Media Strategy for Myanmar

By U AC

ACCORDING to the News and Media Law of Myanmar, enacted in March 2014, the following objectives have been set for media development in the country:

(1) To develop media entities that enjoy freedom of expression under the Constitution of 2008.

(2) The media industry stands tall as the fourth pillar of the nation.

(3) To ensure the rights and freedom of the media workers

(4) To define and set up responsibilities, ethics, discipline and best practices of media personnel.

(5) To fulfil the rights of every citizen for information access.

(6) To act as a mediator between the complainant and media entity to peacefully resolve the dispute. We are here to evaluate how many of these objectives are being met and assess what could be the future of media going forward in the country.

Know Yourself Know the Other Side

Based on how things stand right now, freedom of expression could possibly be seen as the concept of the past. And it is definitely not brought about by the government. False accusations, fake news, fallacious allegations, fictitious accounts of stories and false-hearted social punishments have propelled many into beliefs that press freedom is secondary to peace, stability and development and that Myanmar people do not deserve the freedom of expression at this very moment. Many countries have prospered and stood tall, despite the apparent lack of freedom of the press; Singapore, Vietnam, China, and Malaysia just to name a few.

Sun Tzu’s famous words of wisdom started with, ‘Know yourself, know the other side and you will not be defeated’. The strength of the country is embedded within but not appropriately extracted; we have a relatively young population, but their youthfulness and zeal are mainly being exploited in Thailand. We have lots of precious hardwood trees, but revenues from their sale are heading towards the EAOs and smugglers who ship the hardwood out of border areas or via the sea to buyers in Port Klang, Malaysia. We are the third largest exporter of rare earth to China, according to US intelligence, but the income from these is going to a country within the country of the Wa Self-Administered Division, with no sharing with the rest of the state. We have the famous jade and rubies but the lack of enforcement of rules and corruption ensures that the majority of the proceeds fall into the hands of regional commanders and coyotes. Our tribes are totally disunited, each of them acting only for themselves.

In addition to the above (dis) advantages, due to the lack of governance over social media and tough enforcement against felonious actions, we have fallen into an abyss at this moment in time. In the epitaph of history, this could be the case study of how instrumental social media, specifically Facebook, is in the destruction of the country, especially when the government is a kakistocracy as the people are uneducated and unread.

The lack of emphasis by successive media councils on digital media ensured the downfall of press freedom too. Let the results speak for themselves. The Press Council’s performance was so brilliant that the Ministry of Information decided to form a brand-new Media Development Department, when the task of media development falls under the purview of the Press Council, as distinctly obvious under the Media Law. The priority given to digital media was also so spot-on that another superfluous association came into existence: the Digital Media Association. That all happened in the past three years. The Council has had a chance to make its mark on history and clearly it did (Not), based on these dazzling results. With the priorities all wrong, how could it possibly act as the preserver of the fourth estate in the nation’s building?

How do we give press freedom when there are no accompanying responsibilities, ethics and discipline do not exist in news and media personnel, especially those who hang out pushing falsehoods online. How can these actions go unpunished ever? When these perpetrators hide behind anonymous servers and overseas sets up, funded by foreign countries, how do we go for peaceful resolution of disputes?

Know the Weather and the Terrain

Sun Tzu continued, “Know the weather and the terrain and your victory is assured”. The sage is referring to the circumstances and environment under which we wage our battles. The legal environment is in shatters as the lawand-order situation is heading south compared to a decade ago, including increased corruption in the judiciary branch. Climate change and environmental upheavals are making it difficult for the country to upgrade the software of its people, including the media development as resources get diverted to rescue, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts.

Political circumstances are such that any hint of limitless press freedom could result in political instability and possible disruption to the upcoming 2025 general election timetable. The economic situation is not helping either. As the President of UMFCCI would say, ‘If you remove the issue of imports and exchange rates, Myanmar is still a good country to invest in’. Yet the statistics have proven on the contrary. Even these two circumstances present the media with challenges. Reporting the factual economic news becomes a predicament. How do we express the truth and facts, without being caught in an awkward situation with the government? If the facts were not disclosed and the truth was concealed, how would the government get the national development strategy right?

Socially, the country is divided. Some persons believed in almost everything the fake news agencies posted. At least half of the population doubt whatever the government say. The reactive approach to fake news is not helping either. Mark Twain famously said in 1924, “A lie can travel around the world and back again, while the truth is lacing up its boots”. Another thumbs down for us is the lack of civility and courtesy on online platforms. There is no self-policing among ourselves. Those who try to inject an ounce of truth and politeness were singled out and fired upon by trolls, causing many of them to stay away from social media for health and psychological reasons. Technologically, we are already at the back end of ASEAN. While our IT talents are breaking their backs on Thai, Malaysian and Singapore companies, we are still struggling to decide when to turn on our VPNs, when to shut them off and when to get a free VPN app. More than 90 per cent of our population do not know how to use basic applications other than Facebook. For example, a significant portion of the corporate staff do not know how to use Google Maps and how to share locations.

With the headwinds going so strong in the upstream journey, what could be our media strategy for the company years? We can all start with the six actionable steps to bring us closer to the original six objectives.

(1) Stop forming duplicate entities, departments and associations. Focus all the resources on one Press Council, which should be renamed as the ‘Media Council’ to encompass all, especially the digital media.

(2) Let the young people with brilliant minds, who would be willing to take risks for the nation’s media development, take the lead in this evolution.

(3) Together with all the stakeholders, we need to develop a mission and a strategy to defeat fake news. The current approaches definitely need a step up.

(4) Law and order and effective enforcement. Needless to say, without tough enforcement actions that follow, the agencies that act for the government would remain like lame ducks.

(5) There are many reasons to delay, postpone and put off actions. But none of these help in bringing the nation forward. Even having a small or online event is undoubtedly better than holding no events at all.

(6) Finally, stop rewarding people for doing nothing and just wasting government budgets.

The future is bright! The future is orange! The future is ours to make.

#TheGlobalNewLightOfMyanmar