Burma’s state-controlled media has neglected to report on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her ongoing trial, in stark contrast to the attention the case has received in the international press.

The New Light of Myanmar (English and Burmese editions) and the Mirror both reported on the news of US citizen John Yettaw swimming across Inya Lake and trespassing on the lakeside residence of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. However, they have failed to report on the trial of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, which followed the actions of Yettaw.

The junta has charged Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for breaching the terms of her detention, confining her to a special cell inside Insein prison since last Thursday.

The censor board allowed the Rangoon-based Yangon Times and the Voice to reproduce what was reported in state-run papers, but has banned the publication of all follow-up news.

“We submitted news of Daw Suu’s trial to the censor board but it was not allowed. They only permitted us to reproduce the news reported in their daily papers,” an official of a leading weekly journal explained.

The intrusion of American John William Yettaw occurred just as the end of Daw Aung Suu Kyi’s detention term was approaching. She has spent over 13 of the past 19 years under detention.

“It is understood by the Burmese people. They can guess accurately what will happen next. The events came true as they guessed. We cannot underestimate the people,” a veteran magazine editor who wished not to be named commented.

The Burmese population is very much interested in Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial and in the junta’s plans, so the shortwave broadcasts by BBC, VOA and RFA are quite popular. Electronic shops in Rangoon are reporting brisk radio sales.

“The disenchantment and dissatisfaction among the people has been going on for so long, including economic hardship. They [the authorities] are concerned over this issue too,” veteran journalist U Win Tin said.

As a precautionary security measure to pre-empt any mass gathering, authorities have erected barricades on the roads leading to Insein prison. Moreover, they have ordered the clearing of all kiosks along these roads, in addition to beefing up security at the prison’s gate.

Since General Ne Win assumed power in 1962, the Burmese media has lost its freedom, currently experiencing the worst situation its history.

“In the BSPP (Burmese Socialist Programme Party) era, we could discuss this issue of media freedom freely at the table. Now all has been lost. This is the hardest time for media personnel in Burma and we can say this time is the worst situation for the violation of media freedom,” he added.

Most private, domestic journals are experiencing increasing difficulty in acquiring permission to print breaking news.

“We can report news only after the official news report has been released. Previously we had a little leeway to report on such news. Now we have to wait until the official news release is published, even though we received the news beforehand,” said Popular Journal editor Hein Latt.

If Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is found guilty by the court she will face three to five years imprisonment, a 5,000 kyats fine ($US777) or both, according to her lawyers.

Her personal doctor, Tin Myo Win, was released last Saturday after a week-long detention. He is allowed to visit Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for a medical check-up on the first Thursday of every month. Opposition forces speculate his detention was related to the case of Yettaw’s visit, though there is as yet no confirmation as to the reason of his detention.

Some observers and analysts believe that the charges against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi are part of the junta’s plan to continue her detention and are framing this case against her in order to serve their goal of preventing her from participating in the scheduled 2010 general election, the fifth stage of the junta’s seven-step roadmap to democracy.

In the meantime, the United States extended economic sanctions against Burma on 15 May for an additional period of one year.

Nem Davies is senior desk reporter and media alert coordinator for Mizzima, New Delhi

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Recently returned from Rangoon, Fergal Keane reflects on how new and old media worked together, allowing brave dissidents to break the Burmese junta’s censorship

This is the story of how new and old media combined to beat the censors in Burma, a narrative of how cyberspace, along with one of the BBC’s most venerable outlets and some old fashioned undercover work challenged a repressive regime’s attempts to destroy independent journalism. Since then there has been a crackdown and the “bamboo curtain” has been lowered once again. But not for long I believe.

When I first went to Burma in the mid 1990s the only way of getting images out of the country was via the airport. Pictures and tape were usually hand-carried out of the country. It was a journalist who recorded the images and who carried them to Bangkok or Singapore from where they could be transmitted to the world.

In those days the Internet didn’t really feature in our calculations. It was there alright, but we were still blind to its extraordinary potential as a weapon in the war for information and against censorship. Spool forward a decade and our understanding of what the net can achieve has changed completely.

Within hours of the protests starting in Rangoon and other cities, local Burmese were emailing the BBC and other news gatherers with detailed accounts of the situation along with still and video images. The staff at BBC Online became key players in explaining the unfolding crisis to the waiting world and to their colleagues in the newsroom.

For the first time that management-speak phrase “integrated newsroom” made sense to me. It worked as simply and wonderfully as this: a student with a digital camera points at a parade of monks defying the military. He goes to a computer and downloads the material, which he then emails to BBC online. The material goes from there to BBC World and Domestic bulletins and on to many millions of viewers. Emails, still photographs and video came flooding in.

Burmese dissident groups and pro-democracy activists made full use of the Internet, releasing photographs and bulletins on arrests and murders. Again much of the material came from “citizen journalists” inside Burma. One of the most startling images of the entire uprising came from the camera of a passer by who saw the body of a Burmese monk floating in a stream.

Meanwhile, over at Bush House, the BBC’s Burmese service was receiving numerous eyewitness accounts of the protests and the subsequent military crackdown. As Burma is still a country very much in the radio age the broadcasts of the Burmese service were to have a profound impact. For people in the rural areas in particular the radio provided the only independent reporting of what was happening. At the Burmese service desk in our Bangkok bureau I watched as the staff made endless calls to contacts inside the country.

As the story moved from one of protest to repression, the families and friends of those who had vanished into state custody were able to give their testimony. For me and the rest of the BBC team in the region the imperative was to get into Burma. I wanted to be able to see for myself whether the regime had succeeded in crushing the spirit of the protest movement. I won’t go into how I managed to get into the country: suffice to say that I was able to operate for several days without being picked up. It was nerve wracking and posed immense human and journalistic challenges. The BBC was denounced every day in the state-run press and television.

Apart from one’s own safety and liberty there was the pressing question of making sure I didn’t draw trouble on the Burmese I was meeting. For that reason all encounters took place in safe houses, or else while driving around the suburbs of Rangoon. With a security apparatus that has its spies everywhere I felt constantly under threat of being caught. How did I know that the person arranging a meeting with a dissident wasn’t in fact a spy leading us all to disaster? I didn’t. I had no choice but to take things on trust.

I think it says a great deal for the spirit of the Burmese people—and the state’s failure to completely intimidate them—that I was not betrayed. I would like to be able to detail the various tricks of the trade involved in beating the secret police and producing a report that featured dissident voices and monks in hiding. But that would be foolish. The secret policemen will doubtless read this piece.

My report was given wide circulation on BBC News—from Online to BBC World and our domestic bulletins. And of course there was the interview I did with the Burmese service when I returned to Bangkok. It meant more to me than all the rest, something close to the pure purpose of journalism. I was broadcasting back into Burma and I was able to imagine people listening up and down the country. As they do every day and every night.

Fergal Keane is a BBC Special Correspondent

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