma's censorship laws are still in effect and must be obeyed, despite the recent relaxation of media controls since a nominally civilian government came to power last year.
"He didn't threaten us. He just explained that we are in a transition period right now, so we have to continue to follow the rules that are still in place," said one editor, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The move came after reports earlier this week that several editors had been warned about publishing stories not approved by the PSRD. The editors were told that "action would be taken" against publications that did not abide by the board's guidelines.
While the PSRD has traditionally taken a hard line on any subject deemed sensitive by Burma's military rulers, in the past year, it has allowed the country's media to cover stories once considered completely off limits, including some political and social issues.
Even now, however, some topics remain taboo, such as allegations of vote buying by the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party and a decision by the official Buddhist monastic council, the Maha Nayaka Sangha, to evict the abbot of the Sadhu Pariyatti Monastery in Rangoon for his outspoken political views.
But this hasn't prevented many journals from testing the limits of their newfound freedom. Last weekend, for instance, several carried photos of a press conference by leading members of the 88 Generation Students group on their front pages.
The journals said that they weren't prevented from covering the press conference, but were not allowed to report everything the recently released former student activists said – including their accusation that the military had been "dishonest" in its dealings with Burma's ethnic minorities.
According to one journalist who attended the meeting at the PSRD office in Rangoon's Bahan Township on Wednesday, Tint Swe said he called them together because some journals had recently gone to print without first clearing stories with the censorship board.
But even as the former army major moved to reign in editors, many remain uncertain about the extent of their freedom and increasingly wary of crossing any invisible lines. This is an issue that isn't likely to be resolved anytime soon, at least not as long as Burma still lacks a media law that clearly delineates the new ground rules in the current era of "disciplined democracy."
There has been speculation since last year that Burma's new Parliament, which began its third session in Naypyidaw on Wednesday, is planning to introduce a new media law in the near future.
In an interview with Radio Free Asia on Wednesday, Tint Swe said that a new law that will "guarantee freedom of expression in Burma" has already been drafted, but isn't likely to be passed during the current session of Parliament. "Once it's adopted, the censorship department will be abolished," he added.
While the military-dominated legislature is not expected to offer sweeping media freedoms, it is widely hoped that at the very least, a new law could see the return of daily newspapers. "The more daily newspapers there are, the better it will be for the people.
The newspapers will be able to convey information to the public much more quickly, and it will be easier for the people to offer their criticism than it is now," said Maung Wun Tha, the editorial adviser to the Pyithu Khit journal, speaking to The Irrawaddy last October.
Meanwhile, in an interview with The Washington Post last week, President Thein Sein kept observers guessing about when his administration planned to put media freedoms into law.
Claiming that he has already made a significant break with the past in allowing current levels of press freedom, he made it clear that he felt the onus was on publishers to know their own limits – suggesting that his government would continue to rely on media self-censorship rather than more overt restrictions for the time being.
"The media needs to take responsibility and proper actions. Media freedom will be based on the accountability they have," he said in his first ever interview with a foreign news outlet.
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