give us an interview.
Can you trust the information
ministers give you?
We will allow them to say what they
want, but we challenge them. And
they don’t like that. But if they don’t
want to speak to us, all they have to
do is switch their phones off!
You are now training local
journalists?
Yes, the BBC has been asked by the
government to train Burmese
journalists. The BBC has agreed on
condition that our editorial values
must be taught too: freedom of
speech, telling the truth, objective
reporting. The government agreed
to that. BBC Media Action have
already trained over 100 journalists
in the state media, and the training
programme has been extended.
Did the government let a genie out of
the bottle when Burma opened up?
The Minister of Information
admitted that there are elements
within the cabinet that are resisting
the idea of public service media in a
Western sense. So his major
challenge is to change the mind of
these senior people.
And the Burmese president said:
“We want the BBC and public
service media.” But he added: “Look
at Egypt! We have to take measured
steps because some people are not
yet prepared for certain changes.”
But they can’t go back!
Thank you, Tin Htar Swe.
There are still lots of technical
problems. The internet connection
is poor, so sending pictures and
sound back to base in Singapore is
not as fast as we would like. The
internet is such a challenge because
the infrastructure is still incapable
of handling high traffic. As a result,
accessing data on mobile phones is
a tremendous challenge. Often, I am
not able to do so. And even when
there is a connection, it will take
minutes for a page to load. Therefore,
sending a tweet or an email on the
run is not always possible.
The connectivity issue makes it
difficult to break news, even if you
have the information first-hand. As
we are a television network, I need
to send moving pictures, which is a
Herculean task given the nascent
infrastructure. Most times, when I
am out newsgathering, I rely on the
internet connections in big hotels, if
there happens to be one. At other
times, I use livewire or BGAN to
transmit my videos. And even then,
it is not always possible to send the
videos through. To illustrate the
point, on a recent assignment in
Mandalay, my BGAN was really
slow; sending a 25-second file took
over 10 minutes. And internet at the
hotel was almost non-existent. So
operating outside Yangon is always
challenging.
To compound these issues, there
are also frequent power cuts in the
summer. While some offices have
back-up generators, including the
building in which our bureau is
located, the power cuts still
interrupt transmissions and live
reporting. And this can happen
about three to five times or even
more in a single day.
Are there restrictions on content?
There are no restrictions on content.
For example I can cover stories
about the Rohingyas, an ethnic
group who are called Bengalis by
the Myanmar government.
Having said that, visits to certain
places are restricted. Local and
foreignmedia both require permission
from the authorities to visit these
locations, including some refugee
camps. Certain areas are restricted
for the media due to their
inaccessibility, especially to foreign
journalists. To get to some refugee
camps, you have to travel in small
boats, which is quite precarious.
Also, some refugee camps are
situated in territories where there
are armed ethnic groups, and these
camps are not managed by the
government. So there are safety
issues whilst travelling.
I have been able to speak with
villagers, Rohingya and
government officials without
restrictions. In fact, sometimes, the
villagers or village heads are the
ones who are wary or who decline
to be interviewed. I did interviews
Singapore based Channel
NewsAsia carried Myanmar’s
President Thein Sein’s first
international TV interview in July
2012, and a month later
partnered with pay-TV operator
SkyNet for extended distribution
in Myanmar. The regional
broadcaster was also among the
first foreign news organisations
to be granted a licence to open a
news bureau in Myanmar
(October 2013). The channel’s
correspondent, May Wong, is
based in Yangon (Rangoon) and
has been filing stories from
Myanmar since early 2013. Her
reports give insight into the
country’s transformation by
interviewing those who
experienced it first hand – from
business leaders to the ordinary
man in the street. We asked her
what working conditions are like
at present
Tin Htar Swe
with Aung San
Suu Kyi
By early
2015, 90%
of the
country
should
have 3G
coverage
“
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