By Sarah Bangash
During my time at the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD), I came to understand that media freedom—a fundamental human right—is unfortunately a rare privilege in many countries. My research involved analyzing press and broadcasting council codes to determine strong examples of such regulations in companies such as the British Broadcasting Corporation and Ofcom in the UK. The purpose of media councils is to serve as a self-regulatory body that ensures the independence of free speech in the news, keeping it free from government interference.1
On the other hand, I encountered deplorable examples of media repression, notably in Myanmar. Since the February 2021 coup, the Myanmar junta has imposed severe on its news media, resorting to executions, arrests, and exile of those advocating for free speech and democracy.2 Throughout my internship, I studied the junta’s daily newspaper, The Global New Light of Myanmar (GNLM), and was alarmed by the extent of the propaganda it disseminates. For example, the paper features a section dedicated to exposing “fake news”, in which it vehemently denies claims made against the military by Myanmar’s few remaining independent media outlets.
Moreover, the GNLM published an article condemning a United Nations Human Rights Council session, accusing the UN body of bias against Myanmar for highlighting the urgent need to address human rights abuses against minority groups such as Rohingya Muslims.4
This article manifests the junta’s blatant disregard for international human rights standards, as it perpetuates a singular narrative: that of the military. Although I can never fully understand the experience of a civilian in Myanmar, witnessing even a fragment of the censorship enforced by the junta was deeply troubling. While I could review such propaganda from the comfort of the CLD office in Halifax and verify the “news” it provides, this is a luxury unavailable to those living in Myanmar. The junta has not only banned virtual private network (VPN) access but also conducts public phone checks to ensure compliance with online restrictions, preventing civilians from accessing impartial information.6 As Special Rapporteur Frank La Rue stated, “without concrete policies and plans of action, the Internet will become a technological tool that is accessible only to a certain elite while perpetrating the ‘digital divide.’”7 Authoritarian regimes therefore rely on Internet and media shutdowns as tools for oppression.
Media pluralism and independence are fundamental human rights. However, oppressive regimes in many nations ensure that only the government’s voice is heard, thereby distorting the truth to manipulate the population into conforming to their political narrative.
- Centre for Law and Democracy, Myanmar: Note on the Professional Regulation of the Media (June 2023), online: <https://www.law-democracy.org/live/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Professional-Regulation.final_.English.pdf> at 1. ↩︎
- Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar, UNGA, 56th Sess, UN Doc A/HRC/RES/56/1 (2024) at 6. ↩︎
- Global New Light of Myanmar (24 April 2024) at 4, online: <https://cdn.digitalagencybangkok.com/file/client-cdn/gnlm/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/26_April_24_gnlm.pdf>. ↩︎
- Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar, UNGA, 56th Sess, UN Doc A/HRC/RES/56/1 (2024) at 3. ↩︎
- Global New Light of Myanmar (16 July 2024) at 3, online: <https://cdn.digitalagencybangkok.com/file/client-cdn/gnlm/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/16_July_24_gnlm.pdf>. ↩︎
- Hein Htoo Zan, “Myanmar Junta Searching Phones for VPN Use”, The Irrawaddy, (14 July 2024), online: <https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-junta-searching-phones-for-vpn-use.html>. ↩︎
- Frank La Rue, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, UNGA, 17th Sess, UN Doc A/HRC/17/27 (2011) at para 60. ↩︎