Myanmar ends 50-year state monopoly over daily news
Play
Yangon - Myanmar ended a five-decade state monopoly on daily news Monday, when four privately owned newspapers hit the streets.
As part of its sweeping reform programme, the government granted licenses last month to 16 media groups to print daily papers.
The licenses went into effect Monday, and newsstands in Yangon featured the new Union Daily, The Voice Daily, the Golden Land Fresh Daily and The Standard Times.
Union Daily is owned by the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party that leads the current government.
The opposition National League for Democracy, led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, also received a license to publish a daily that will be called D-Wave.
Myanmar media was ranked among the world's most oppressed during the military rule between 1962 to 2010.
"When we only had government-run papers, the only thing I read were the obituaries," said Win Maw, a Yangon resident who was seen purchasing a copy of The Voice Daily.
"Now we have a chance to open our eyes and ears."//DPA
