Mizzima awarded global JTI certificate for reliable news on Myanmar

-
Image
Mizzima Mizzima, one of Myanmar ’s most prominent news outlets and a press freedom advocate, obtained the Journalism Trust Initiative ( JTI ) certification from global audit firm Bureau Veritas , JTI says in a press statement 5 January.  Operating in clandestine mode within Myanmar and supported by an exiled team, Mizzima strives to fulfil its role as reliable source of news and information for the Myanmar public. “Your Journalism Trust Initiative certification affirms what audiences already know: that principled, transparent journalism matters. Congratulations on this achievement and on your continued contribution to informing citizens about Myanmar,” says Benjamin Sabbah , director of Journalism Trust Initiative “Myanmar’s ongoing conflict has created an intensely contested media landscape, where mis- and disinformation are increasingly deployed to reinforce state propaganda and the prevailing “official” narrative. Although Mizzima is already regarded as one of the most trusted ...
Post a Comment

Junta bans weekly journals from pro-election media coverage

-
by Mizzima News
Tuesday, 22 September 2009 21:10

New Delhi/Rangoon (Mizzima) – The Censor Board has banned media coverage of the press conference held by newly formed political party, Democratic Party, Chairman, Thu Wei and Win Naing and other news related to pre-2010 elections in Burma.

The weekly journals are uncertain about why the Censor Board unexpectedly banned news of the press conference, held by two veteran politicians, who are pro-junta.

"We submitted this news to the Censor Board on Saturday, to be published in this week’s issue. They censored this news so that we had to replace it with another piece of news," a journal editor told Mizzima.

Although they do not know which journals submitted this news to the Censor Board and why the news was censored, the journalists whom Mizzima interviewed said that they knew about it.

A veteran journalist said that he had himself decided not to cover this news. "I found the news of Thu Wei and Win Naing a little uncertain for the domestic media. Then I decided not to cover this news for fear of being censored. As I thought earlier, no journal was allowed to cover this news," he said.

This press conference was attended by some domestic journalists; some Burmese reporters from Rangoon-based foreign media, a local military intelligence unit, a special branch of police and USDA members.

Three days after the press conference, the Bahan Township authority summoned these two politicians and warned them for not taking prior approval from them for holding this press conference, by saying that they must take prior approval from them for assembly of more than 5 people, and had to sign on a bond.

This ban on the news of the press conference created repercussions among the domestic journalists, who are expecting limited press freedom after the 2010 general elections.

"We expected that press freedom would be curbed to some extent after the 2010 general elections and we could cover news on movements of political parties before the general election,” a domestic journalist said.

"This news is also the news about the pro-junta line followed by these politicians. If they ban even such news, it seems the domestic journalists must lay their hands-off such political news in future," he said.

However, another weekly journal editor said that such a ban might be because of the non-existence of election law till date.

"I think it is because the election law has not yet been enacted and announced. I think they would like to see such news published only after the election law is announced," he said.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

World's longest internet shutdown ends in parts of Myanmar

-
Image
Rakhine people travel by motorcycle in Sittwe, Rakhine State, Western Myanmar, 02 February 2021. Photo: Nyunt Win/EPA By AFP The world's longest internet shutdown -- affecting more than a million people for 19 months in one of Myanmar's ethnic conflict zones -- has come to an end, according to a mobile operator based in the region. The internet in parts of Myanmar's troubled northern states of Rakhine and Chin was suspended in June 2019 following "emergency" orders issued by the telecoms department under Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government. Following Monday's military coup, mobile operator Telenor Group confirmed it had reinstated full services in eight townships in Rakhine and Chin states on Wednesday. "Telenor Group and Telenor Myanmar have been advocating for the restoration of services and emphasised that freedom of expression through access to telecoms services should be maintained for humanitarian purposes," the company said in a stateme...
Read more

First ministerial meeting held

-
Image
Mizzima Myanmar held the first meeting among newly appointed ministers after a recent major cabinet reshuffle by the military in capital city of Nay Pyi Taw on Tuesday morning, according to a release from the Military True News Information Team Xinhua reported. The Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, acting President U Myint Swe and nine newly appointed union ministers were present at the meeting held at the Presidential Palace, the release said. Min Aung Hlaing unveiled plans to include reopening religious buildings and pagodas, resuming domestic travel and hotel businesses as well as industries in line with COVID-19 rules and regulations, and revitalizing the country's economy.
Read more

Indonesia detains British woman on terror suspect list

-
Image
File photo of Indonesian police personnel standing guard. (Photo: AFP) AFP Indonesia has detained a British woman named on a list of global terror suspects and plans to deport her for visa violations, authorities told AFP Tuesday. Tazneen Miriam Sailar -- a Manchester-born convert to Islam married to an Indonesian jihadist who was killed in Syria -- is not charged with terror offences. But she and her late husband are on an Indonesian police list of suspected extremists that includes several foreigners notorious in the West. Sailar, 47, and her 10-year-old Indonesia-born son, were being held in Jakarta after being picked up last year without documents allowing her to remain in the Southeast Asian nation, her lawyer Farid Ghozali said. "She was put (in detention) while awaiting her return, which will be facilitated by the British embassy," Indonesian immigration directorate spokesman Ahmad Nursaleh told AFP. The embassy declined to comment, and it was unclear when...
Read more