Burma's Press Freedom Ranking: Twelve-spot climb up but still needs drastic improvement
The index climb up
According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released of their 2017
World Press Freedom Index on April 26, Burma or Myanmar managed to jump up 12
spots on the list this year, coming in at 131 out of 180 countries, amid claims
of mounting official censorship under the Section 66(d) of Telecommunications Law. Burma was ranked 143
in 2016, and the year before that, 144.
While East Timor, which ranked 98, is the only south-east Asian country
to break the top 100, Burma is now the the third on the list among the official
Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN). It is topped by Indonesia
(124), the Philippines (127) and followed by Cambodia (132).
The rest of the ASEAN nations were ranked, in descending order with
Thailand (142), Malaysia (144), Singapore (151), and Brunei (156).
Globally, Norway came in first with a global score of 7.6 and North
Korea was placed last, as widely expected.
But Burma is labeled as a ‘difficult situation’ on RSF’s Freedom of the
Press map despite of its improved twelve-spot climb up, upward trend, its
global score actually dropped by 3.66. In 2016, it scored 45.48 and 41.82 for
this year 2017.
The RSF's press freedom map offers a visual overview of the scores of
all the countries in the index, with color categorization assigned as follows:
·
From 0 to 15 points: Good
(white)
·
From 15.01 to 25 points:
Fairly good (yellow)
·
From 25.01 to 35 points:
Problematic (orange)
·
From 35.01 to 55 points:
Bad (red)
·
From 55.01 to 100 points:
Very bad (black)
Meanwhile on May 2, the eve of World Press Freedom Day, fourteen media
freedom and rights groups including PEN Myanmar, the Myanmar Journalist
Association, Burma News International (BNI), Assistance
Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), Myanmar IT for Development
Organization, Yangon Journalism School, and Pyi Gyi Khin released their
“scorecard”, said to be held at the PEN Myanmar office in Rangoon. Assessing
improvements to the free expression environment across six areas, the NLD was
given a score of 8 out of a maximum 60 points.
An eight-page assessment report on the country’s
landscape concerning freedom of expression under one year of NLD government
leadership, the mentioned local lobbyists and rights groups claimed that there
is “no clear path forward” developed by the new government concerning the
issue.
“Acknowledging that the challenges for reversing
decades of repression are significant, [assessment] participants pointed to
multiple areas in which no clear path forward has been explicated by the new
government, let alone embarked upon,” the assessment stated, according to The
Irrawaddy report of May 2.
RSF criteria categories and indicators
The degree of freedom available to journalists in 180 countries is determined
by pooling the responses of experts to a questionnaire devised by RSF. This
qualitative analysis is combined with quantitative data on abuses and acts of
violence against journalists during the period evaluated, said the RSF website.
Accordingly, the translated questionnaire into 20 languages including
English, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Indonesian and Korean is sent to
journalists, media lawyers, researchers and other media specialists selected by
RSF in the 180 countries covered by the Index. Each country is assigned a score
based on the answers provided by these experts and on the figures for acts of
violence and abuses against journalists during the previous year.
The questionnaire focuses on such criteria categories as the country’s
performance includes the following:
1.
Pluralism - Measures the
degree to which opinions are represented in the media;
2.
Media independence -
Measures the degree to which the media are able to function independently of
sources of political, governmental, business and religious power and influence.
3.
Environment and
self-censorship - Analyses the environment in which news and information
providers operate.
4.
Legislative framework -
Measures the impact of the legislative framework governing news and information
activities.
5.
Transparency - Measures
the transparency of the institutions and procedures that affect the production
of news and information.
6.
Infrastructure - Measures
the quality of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and
information.
A seventh indicator based on data gathered about abuses and acts of
violence against journalists and media during the period evaluated is also
factored into the calculation.
7.
Abuses -Measures the
level of abuses and violence.
Each indicator is given a score between 0 and 100, according to the RSF.
RSF accusations and high profile cases
The current analysis of RSF on Burma wrote “media freedom unfortunately
does not have a place amongst the new government’s priorities,” and stressed
that “self-censorship continues in connection to government officials and
military officers.”
“The authorities continue to exert pressure on the media and even
intervene directly to get editorial policies changed,” the analysis added.
Remarkably, on its barometer indicators no journalists were shown as
being killed, even though
in December last year, RSF called on authorities to ‘step up
investigation’ into Daily Eleven newspaper reporter Soe Moe Tun’s death, and
just earlier this April, for a ‘thorough investigation’ into the death of Iron
Rose editor Wai Yan Heinn. Last year November, it also campaigned for the
release of Eleven Media’s CEO and editor-in-chief, who were being held on
defamation charges.
On December 13 last year, reporter Soe Moe Tun was found bludgeoned to
death on the side of a road in Monywa, in Burma's northwestern region. The
reporter had covered many sensitive topics, including illegal logging, before
his killing. Recent media reports indicate that no progress has been made in
solving the case.
