Ministry must ditch propaganda to win trust: media
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The information ministry is finding it very difficult to get journalists to consider it to be their partner because it spent decades stifling them, Ye Htut, the ministry's deputy minister, said at a recent meeting with the Myanmar Printers and Publishers
Ye Htut, who is also President Thein Sein’s spokesman, said that changing journalists’ perceptions of his ministry was its greatest challenge.
“It is a very difficult task to get journalists to see us as a media partner organisation rather than an oppressive one, because the ministry was oppressive since 1962,” the deputy minister said.
The ministry used state-run newspapers to unveil its printing and publishing bill on February 27, igniting a backlash from media, civic and political organisations for including articles that could restrict press freedom. The organisations demanded the withdrawal of the draft law.
The ministry was also criticised for sending the draft law to Parliament’s joint bill committee without informing the interim Myanmar Press Council. After criticism erupted, Information Minister Aung Kyi expressed regret in a meeting with press council members on March 23.
Zaw Thet Htwe, a member of the council and the Myanmar Journalists Union, said it was vital for the ministry to win the trust of media personnel.
“We are disappointed to see that the information ministry, [which is] directly responsible for the media, cannot win the trust of media personnel. The ministry should do things that can win trust. Otherwise, it will always lose the trust and confidence of the media,” he said.
Wai Phyo, chief editor of Weekly Eleven news journal, said the ministry should concentrate on its duties and refrain from engaging in propaganda. “The information ministry is only responsible for releasing governmental news. If the ministry continues its propaganda campaign … no one will like it,” Wai Phyo said.
“It has been more than two years since the government took office. As the information minister and deputy minister Ye Htut are writers, they can become journalists one day. Suppose the opposition National League for Democracy party comes to power in 2015 and Ye Htut becomes a journalist, I think he will not like the way the ministry is performing now,” Wai Phyo added.
Ye Htut said the interim press council could forward its draft media law to Parliament to be considered in tandem with the printing and publishing bill drafted by his ministry.
