Myanmar Ends Media Censorship
Myanmar has ended its decades-long policy of media censorship in the latest in a series of democratic reforms. Last year, a number of publications were freed from government oversight. Political and religious journals, the last holdouts of government censorship, will now be permitted to print without state pre-approval beginning on Monday, AFP reported.
“From now on, local publications do not need to send their stories to the censorship board,” said Tint Swe, head of the government’s Press Scrutiny and Registration Department (PSRD). Censorship started in August 1964, when the Myanmar military began its nearly 50-year rule of the country.
Government Abolishes Censorship of Private Publications
In August 2012, the government announced that it would no longer censor private publications, a move that journalists described as a major step toward media freedom in a country where military governments have tried for decades to control the flow of information.
Private publications in Myanmar have been thriving since Mr. Thein Sein began taking steps in 2011 to open up the country’s economy and move the country toward democracy. A press law is expected to be introduced in Parliament.