On April 16, the body of Wai Yan Heinn, the 27-year-old publisher and
editor of Iron Rose, was found slumped in a chair with 15 stab wounds in his in
his chest and abdomen, after neighbors reported a strong odor coming from his
first-floor office in Pazundaung township in the commercial capital Yangon,
according to the RFA report of April 21.
Earlier in October 2014, freelance journalist Aung Kyaw Naing, also
known as Par Gyi, was shot and killed in military custody in Burma's
southeastern Mon State. A military court acquitted two soldiers of his death
the following month. Police stopped investigating a separate civil complaint in
April 2016 after a court ruled the reporter had died of "unnatural
causes," news reports at the time said.
A total of 66 people have been charged under article 66 (d) since the
law’s adoption in 2013 - 54 of them since the current government took over,
according to RSF report of April 12.
Under the Section 66(d) Telecommunications Law, “extorting, coercing,
restraining wrongfully, defaming, disturbing, causing undue influence or
threatening to any person by using any Telecommunications Network,” could be
penalized.
One such most outstanding case is a by-lawsuit filed by the Rangoon
regional chief minister against the CEO of Eleven Media; and the other, a
researcher Myo Yan Naung Thein to a six-month jail term for criticizing the
head of Burma’s armed forces on the Facebook.
Strengthening private media
Regarding the strengthening of private media landscape, an interesting
Editorial Talk in the Democratic Voice of Burma discussed and aired the present
situation and some sort of remedial solution that might be useful on April 29,
which is highly interesting.
The Voice editor in chief Kyaw Min Swe pointed out that the hope for the
situation to be better following the regime change has not materialized, even
minimally.
He said: “Besides the government and private media, there are
semi-government and semi-official media also. And as such, theoretically there
is bound to be competition in the market place, where the private media has to
compete with the government. But the problem is the government that is supposed
to be the judge is also competing, which is a hindrance to the strengthening of
the private media sector. And with its competition comes the inequality to
information accessibility, as has been heard time and again, like banning entry
of the private media to government press conference and government related
issues.”
He suggested that “the government should drastically reduced its media participation
as a producer as it is not a proper thing to be competing with the private
media; should promote policies that would lift up the country's economy, as it
is essential for the private media to survive, which is partially dependent on
the buying power – like insertion of advertisement in the media - of the
business people; and should instill media literacy awareness to all government
institutions, including the Military, the public and the media people
themselves.”
Media literacy for the media people is essential to become
professionalized and matured so that the government could not say that it has
to be there as the private media is not up to the standard, he said.
“Media Literacy is a 21st century approach to education. It provides a
framework to access, analyze, evaluate, create and participate with messages in
a variety of forms — from print to video to the Internet. Media literacy builds
an understanding of the role of media in society as well as essential skills of
inquiry and self-expression necessary for citizens of a democracy,” according
to the Center for Media Literacy (CML), an educational organization that
provides leadership, public education, professional development and educational
resources nationally and internationally.
It is assumed that The Voice editor in chief's assumption on media
literacy is identical to those of the
CML definition.
Likewise, Thiha Saw of Myanmar Press Council also expressed the
necessity to instill media literacy to both the government and the media,
including the public. He said the public sector is becoming important as it is
now the consumer and as well, the producer, made necessary by the social media
platform. He emphasized the need for the government and media to have
understanding and not see each other as enemy, besides promoting
capacity-building for all concerned.
Outlook and perspective
Looking at the assessment of the RSF and as well the domestic media
players, the areas of monitoring media ownership; government's competition with
private media in media landscape; and lack of trust and understanding between
the government and the media need to be addressed.
Monitoring media ownership in Burma is not a problem. The government
media and also those belonging to the military are not a secret and broadcast
media like radio and TV were the monopoly of the state, until December 2012
when the Thein Sein regime opened up the print media section to private sector.
And with the broadcast media, only lately on April 11, has the government
allowed some private media to enter the fold, announcing
that five private companies will be given broadcasting licenses. This marks a
new beginning in Burma to promote broadcasting service. The current free-to-air
TV channels are dominated by state-run agencies and their messages.
Thus reducing and withdrawing the involvement of the government from the
media landscape is the most pressing issue to create a level playing field,
followed by instilling of media literacy awareness and trust-building coupled
with good faith between itself and the media, which would enable to see the
latter not as an enemy but as essential media watchdog that is part and parcel
of the whole democratization process.
For a start, it would do the government good, if
it could first abolish the draconian Section 66(d) that has been castrating the
media to practice self-censorship, hampering objective reporting and curtailing
freedom of expression, which is not at all supportive or beneficial to the
ongoing democratization process.
Tags: Opinion
