Ten days after taking power in Myanmar, the generals issued their first order to journalists: stop using the words “coup”, “regime” and “junta” to describe the military takeover. Few reporters observed Orwell’s policy, and the junta pursued a new goal – the suppression of all freedom of expression.
Since then, the regime has arrested at least 56 journalists, banned online news outlets known for their harsh reporting, and disrupted communications by shutting down the mobile data service. Three photojournalists were shot and wounded while taking photos of the anti-coup demonstrations.
Under pressure from professional journalists, many young people who have come of age during a decade of social media and information sharing in Myanmar have come into battle, called themselves citizen journalists, and risked their lives to document the brutality of the military. They take photos and videos with their phones and share them online when they are given access. It is a role that is so common today that they are simply referred to as “CJs”.
“They are aimed at professional journalists so that our country needs more CJs,” said Ma Thuzar Myat, one of the citizen journalists. “I know that at some point I could be killed for videotaping what was happening. But I will not resign. “
Ms. Thuzar Myat, 21, noted that few people were able to document the protests in 1988 when the Tatmadaw, as the military is known, exterminated a pro-democracy movement by massacring an estimated 3,000 people. She said she saw it as her duty to gather evidence of today’s violence, even though a soldier had already threatened to kill her if it didn’t stop.
The regime’s obvious goal is to set the clock back to a time when the military ruled the country, the media was tight, and only the richest people had access to cell phones and the internet. But the new generation of young people who grew up with the internet say they are not giving up their freedoms without a fight.
“What we are seeing is a widespread attack on the centers of democracy and freedom,” said U Swe Win, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Myanmar Now, one of the banned outlets. “We are very concerned that Myanmar will become North Korea. They will destroy all forms of information gathering and sharing. “
The Tatmadaw has a history of suppressing the opposition. When it took control in 1962, it ruled for nearly half a century before it decided to share power with elected civilian leaders and open the country to the outside world.
In 2012, under a new quasi-civil government, inexpensive cell phones poured in and Facebook became the dominant online forum. Vibrant media sprouted online and competing newspapers flocked to newsstands.
Protests have broken out almost every day since the February 1 coup – often led by young people – and a broad civil disobedience movement has brought the economy to a virtual standstill. In response, soldiers and police killed at least 536 people.
At the United Nations on Wednesday, the special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener warned that “a bloodbath is imminent”. The regime has arrested thousands, including the country’s civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. On Thursday, one of her lawyers said she was charged with violating the Official Secrets Act and added a list of suspected crimes.
While the UN Security Council has not punished the military in Myanmar, it has spoken increasingly negatively about the repression. In a statement released Thursday evening, the Council expressed “deep concern about the rapidly deteriorating situation and strongly condemned the use of force against peaceful demonstrators and the deaths of hundreds of civilians, including women and children”.
While the military uses state media to spread its propaganda and fire warnings, attacks on journalists and arrests have increased dramatically in recent weeks.
In order not to be targeted, journalists have stopped wearing helmets or vests with the word “PRESS” on them and have tried to adapt to the demonstrators. Many also go quietly by not receiving credit for their published work and avoiding sleeping in their own four walls. Even so, their professional cameras can give them away.
At the same time, soldiers and police routinely search civilians’ phones for protest photos or videos.
“If you get arrested with video clips, you can go to jail,” said U Myint Kyaw, secretary of the Myanmar Press Council, an independent advocacy group for the news media, before he and most of the others stopped the panel in protest in February.
At a recent press conference, a junta spokesman said it was up to journalists to avoid behavior that could be construed as violating the law.
“Only the action of the journalist himself can guarantee that they will not be arrested,” said Brig. Gen. Zaw Min Tun spokesman. “If their actions are against the law, they will be arrested.” All three journalists shot and wounded claim to have been attacked by security forces.
Freelance journalist Ko Htet Myat Thu, 24, photographed protests in Kyaikto, a city in southern Myanmar, as a soldier on Saturday shot him in the leg, he said. A video of his arrest, recorded by a citizen journalist from a nearby building, shows soldiers beating him and forcing him to jump on his good leg as they lead him away.
Another photojournalist, U Si Thu, 36, who was shot that day, was hit in his left hand while holding his camera in front of his face and photographing soldiers in Mandalay, the country’s second largest city. He said he believed the soldier who shot him aimed at his head.
“I had two cameras,” he said, “ “So it was obvious that I am a photojournalist, even though I had neither a press helmet nor a vest.”
“I am sure the military junta will target journalists because they know we are showing the world the realities and they want to stop us by arresting or killing us,” he added.
Half of the 56 journalists arrested have been released, according to a group tracking arrests. Those released included reporters for The Associated Press and the BBC.
However, 28 remain in custody, including at least 15 people sentenced to up to three years’ imprisonment under an unusual law prohibiting the dissemination of information that could induce military officers to neglect or fail to perform their duties.
Ma Kay Zon Nway, 27, a reporter for Myanmar Now, televised her own arrest in late February while escaping from police in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. Your video shows the police shooting into the air as the demonstrators flee. The sound of their labored breathing can be heard as the police catch up with them and take them away.
She is among those charged under the vague and comprehensive law. She was only allowed to meet her lawyer in person once.
Mr. Swe Win, the editor of Myanmar Now, was imprisoned for seven years in 1998 for protesting. “All of these legal proceedings are being conducted for formality reasons,” he said, adding, “We cannot expect fair treatment. ”
With mobile communications blocked, Facebook bans and nightly internet shutdowns, Myanmar’s mainstream media rely on citizen journalists for videos and news tips, said Myint Kyaw, the former press council secretary.
One of them, Ko Aung Aung Kyaw, 26, was videotaping the police arresting people in his neighborhood in Yangon when an officer spotted him. The officer cursed him Aimed his rifle and fired, Mr. Aung Aung Kyaw’s video shows.
The bullet hit a wall in front of him.
“I know that recording such things is very risky and I may be shot or arrested,” he said. “But I think I have to keep doing it, to have evidence, to punish her.”
Rick Gladstone contributed to the coverage from New York.
