President grants audience to MPC
The interim Myanmar Press Council has received permission to meet with President Thein Sein tomorrow, a member of the council said.
Some senior members of the interim MPC will meet the president in Nay Pyi Taw.
The MPC has asked for the meeting for some time to discuss the current media situation, but the request went without a reply for some time.
The meeting proposal was submitted days after President Office’s Minister Aung Min, who is also in-charge of Myanmar Peace Centre, held an off-the-record meeting with MPC secretary Kyaw Min Swe and MPC member Zaw Thet Htwe.
The MPC managed to meet with former information minister Aung Kyi on July 21, but there was no clear resolution on how the government would handle controversial media issues. The meeting focused only on the location of the interim MPC’s office, which the MPC would need to finalise with the Ministry of Construction.
The government has been criticised for frequent arrests and jailing of local reporters.
On July 22, Thura Shwe Mann, the Speaker of Union parliament, urged the president in writing to ensure justice for media professionals. Three days later, President Thein Sein replied that all actions were carried out by different government agencies and that he maintained the constitutional right to grant amnesty when the cases have been finalised.
In his statement, Thein Sein said his government was paying special attention to media development.
