With both Mizzima News and the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) subjected to recent Distributed Denial of Service attacks it makes sense to draw some more attention to the excellent work of their journalists and editors.
Earlier in July the DVB carried an outstanding report on the Burmese government effort to modify radios donated by the Chinese in the wake of Cyclone Nargis. In some ways the report is very funny; it has to be read to be believed. It is ripe, I would think, for the touch of a deft satirical hand. Of course, in Burma the government doesn’t usually have much of a sense of humour. Mizzima reports that the authorities censored a number of cartoons that were exhibited as part of a post-cyclone fundraising campaign. The cartoons obviously hit a raw-nerve. There is no indication of whether the cartoons were laugh out loud funny..but I really do hope they were.
For previous New Mandala coverage of Burmese efforts to keep ahead of the censors, and crack a joke at the same time, check out these posts from the past year.
And – as a final endorsement of Mizzima and DVB and all the rest — the brave men and women who keep the news stories coming out of Burma (so, ultimately they can get back in) are among the real heroes of the current economic, political and social quagmire. For that simple reason, among the many other obvious ones, it really does make sense to keep up-to-date with their articles, pictures…and cartoons. Some of these ones are particularly good, and so are these. But please feel free to suggest your own favourites.
1 response so far ↓
1 Hla Oo // Jul 31, 2008 at 11:49 am
Press Freedom Burmese Way!
“Every citizen shall have freedom of speech, expression, and
publication to extent that such freedom is not contrary to the
interests of the people of Union of Myanmar.”
Here is how the censorship mechanism operate in Burma.
After printing (Yes, only after a costly printing), at least five
copies of any publication including all books and most magazines are
to be submitted to the Press Scrutiny Board, a section of Ministry of Information, for their thorough inspection.
Any story, poem, cartoon, picture, photo, or word not allowed by the
censors are to be removed before the publication can go on sale. This
is done by ripping out pages, by gluing them together, by inking over,
or by sticking over with opaque tape. Quite often, if necessary, the
offending work is banned from sale all together.
(From the great little book, “Inked Over, Ripped Out” by Anna J. Allott)
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