mediadev library

The business of independent Myanmar media post-coup: Experimenting with business models inside the country and in exile

Jane Madlyn McElhone et al.

Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF) (2024)

"More than three years after the coup, a significant majority of the 40 senior media executives interviewed for this report say they are still dependent, partially or fully, on grants to run their operations. While they cannot control the external factors impacting on their work, be that the conflic ... more

External Link (12)

Media Assistance in Burma’s Reform Decade

Jane Madlyn McElhone

Washington, DC: Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) (2022), 35 pp.

"Using the coup as a vantage point, interviewees for this report were asked to reflect on three main questions: What have we learned about past media reform efforts? With hindsight, what are the legacies, best practices, and lessons learned? With a view to the future, what does the media’s respons ... more

External Link (8)

Media Assistance in Burma’s Reform Decade

Jane Madlyn McElhone

Washington, DC: Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) (2022), 8 pp.

"Despite the grim outlook, media development efforts in Burma between 2010 and 2020 may be instructive not only for donors pondering the way forward, but also for media assistance efforts in other countries in transition. This report, part of the Center for International Media Assistance’s “Medi ... more

Download (0)

Myanmar Media's Response to COVID-19

Thal Nyein Thu, Jane Madlyn McElhone, Tessa Piper (eds.)

New York: Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF) (2020), 41 pp.

"In June 2020, MDIF conducted a survey of 36 Myanmar media outlets to gather information about the impact of COVID-19 on their businesses between March and May. They represent a mix of national media, as well as local media from the ethnic states and regions. Their operations are of various sizes: t ... hree media have 70-150 staff, 7 have 20-69, and 26 have 1-19. All the media surveyed felt the impact of COVID-19 almost immediately. Not surprisingly, as this has generally been the experience of media worldwide, commercial revenue decline was often dramatic: half of the survey respondents reported more than a 75% drop in income. Thirty-two of the 36 respondents had advertising revenue prior to the start of the pandemic, and all of them reported that it was negatively affected. All 19 media with print products were obliged to either reduce or even halt production. In response to collapsing revenues, 31 of the 36 survey respondents instituted spending cuts between March and May including, in some cases, cutting salaries and staff. Even as they reeled from the economic impact, Myanmar media also had to adapt their working environments. All the media surveyed quickly instituted work from home practices or else established social distancing in their offices and provided protective equipment for their staff. At the same time, more than half of the media reported having to contend with safety and security challenges. These came in the form of restrictions on movement, websites being blocked, on and offline surveillance, staff harassment and arrests. In common with media in other countries, one bright spot in this bleak picture has been audience growth. MDIF’s survey found that almost all media saw both their digital audiences, and audience engagement, increase. This had a positive knock-on effect for the media, with 30 respondents reporting that during this period they were able to strengthen their digital skills and knowledge due to the increased focus on their online content. The good news that 21 of the 31 respondents that sought emergency funding during the survey period obtained it, is tempered by the reality that the impact of COVID-19 has been deep and will be long lasting. The future for media in Myanmar is precarious." (Introduction) more

External Link (11)

Google Scholar (7)

WorldCat (7)

Whispered Support: Two Decades of International Aid for Independent Journalism and Free Expression

Jane Madlyn McElhone, Lisa Brooten

In: Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change

Lisa Brooten; Jane Madlyn McElhone; Gayathry Venkiteswaran (eds.)

Singapore: ISEAS (2019), pp. 95-130

"This chapter is drawn primarily from Jane Madlyn McElhone's thirteen years of in-field experience in Myanmar and other nations in transition, as well as key informant interviews she conducted in ... more

External Link (11)

Google Scholar (7)

WorldCat (7)

The Metamorphosis of Media in Myanmar's Ethnic States

Jane Madlyn McElhone

In: Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change

Lisa Brooten; Jane Madlyn McElhone; Gayathry Venkiteswaran (eds.)

Singapore: ISEAS (2019), pp. 210-228

"In this chapter I explore the challenging move from the borderlands and the growth of the media sector inside the ethnic states. The outlets launched inside now outnumber those that have moved inside. BNI's members - now totalling fourteen - are also in the minority. Yet in many ways it is Burma Ne ... more

External Link (11)

Google Scholar (8)

WorldCat (8)

Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change
Top Insights

Lisa Brooten, Jane Madlyn McElhone, Gayathry Venkiteswaran (eds.)

Singapore: ISEAS (2019), xix, 407 pp.

"Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change is the first volume to overview the country’s contemporary media landscape, providing a critical assessment of the sector during the complex and controversial political transition. Moving beyond the focus on journalism and freedom of th ... more

External Link (11)

Google Scholar (7)

WorldCat (7)

Epilogue: Media Studies in Myanmar. Where Do We Go from Here?

Lisa Brooten, Jane Madlyn McElhone, Gayathry Venkiteswaran

In: Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change

Lisa Brooten; Jane Madlyn McElhone; Gayathry Venkiteswaran (eds.)

Singapore: ISEAS (2019), pp. 387-394

"Academic studies of Myanmar media in English are few and far between, although this is starting to change as the country continues to open and a new generation of Myanmar scholars emerges. Many of the studies that do exist fall into common conceptual traps, such as an overemphasis on journalism or ... more

External Link (10)

Google Scholar (6)

WorldCat (6)

New Video Generation: The Myanmar Motion Picture Industry in 2017

Jane M. Ferguson

In: Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change

Lisa Brooten; Jane Madlyn McElhone; Gayathry Venkiteswaran (eds.)

