Burmese Media Gather in Chiang Mai

By WAI MOE

Burmese journalists have gathered in Chiang Mai, Thailand, to discuss issues at the Burma Media Conference’s 6th anniversary.

The conference, organized by the Burma Media Association (BMA), was held from February 21 to 23. About 150 Burmese journalists, writers, poets and bloggers from various countries attended the conference.

The three-day conference included recorded video messages from Burma by well-known writer Dagon Tayar and veteran journalists Win Tin and Ludu Sein Win.

“Accuracy is important for us,” Ludu Sein Win told the conference. “The Burmese media in exile must report truthfully. There is no substitution for the truth.

“In Burma, the media should be biased on behalf of the oppressed. In the Burmese conflict, there is only a choice between two—the people who bully and those who are bullied,” he said, adding: “Good journalism means being biased toward the truth.”

During the first day of the conference, Eint Khaing Oo, a young female journalist who is in prison in Burma, was presented in absence with the “Kenji Nagai Award," in memory of the Japanese video journalist who was killed by Burmese troops during a crackdown on demonstrators in Rangoon on September 27, 2007.

Shawn W Crispin, of the Committee to Protect Journalists, told the conference on Sunday that military-ruled Burma is one of the worst places in the world for journalists.

On the second day of the conference, Soe Myint, the editor-in-chief of exiled news agency Mizzima, spoke about his organization’s experiences of virus attacks over the last two years.

Later, the managing editor of The Irrawaddy, Kyaw Zwa Moe, spoke on the ethical dilemmas inherent in journalism.

Larry Jagan, a British journalist who specializes on Burma, said that the Burmese media in exile plays a significant role. He said he had learned from military families in Burma that the ruling generals regularly read the exiled media.

A Burmese blogger, Mr Thinker, shared the history and role of Burmese bloggers in recent years. “The military junta sees bloggers as enemies,” he said. “That’s why they arrested Nay Phone Latt.”

The conference was originally due to be held in late 2008, but had to be postponed until February because of the unstable political situation in Thailand.