Editor Khin Yupar pays very close attention to anonymous messages sent via apps, especially those that camouflage their senders.
Sometimes a text message can turn into global news.
The veteran journalist still recalls a message she received in January of last year from a citizen journalist inside Myanmar who knew what had happened to a president who had been forced from office – and sight.
“We received the information on Jan. 14, verified it with prison sources and then published the report on January 16. It became the biggest breaking news report of the week and continues to be cited by other media outlets,” Ma Khin Yupar explains.
The news was about the transfer of Myanmar’s detained president, U Win Myint, to Taungoo prison in Bago Region, explains the broadcast journalist and associate news editor at Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB). Before the transfer, U Win Myint had been detained at an undisclosed location in Naypyitaw.
A citizen journalist broke the story and solved a mystery: U Win Myint’s exact whereabouts had been unknown for almost two years.
Following the coup in 2021, the junta jailed elected leaders and then swiftly drove a once vibrant independent media off a cliff by jailing journalists and outlawing their outlets.
Silence is necessary for dictatorship. If people are kept guessing, they don’t know what to do.
So far, 19 media outlets and publishing houses have had their publication licenses revoked. A total of 192 media staff have been arrested, charged, and sentenced to prison since the coup. Sixty-one of them are still behind bars, according to the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners. Thirty-one were sentenced to between two and 20 years in jail on charges that include incitement and terrorism.
Under these circumstances, journalists who want to keep working have a stark choice: hide or flee. Independent media outlets have just one option: Operate from exile.
This makes it next to impossible for reporters to do what their job requires them to: go there.
This is where citizen journalists come in.
Journalists can’t travel to gather information, so citizen journalists are doing what they can to help them, Khin Yupar told The Irrawaddy. Editors of other independent agree.
Citizen journalists do not ask for bylines and most do not seek payment.
Not a business model
The influence of citizen journalists surged after South Korean Oh Yeon-ho declared “every citizen is a reporter” and launched a media business reliant on cheap labor in 2000.
In Myanmar, citizen journalism peaks during revolutions. Citizen journalists first grabbed the spotlight during the Saffron Revolution in 2007 when civilians and monks protested the high cost of fuel.
Photos and videos of their inspiring demonstrations and the savage crackdown galvanized the world. Thank citizen journalists for them.
It is more difficult for them now. Since the 2021 coup, the junta has been targeting citizen journalists as well as traditional reporters. They do not get bylines or payment but, according to Assistance Association of Political Prisoners secretary U Tate Naing, they get tortured the same way traditional reporters do.
More than 10 citizen journalists working for DVB have been arrested since the coup. Some were released within hours, but one was sentenced to life in prison and four others remain behind bars.
U Tate Naing explains, “Both trained journalists and citizen journalists gather information reflecting the depth of people’s suffering for the public to know [but] the citizen journalists are more vulnerable and face more risk … Most are arrested.”
Despite the higher risk they face and lack of support, they receive less recognition.
When citizen journalists affiliated with DVB, and several of its traditional journalists, were arrested in early 2021, Ma Khin Yu Par was concerned for their safety. She kept up communications with those who had not yet been arrested via messaging apps, and kept receiving news and video footage from them.
She was still in Myanmar and, as a result, in danger herself.
Ma Khin Yu Par kept working as a journalist and recalls that even a mundane activity – like driving alone at night looking for internet access – could have led to jail.
“I had to go out because I needed to publish news with the footage sent from the citizen journalists. They want the world to know what is happening in Myanmar. I have the responsibility to publish and I must fulfill this duty,” she explained.
To continue producing news, some journalists shifted to areas in southeastern Myanmar controlled by the Karen National Union. Ma Khin Yu Par was one of them. She says she was happy to keep working but feels guilty every time she learns about another reporter who stayed behind and was arrested.
If any reporter, traditional or citizen, at DVB is arrested, she’s the one who tells their families.
“When I have to run for my own safety, I can’t do much for their safety. For this reason, I feel insecure emotionally,” she explains.
Verification
U Sein Win, managing editor of Mizzima TV, says the main drawback of citizen journalists is that they do not verify the information they send to news outlets. He agrees that they add resources to a newsroom, but they need a hand.
“They lack the skills of trained reporters who know how to verify facts,” he said.
Since the coup, Mizzima needs them more. “In 2021, we had to rely more on citizen journalists to keep the newsroom operating. This was when our editorial staff had to hide,” U Sein Win says.
Citizen journalists are an integral part of Myanmar news production, but professional journalists question whether they are as reliable as trained journalists.
Veteran journalist Bertil Lintner said professional journalists only share information with citizen journalists or use information they send if they trust them. Many citizen journalists “have very limited training and experience,” he says. “They tend to be very political, listen to rumors, and send out information that cannot be verified. There are exceptions and some of them are good, of course,” he explained.
Ma Khin Yu Par agrees but says the process of verification is nothing new. She says that although there can be “difficulties” working with citizen journalists, professional journalists also “face challenges verifying news because they cannot access conflict areas.”
Newsrooms can fact check. They can carefully verify whether the “news information” received from citizen journalists is “true and objective.”
Ma Khin Yu Par says she has been doing this since joining DVB in 2009. “Our journalists verify facts before publishing.” Citizen journalists are inspiring, she says.
Crackdown fails
The crackdown on reporters inspired a surge in the number of people applying for news writing training at DVB’s citizen journalist network, Ma Khin Yu Par says.
Before the coup, 40 to 50 people would apply to join a training session, but that number shot above 100 after the coup, even though the training programs can only take 25 participants at a time.
In Myanmar, journalism is considered a way to combat dictatorship, Ma Khin Yu Par explained. “We are limited in how many people we can recruit, so we have to carefully consider who has the potential to become a reporter.”
Some independent news outlets regard citizen journalism as a step towards professional journalism.
Sai Muang, editor-in-chief of Shan Herald Agency for News, told The Irrawaddy that his outlet trained more than 100 youths and citizen journalists in basic journalism last year.
A newsroom cannot totally rely on citizen journalists because their information needs to be verified to make it news. They need training in basic journalism.
Still, they know what is going on around them. Sai Maung calls this their advantage.
