Burma’s Information Minister, Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, has appealed to journalists in neighboring countries to help counter negative news about events in his country.
The state-run daily, The New Light of Myanmar, reported on Wednesday that Kyaw Hsan had claimed at an Asean sub-committee meeting that “some powerful nations are misusing media as a weapon to interfere in the internal affairs of small nations.”
The information minister charged that the foreign media had exaggerated the events of August and September, which he described as “trivial.” Their coverage of the demonstrations had damaged Burma’s image, he complained—urging journalists from Asean countries to cooperate in disseminating truthful and constructive information about Burma, the newspaper said.
Kyaw Hsan was speaking to a meeting in Naypyidaw of an information sub-committee of Asean’s committee on culture and information.
Foreign press coverage of recent events in Burma also came under fire at a briefing in Naypyidaw by police chief Brig-Gen Khin Yi. He singled out the Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma, saying it was “the most notorious foreign broadcasting station airing fabricated news about Myanmar [Burma].”
Khin Yi slammed DVB two days before the TV and radio station was rewarded by two French-based organizations for its coverage of the September demonstrations. Describing DVB as “one of the most reliable sources of news during the crisis,” Reporters without Borders and the Fondation de France awarded the station their media prize.
In Burma, meanwhile, two Rangoon weeklies were recently ordered to suspend publication temporarily after they carried pictures of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the text of the statement she issued through UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari. Snap Shot and News Watch were each ordered by the military government’s censorship board to suspend one week’s issue.