Myanmar media outlets condemn regional media forum for inviting junta propagandist

By DMG 10 Sep 2022

DMG Newsroom
10 September 2022, Sittwe

Thirty-three independent Myanmar media organisations released a joint statement on Friday condemning the organisers of a recent regional media forum for allowing Myanmar’s military regime to speak at the forum.

U Aye Chan, as a representative of the junta-appointed Myanmar Press Council (MPC), attended the Dili Dialogue Forum 2022 held in Timor-Leste from August 25-26. He is a son of former Myanmar Navy chief Vice Admiral Soe Thane, who served as a President’s Office minister under the quasi-civilian U Thein Sein government.

At the annual regional media forum, U Aye Chan gave a presentation titled “Media Challenges in Myanmar,” in which he defended last year’s military coup, and alleged that local media outlets covering the post-coup situation in Myanmar are spreading fake news and worsening the country’s crisis.

The Dili Dialogue Forum has been a venue to discuss regional media issues since 2017.

The chief editor of The Irrawaddy news agency, U Aung Zaw, questioned the motive behind inviting a regime ally to the regional media forum.

“Who invited [U Aye Chan] to the forum and with what intention? That a UN agency like UNESCO has invited the MPC and allowed it to speak its lopsided stories raises questions about its intentions,” said U Aung Zaw.

U Aye Chan did not utter a single word that reflected the real situation concerning press freedom in Myanmar, said the 33 media agencies in their statement on Friday.

The forum instead provided a platform for the regime to spread its propaganda and its narrative of massive voter fraud in the 2020 general election, which it used to justify its subsequent takeover, said the statement.

The joint statement was intended to remind the international community of the regime’s crackdown on the press, said the founder of the Arakan State-based Border News Agency, U Kaung Myat Naing.

“Both before and after the coup, media outlets have had their licences revoked, and journalists were detained and prosecuted across Myanmar, including in Arakan State. However, as they [the junta-appointed MPC] are accusing media outlets of distorting their reporting on the country, we have added our voices to the joint statement,” said U Kaung Myat Naing.

The media agencies also called for facilitating their cooperation with press councils in fellow Southeast Asian countries to counter misinformation and fake news spread by Myanmar’s military regime.

“There is little chance for news agencies and press freedom to revive and thrive like before under the junta’s suppression of media,” said U Aung Zaw.

Since the coup on February 1 of last year, more than 140 journalists were arrested and 57 of them remain detained, while four died in military custody, according to the joint statement. The regime has also revoked the licences of 11 media outlets in Myanmar.