Burma abolishes media censorship

BBC News, 20 August 2012

Burma: Battle for Democracy 

• Ethnic strife remains
• EU 'to ease sanctions'
• What now?
• Voices: Bright future

Burmese people are gradually gaining
access to a more free media market

Burma has abolished censorship of the country's media, the information ministry has announced.

The Press Scrutiny and Registration Department (PSRD) said that as of Monday, reporters would no longer have to submit their work to state censors before publication.

Burma has long kept a tight control over all aspects of its media.

But the civilian government has been gradually easing restrictions since taking office last year.

"Censorship began on 6 August 1964 and ended 48 years and two weeks later," Tint Swe, head of the PSRD, told AFP news agency on Monday.

But a ministry official told AFP films would still be subject to censorship.

The agency quoted an unnamed editor at a magazine in Rangoon as saying: "This is a great day for all journalists in Myanmar, who have laboured under these odious restrictions for far too many years."

Journalists in Burma, also known as Myanmar, had already been given guidelines allowing them to write about controversial social and political topics, something that would have been unthinkable under the previous military rule.

Some 300 newspapers and magazines covering less sensitive issues had also be given permission to print without prior censorship and restrictions were lifted on 30,000 internet sites, allowing users unrestricted access to political content for the first time.

In October last year, Mr Swe said censorship should be abolished as it was incompatible with democratic practices, while warning that all publications should accept the responsibilities that go with press freedom.

Some journalists expressed concerns that they could still find themselves on the wrong side of the law if the government finds fault with their work after publication.