“We are very happy to see Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo freed after 18 months of imprisonment. This is a great day for them and their families. So many people in Myanmar and worldwide will be celebrating their release,” said FEM Director, Yin Yadanar
“Today’s decision to convict the Reuters journalists despite overwhelming evidence of their innocence is a travesty,” said Yin Yadanar Thein, Manager of Free Expression Myanmar. “The conviction shows the lengths to which the Myanmar state is willing to go to hide its wrongdoing. In the
Today’s decision by a Yangon court to charge two journalists, Ko Wa Lone and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo, deeply undermines the right to freedom of expression in Myanmar. “Almost every journalist in Myanmar self-censors on anything relating to Rakhine because of this Reuters case. Prosecuting
The freedom by which the media can investigate, access, and publish information, particularly that which is critical, is one of the best ways to measure the level of democracy in a country. Journalists know best how much freedom the media has, and can compare their
The media risks many threats when trying to report about conflicts. Many areas are completely off-limits. “Fake news” and “hate speech” are the result of a lack of trustworthy information. The Center for Myanmar Media Development and FEM hosted a day-long conference on 30 March
On 18 January, 130 participants attended the second Myanmar Digital Rights Forum in Yangon hosted and co-organised by Phandeeyar together with MIDO, Free Expression Myanmar, MCRB, and Engage-Media, with support from the Government of Sweden. Over half of participants came from civil society organisations
Myanmar is one of the most corrupt countries in the world with one of the most unaccountable governments. This is partly because the government is very secretive and many public officials believe that the information they keep on budgets, policies, and projects is secret. Myanmar
The Official Secrets Act was created by the British colonial government in 1923 to criminalise the sharing of almost any kind of information held by the government. The government can say any information is an official secret and is likely to hide corruption and wrongdoing