Myanmar: Focus on freedom of the press and freedom of expression

After mounting pressure on the ruling party of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's military at the beginning of February again took power, declaring a state of emergency and halting the country's process of democratization.

DW Akademie has been working on the ground in Myanmar for several years but at the moment continuing such work is not possible. DW Akademie's project activities to strengthen local media and increase access to information have had to be put on hold.

Media workers in Myanmar have long faced major challenges, and restrictive laws often prevent them from reporting critically. With projects promoting reliable information and access to free information, DW Akademie supports journalists, civil society and decision makers in building an open society.

Journalism training in times of digital change

Journalists also have to keep up with the demands of a rapidly changing digital media landscape, and the digital transformation has created financial problems for many media organizations there. In 2014, DW Akademie began working with the Myanmar Journalism Institute (MJI) to develop an education program that has a special focus on digital journalism. The MJI now offers a diploma course for aspiring journalists as well as numerous advanced training programs and a new multimedia studio.

Myanmar's first community radio station

The country's first community radio station, Khayae FM, went on air in February 2018.The station broadcasts four hours a day from a studio in Htan Tabin, a township on the outskirts of the city of Yangon, to some 80,000 potential listeners. DW Akademie's projects in Myanmar also focus on strengthening Media and Information Literacy (MIL), and include fact-checking, for example, as in the run-up to the general elections held November 2020.

More information on our projects in Myanmar:

• Myanmar: Tracking false information 
• Press freedom in Myanmar: Media under pressure in the corona crisis 
• Election reporting: Fact-based and fair coverage

If you experience problems while browsing dw.com from a region where internet access is restricted, consider using the Psiphonapplication. To add the DW Psiphon app, send an email to dw-w@psiphon3.com for a download link. If you use Psiphon via DW, you will first be re-directed to DW's website. From there, you can continue onward to any other website.