As Social Media Becomes A News Source, The Consequences Are Chilling

Michael Hedges July 12, 2018 - Follow on Twitter

Strict control over news media is important to authoritarians, always averse to criticism. Traditional news outlets, particularly those requiring printing presses and transmitters, are easy to throttle. Then the internet came along; free, open and lovely. The ugliness came later.

After seven months in detention, two Reuters reporters in Myanmar have been charged (July 9) with breaking secrecy laws. They were arrested for possession of documents related to the military operation in Rakhine state, which relates to the forced migration and massacre of Rohingya Muslims. The trial of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo will begin next week (July 16). If convicted they could spend up to 14 years in jail.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, was a British colony from the 19th century until independence was granted in 1948. After a coup in 1962 the military took over. That seemed to come to an end in 2010 with a general election and installation of a civilian government. Political activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest for much of 20 years, was released with other political prisoners and the international community began to believe Myanmar was coming out of the cold. A subsequent election in 2015 gave Aung San Suu Kyi a political role. With the Rohingya massacres, the military chiefs made their minds known.

Media in Myanmar is almost entirely state-controlled, particularly broadcasting and publishing. Like everywhere else, online media not government affiliated has appeared, mostly published in exile. Strict censorship has eased somewhat since 2012. Reporters, editors and publishers are regularly arrested for defamation and violations of the Official Secrets Act, under which Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are being tried.

“I’d like to ask the authorities whether they want to see reporters only writing ‘everything is fine’ or whether they want real reporters who investigate issues that are essential for the public to know,” said Yangon Journalism School founder U Ye Naing Moe to English-language Myanmar Times (July 10).

“These Reuters journalists were doing their jobs in an independent and impartial way,” said Reuters president and editor-in-chief Stephen Adler in a statement (July 9). “They should be released and reunited with their families, friends, and colleagues.” Unsurprisingly, every major news agency, news organization, press/media freedom and human rights advocates echoed the sentiment.

With options for expression historically limited, social media is a significant force in Myanmar. Facebook is not only the generic for social media, it is “synonymous with the internet in Myanmar,” noted wired.com (July 6). At a United Nations Human Rights Council meeting in March, special rapporteur Yanghee Lee called out Facebook’s influence in the country.

“Everything is done through Facebook in Myanmar,” she said to the conference, quoted by Reuters (March 12). “It was used to convey public messages but we know that the ultra-nationalist Buddhists have their own Facebooks and are really inciting a lot of violence and a lot of hatred against the Rohingya or other ethnic minorities. I’m afraid that Facebook has now turned into a beast, and not what it originally intended.” Between June 2017 and June 2018 Facebook’s share of internet users in Myanmar was 88%, according to socialcounter.com, far beyond any other social media portal.

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