edition-dw-akademie-in-the-service-of-the-public-functions-and-transformation-of-media-in-developing-countries-pdf

them Shan, Kayin, Rakhine, Mon, Chin, Kachin, Kayah, and afew other small indigenous and foreign ethnic groups, eachwith distinct cultures and languages. 8 Over 100 living languagesare listed in Myanmar. 9The Bamar dominance has been one major source of substantialethnic tensions. Ethnicities have repeatedly foughtfor greater equality as well as political influence and culturalautonomy. Even though the authorities have signed ceasefireagreements with the majority of the armed ethnic groupsthe longstanding history of ethnic conflicts has not yet beenovercome. 10 The picture is complicated by the fact that ethnicidentities are tightly bound to religious beliefs: over 80 percentof Myanmar’s populations, particularly Bamar citizens,are Buddhists. The other 20 percent are Muslim, Christian,Hindu or Animist. 11 It would be an oversimplification to defineMyanmar’s conflicts as religious per se, but they increasinglydo follow religious lines as ethnicity and religion are oftenclosely intertwined.One severe inter-communal conflict between BurmeseBuddhists and the Rohingya population, which are largelyMuslims, erupted mainly in the Rakhine State in 2012. Thepublication of a picture of a Buddhist woman, who had beenallegedly raped and murdered by Muslims, provoked violentriots in the Rakhine State as well as religious and ethnic violencein other areas – Miektila, Lashio and Sagaing Region.Such a publication was unheard of in the country. Beforethe transformation process, mainly state media reported oncommunal violence, “which did not allow the same scope andspread of information as the current online and legacy mediaspace.” 12 The Rohingya conflict is long-standing but variousinternational experts raise awareness about the opening ofthe information space and the lack of capacity to deal withthis newly won freedom. 13Against this backdrop, it is crucially important that Myanmardevelops a pluralistic, tolerant and well-informed society.Media play a key role as the availability and accessibility ofinformation is central in this process. The process, however, isby no means a linear one.Media LandscapeFor over fifty years, Myanmar’s media landscape had beensuppressed by an omnipresent censorship system. Media lawsprevented journalists and media organizations from publishingfreely. It was only in late 2012 that the announcement ofa series of upcoming media regulation and licensing reformsled to an ease of governmental control that gave independentmedia organizations the opportunity to become part of Myanmar’srapidly developing media landscape. Undoubtedly, theworld is witnessing a radical change in the entire media sector,which has affected private as well as state-owned media.The print sector is best characterized by its diversity andits fast pace of development. A growing number of weeklynewspapers 14 and magazines are available. According to of-ficial government reports, 385 journals and 260 magazineswere offered in July 2013, with about 90 percent operating inYangon. 15 For the first time in fifty years, private daily newspaperswere allowed to publish as of 1st April 2013. For Myanmara revolutionary development, as this used to be an exclusivedomain for state media. There are some ten private 16 andsix state-owned newspapers published on a daily basis. 17 Thethree daily nationwide newspapers – New Light of Myanmar(English Edition), Myanmar Alin, Kyehmon (The Mirror) – areoperated and run by the Ministry of Information (MoI) andshall be transformed into public service media. 18 Despite thelasting absence of private daily newspapers, the print sectoris considered to be the opinion leader of the ongoing mediareform process, discussing, analyzing, and criticizing politicalactions. 19 The end of the prepublication censorship in 2012 andthe lifting of the prohibition of certain topics further strengthenedthe print media in their new role. Nevertheless, notablyself-censorship is a common practice amongst journalists, especiallywhen it comes to sensitive topics such as ethnic conflicts,land-grabbing, the military or corruption. 20Yet, due to high levels of poverty and illiteracy, as well aspoor infrastructure and distribution networks, the reach of theprint sector is particularly limited to the cities, especially Yangonand Mandalay and local-language print media are scant asthe ban to publish in ethnic languages was only lifted in late2012. 21 Therefore, broadcast media, especially radio (62%), remainsthe primary source of information and news, followedby TV (45%) and print (15%) (as of 2011/2012). 22 It should benoted, however, that there are striking differences in mediausage between people living in cities and those living in ruralareas where two-thirds of the population lives. To give just oneexample, while 67 percent of the urban population uses TV tolisten to news at least once a week, this number stands at 35percent in small towns and rural areas. 23While print media are experiencing a new dimension offreedom, the situation in the broadcasting sector is quite differentas it is still primarily controlled by the state and far lessfreedom has been granted to it. 24 “I think the government stilllikes to control the broadcast media because they understandwell the impact of broadcast media,” 25 said the director of anonline broadcaster in an interview conducted by BBC MediaAction. Currently, it comprises the state-run Myanmar Radioand Television (MRTV), the army-run Myawaddy and a handfulof TV broadcasters, which are predominantly joint venturesbetween the state and private sector. 26 In addition to the threeexisting nationwide AM radio programs, run by the government,few FM licenses to private companies to cover one ormore of Myanmar’s eight regions had been granted at the endof the last decade. 27 But similar to the print market, radio coverageis concentrated on and produced in central areas. Againstthis backdrop, community based broadcasters producing anddisseminating local news and information in ethnic languagesseems particularly important. Currently there appears to be nolegal community broadcaster in Myanmar due to the absence142