• Burmese
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
28 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home News Burma

Analysis: State Media’s Untold Stories

Kyaw Phyo Tha by Kyaw Phyo Tha
March 21, 2017
in Burma
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0 0
A A
Monday’s newspapers: private dailies (top) run the bridge name protest in Mon State on their front pages, and state-run papers (below) do not / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

Monday’s newspapers: private dailies (top) run the bridge name protest in Mon State on their front pages, and state-run papers (below) do not / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

5.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

RANGOON — When asked last year about new policies to be put into practice under his ministry, Burma’s Information Minister U Pe Myint was quite upbeat. He said that the state media would no longer solely provide information about the government but would also publish and broadcast the public’s responses and views.

“There are many different points of view among the public. There are some who agree with government policies and some who may not. If we can make space for them, the government media could hopefully be as interesting as private media. We are planning to do that,” the minister said in June of last year, regarding his ministry’s 100-day plan. It was two months after the National League for Democracy (NLD) had taken office after a landslide electoral victory in 2015, with the campaign slogan “time to change.”

But U Pe Myint’s mission for change has not been completed, even as the NLD government is about to complete one year in office at the end of this month. The three state-run newspapers—The Mirror, Myanma Alinn Daily and The Global New Light of Myanmar—under U Pe Myint’s control have still failed to report on some major news events that made national headlines in private dailies.

RelatedPosts

Nowhere Are the Threats Facing Journalism More Real Than in Myanmar

Nowhere Are the Threats Facing Journalism More Real Than in Myanmar

May 3, 2025
748
From Resistance to Survival: Myanmar’s Free Press Battles US Aid Cuts

From Resistance to Survival: Myanmar’s Free Press Battles US Aid Cuts

April 28, 2025
1.2k
We Need Your Support—Your $5 Helps Keep The Irrawaddy’s Mission Alive

We Need Your Support—Your $5 Helps Keep The Irrawaddy’s Mission Alive

March 27, 2025
604

When thousands of local people in Mon State took to the streets on Sunday to object to the government’s plan to name a bridge there, none of the government’s media outlets reported the news. The protest may have been the biggest so far to against the elected government.

A few days prior to the Mon State demonstration, several hundred students from Rangoon’s University of Nursing staged a protest against the government’s policy of issuing nurse and midwifery licenses only after years of public service post-graduation. As the largest student-led demonstration under the NLD government thus far, the health minister was required to fly back from an overseas trip to settle the case.

But readers woke up to find nothing about the protest in the government newspapers next day. Were it not for social media and private dailies, people across Burma would not have even known it had occurred.

There are many more stories which have been neglected by the Ministry of Information’s media outlets—including labor strikes, protests against the issuing of National Registration Cards in northern Arakan State, and the State Sangha Council’s ban on sermons by nationalist monk U Wirathu.

U Khin Maung Kyaw Din, the editor-in-chief of The Mirror, told The Irrawaddy that an editorial board decides the content of the paper. He said news of both recent protests in Rangoon and Mon State was omitted but because the reporters filed the stories late, and not because they were about protests against the government.

“When they filed, the stories had [already] been splashed across the front pages of private dailies. That’s why we left them out,” the chief editor said on Tuesday.

He also defended the state media’s practice of prioritizing news related to State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Htin Kyaw.

When asked why government newspapers had failed to reform as Minister U Pe Myint had promised, U Khin Maung Kyaw Din blamed it on low capacity.

“We also have to inform [the public] of what the government is doing. At the same time, we lack human resources, and the reporters lack capacity as well. We are upgrading them. There will be more change.”

Irrawaddy reporter San Yamin Aung contributed to this report.

Your Thoughts …
Tags: Media
Kyaw Phyo Tha

Kyaw Phyo Tha

The Irrawaddy

Similar Picks:

Elon Musk Calls for Closure of Radio Free Europe, Voice of America
World

Elon Musk Calls for Closure of Radio Free Europe, Voice of America

by Naung Naung
February 10, 2025
7.1k

The billionaire’s call to shut down the US-funded media organizations, which reach hundreds of millions of people globally, follows his...

Read moreDetails
Illustration entitled ‘Rebellious Reporters’ by Harn Lay for The Irrawaddy.
Specials

Our Fight For Press Freedom

by The Irrawaddy
May 3, 2024
103.4k

To mark World Press Freedom Day, The Irrawaddy presents a compendium of its articles on press freedom and the repression...

Read moreDetails
Burma

Myanmar Junta Rages Against E. Timor President After Defection Call

by The Irrawaddy
December 14, 2023
5.2k

The regime’s newspapers were filled with tirades against José Ramos-Horta after he urged junta troops to defect, and its backers...

Read moreDetails
Junta Watch: Football Field Dreams Amid Battlefield Disasters; Regime Propaganda’s Parallel Reality; and More
Junta Watch

Junta Watch: Football Field Dreams Amid Battlefield Disasters; Regime Propaganda’s Parallel Reality; and More

by The Irrawaddy
January 20, 2024
4.5k

Also this week, China appeased after Taiwan election, forced recruitment as resistance threatens to decouple main cities, power plea for...

Read moreDetails
Reclaiming Autonomy: Challenging the Narrative of Fragmentation in Myanmar
Guest Column

Reclaiming Autonomy: Challenging the Narrative of Fragmentation in Myanmar

by Zung Ring
June 18, 2024
2.6k

The media’s increasing obsession with ‘national disintegration’ is playing into the junta’s hands and threatening progress toward peaceful federalism.

Read moreDetails
Junta Watch: Propaganda Boosted to Drown Out Military Defeats; Drone Phobia Grips Regime; and More
Junta Watch

Junta Watch: Propaganda Boosted to Drown Out Military Defeats; Drone Phobia Grips Regime; and More

by The Irrawaddy
November 25, 2023
2.3k

Also over the past seven days, Min Aung Hlaing failed to boost morale in battered army, while the junta tried...

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
New buildings in downtown Rangoon. Floor to ceiling windows in some new construction attracts strong heat from the sun, suggesting a lack of attention to local climatic conditions. / Reuters

Dazed and Confused: The Future of Rangoon’s Urban Direction

A man walks past a branch of the Agricultural Bank of China in the town of Nansan, Yunnan province, China in March 2017. / Reuters

Chinese Bank Suspends MNDAA Account

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

Is TNLA, Under Chinese Pressure, Conceding Northern Shan Gateway to the Regime?

Is TNLA, Under Chinese Pressure, Conceding Northern Shan Gateway to the Regime?

4 days ago
1.3k
How the Myanmar Military’s Propaganda Efforts Have Evolved Over the Decades

How the Myanmar Military’s Propaganda Efforts Have Evolved Over the Decades

6 days ago
1.2k

Most Read

  • Myanmar Junta Attacks to Reclaim KIA’s Jade and Rare Earth Strongholds

    Myanmar Junta Attacks to Reclaim KIA’s Jade and Rare Earth Strongholds

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • China’s Bet on Myanmar Junta Risks Backfiring

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • China is Systematically Dismantling Tibetan Monastic Traditions

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Defusing the Thai-Cambodian Border Row

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Untested Commander Takes Charge as Myanmar Military Faces Toughest Challenge in Decades

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.