'Help us build a new Myanmar' - Online Burma Library

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September 17 - 23, 2012
By Thomas Kean and
Nan Tin Htwe
SENIOR officials from
the British Broadcasting
Corporation’s World Service
last week met government
officials and private
broadcasters to push for
the opportunity to operate
legally inside Myanmar.
Following a recent
invitation from the
government, the BBC
delegation also proposed
providing editorial and
production training to
journalists and editors at
state media outlets and
some private organisations,
including Forever Group
and Sky Net.
“The first thing that
we want to do is offer a
substantial training package
and to establish a project
office,” BBC World Service
director Peter Horrocks
told The Myanmar Times
on September 8.
“We would hope to be
able to develop from that
a regular presence here for
our journalists … but we
also want to work closely
with the media sector in
Burma to help it to reform,
to improve its standards,”
Mr Horrocks said.
“That ability to do the
journalism from here is
really important and the
ability for people here to
be able to see and hear
our journalism is really
important. We would like all
of our services in English,
both television and radio,
but also our Burmese
language radio service to
be on air as well and we’ll
be talking to people about
the possibility of that, not
least because it would be
good for the people inside
the country to see and hear
the journalism and be able
to judge it for themselves.”
Despite the strict internal
censorship at state media
outlets, Mr Horrocks said
the BBC felt “the time is
right” to start training
government journalists.
“I think it’s partly the
opportunity is there, we’re
being invited, but it’s also
something the BBC thinks
about carefully, in terms of
whether it’s appropriate to
be working with journalistic
organisations that haven’t
previously been free and
independent.,” he said.
“The key test for us will be
can we deliver our journalism
training in a way that’s true
to the BBC’s standards.
So we’re insisting that we
provide the full range of
journalism training, not just
the technical production
training but also editorial
training, ethical training,
and we’ll want to make
sure we can deliver that full
package, including values
that maybe some years
ago wouldn’t have been
welcomed in this country.”
The broadcaster is already
training independent
journalists in Myanmar
through its Media Action
program and remains
committed to supporting the
private sector, Mr Horrocks
said.
“I think the important
thing is to provide training
at various different levels.
It’s also important that
we’re providing training
to the media scene as a
whole; it’s not just about
training that we’ll offer
to the government or the
government’s agencies.
“We want to work with
private broadcasters as well
as the state broadcasters.
And we want to make sure
that we’re supporting and
training frontline journalists
in production skills but most
importantly in editorial
values.”
He said it is more
important than ever
journalists have access to
training, particularly on
ethics, now pre-publication
censorship has been
abolished.
“It’s important for
journalists in any country
where the media suddenly
becomes much more free
to realise that that doesn’t
mean there are no rules.
Journalism needs to be
responsible … I think there
are still further things
that need to happen for
[Myanmar’s media sector]
to meet true international
standards but there clearly
have been improvements.”
The BBC’s Burmeselanguage
service was
routinely pilloried by the
military regime for its
perceived bias but more
recently has come under
fire from Myanmar who
accuse its journalists of
misreporting the recent
conflict in Rakhine State.
Specifically, BBC
journalists were accused of
skewing their coverage in
favour of the Rohingya, a
Muslim minority referred
to as Bengalis inside
Myanmar.
Mr Horrocks said the
BBC was open to criticism
and was “always asking
itself questions about its
reporting”.
“I know that the criticism
from within Myanmar
has been about whether
the reporting from the
BBC has taken the side
too much of the Muslim
population. Interestingly,
around the world, we’ve
had a lot of criticism that
we have not reported the
story sufficiently and we
haven’t given enough of a
perspective on the violence
against Muslims,” he said.
“It’s not unusual in
situations of community,
sectarian violence for people
to have strong views on
either side and for criticism
to follow. Our job is not
to take sides, [it is] to tell
all sides of the story, even
if that sometimes makes
some people uncomfortable
because they’re hearing
views that they may not
agree with.
“We’ll always have ears
that are open to criticism and
if there are specific mistakes
we’ve made or things that
we haven’t reported fairly
we’ll always look into those
and if there are things that
the government or other
people want to raise with
me while I’m in the country
then I’d be happy to look
into those.”
Allowing the BBC to
operate inside Myanmar
would help to improve the
broadcaster’s coverage of
the country, he said.
“Obviously it’s hard to
report accurately on things
when you’re reporting from
further away. So while I
wouldn’t accept there has
been bias, clearly accuracy
can be improved when
you’re close to a story.
“The story in Myanmar
is a very important global
story. We’ve been able to
cover it a little more easily
in the past year or so with
reporters coming in on an
occasional basis but we
want to be able to report
from here more regularly.”
The broadcaster was also
involved in another recent
controversy after it emerged
that it was employing
Ronald Aung Naing, a
former All Burma Students’
Democratic Front member
accused of orchestrating
a brutal massacre in the
organisation’s Northern
Burma branch in 1992.
He worked for BBC Media
Action until late May, when
he was fired for his links to
the massacre, in which 15
members of the group were
executed for allegedly being
Military Intelligence spies
and another 19 died during
6
the MyanMar tiMes
BBC pushes for Myanmar presence
Senior officials meet government, private broadcasters to discuss training and distribution of BBC programs
BBC World Service director Peter Horrocks during last week’s visit to Myanmar. Pic: Ko Taik
‘ Our job is...to
tell all sides of
the story, even if
that sometimes
makes people
uncomfortable
because they’re
hearing views
that they may not
agree with .’
interrogation.
In a letter to Londonbased
Oak Foundation
dated June 1, BBC Media
Action director Caroline
Nursey said Ronald
Aung Naing had been
employed as a translator
on the broadcaster’s Burma
Horizon project.
She said that when the
BBC had learned of his
links to the ABSDF on May
28 “we made the decision
that we should end our
association with Ronald
Aung Naing”, who she said
had previously worked
for “other international
organisations”.
Noting that Ronald Aung
Naing “has not denied any
wrongdoing”, Ms Nursey
said the BBC “view this
situation very seriously”.
Mr Horrocks said he
felt the BBC had handled
the issue “effectively” and
that it wouldn’t harm the
organisation’s reputation in
Myanmar.
“It’s the sort of thing that
can happen in the kinds
of conflicts and pressures
in such a tense political
situation as there has been
in Burma and Thailand but
I think that the controversy
about those circumstances
made it inappropriate for
that individual to be working
for the BBC and that’s why
we are no longer employing
that individual,” he said.
He said he had “made
my teams aware of” the
importance of conducting
stricter background checks
on prospective employees.
“ It’s very difficult,
especially when you can’t
necessarily completely check
the circumstances, when
there are controversies like
this but I think being aware
of the way something may
be seen can be important,
as well as the substance of
it. … I think that we dealt
with it effectively.”