Singapore: ISEAS (2019), pp. 287-306

"Following a summary of secondary and primary sources on the subject of film production in Burma, I will present an overview of the history of the Burmese film industry, from the British colonial period, to independence, to the years of the Burmese Socialist Program Party, and then the SLORC/SPDC ye ... more

External Link (10)

Google Scholar (6)

WorldCat (7)

Films for Dignity

Mon Mon Myat

In: Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change

Lisa Brooten; Jane Madlyn McElhone; Gayathry Venkiteswaran (eds.)

Singapore: ISEAS (2019), pp. 307-314

"In 2013 I became the co-organizer of the Human Rights, Human Dignity Film Festival in Yangon. We organized the festival for a simple reason - we were very suspicious of the political reform process initiated by the Thein Sein administration, the transformed military government. Like many of our fel ... more

External Link (8)

Google Scholar (5)

WorldCat (5)

Cracking the Glass Ceiling in Myanmar Media

Thin Lei Win

In: Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change

Lisa Brooten; Jane Madlyn McElhone; Gayathry Venkiteswaran (eds.)

Singapore: ISEAS (2019), pp. 243-250

"Pre-publication censorship has been abolished, private journals and papers abound (although the issue of consolidation caused by financial strains is another matter) and, depending on your calculations, there are between 2,000 and 5,000 accredited journalists in Myanmar, at least half of whom are w ... more

External Link (9)

Google Scholar (6)

WorldCat (6)

Silencing a Snakehead Fish: A Case Study in Local Media, Rural-Based Activism, and Defamation Litigation in Southern Myanmar

Jennifer Leehey

In: Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change

Lisa Brooten; Jane Madlyn McElhone; Gayathry Venkiteswaran (eds.)

Singapore: ISEAS (2019), pp. 151-176

"My focus in this chapter is on civil society mobilization in Tanintharyi Region in southern Myanmar, and particularly in Kanbauk, a village of about 1,500 households in the Tanintharyi Hills, eighty kilometres north of the regional capital, Dawei. In recent years, Kanbauk villagers have contended w ... more

External Link (10)

Google Scholar (7)

WorldCat (6)

Counter-Narratives: Myanmar's Digital Media Activists

Sarah Oh

In: Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change

Lisa Brooten; Jane Madlyn McElhone; Gayathry Venkiteswaran (eds.)

Singapore: ISEAS (2019), pp. 377-386

"In the months before Myanmar's national elections in November 2015, Khin Oo says she began to engage directly with Facebook users to dispel rumours and misinformation that, in her view, propagated hate and inflamed intercommunal tensions. She posted "right speech" and "right information" by comment ... more

External Link (11)

Google Scholar (7)

WorldCat (7)

Myanmar's Pop Music Industry in Transition

Heather MacLachlan

In: Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change

Lisa Brooten; Jane Madlyn McElhone; Gayathry Venkiteswaran (eds.)

Singapore: ISEAS (2019), pp. 267-286

"I begin this chapter with a review of the scholarly literature on music scenes during and after political transitions. Next, I report on how Myanmar's popular music scene developed in the immediate wake of the cancellation of censorship. I argue that the popular music scene is being significantly a ... more

External Link (10)

Google Scholar (7)

WorldCat (7)

Media and the 2015 General Elections

Carine Jaquet

In: Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change

Lisa Brooten; Jane Madlyn McElhone; Gayathry Venkiteswaran (eds.)

Singapore: ISEAS (2019), pp. 251-264

"The first section of the chapter provides a brief overview of the legal framework that defines the concept of media space, with a specific focus on election day. Regulations included constraints on journalists' ability to cover the elections, which affected their access to polling stations. The sec ... more

External Link (8)

Google Scholar (6)

WorldCat (5)

Covering Rakhine: Journalism, Conflict and Identity

Eaint Thiri Thu

In: Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change

Lisa Brooten; Jane Madlyn McElhone; Gayathry Venkiteswaran (eds.)

Singapore: ISEAS (2019), pp. 229-238

"In this chapter I explore the challenge of gaining access, and remaining independent, in an ethnic state where you are expected to be on one side of the conflict or on the other. For decades the military junta restricted access to information and wielded a powerful propaganda strategy. This has had ... more

External Link (8)

Google Scholar (6)

WorldCat (6)

From Blogging to Digital Rights: Telecommunications Reform in Myanmar

Htaike Htaike Aung, Wai Myo Htut

In: Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change

Lisa Brooten; Jane Madlyn McElhone; Gayathry Venkiteswaran (eds.)

Singapore: ISEAS (2019), pp. 366-376

"The uptake of telecommunications technology in Myanmar has been nothing short of dramatic. After years of restricted access to information and freedom of expression, it has been a remarkable journey for civil society groups like MIDO to witness the growing interest and demand, especially among the ... more

External Link (12)

Google Scholar (6)

WorldCat (6)

Precarity and Risk in Myanmar's Media: A Longitudinal Analysis of Natural Disaster Coverage by 'The Irrawaddy'

Susan Banki, Ja Seng Ing

In: Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change

Lisa Brooten; Jane Madlyn McElhone; Gayathry Venkiteswaran (eds.)

Singapore: ISEAS (2019), pp. 177-200

"In this chapter we use the twin concepts of precarity and mobilization to explore the tensions associated with media reporting about Myanmar over time, analysing the reporting of the (formerly) exiled media publication The Irrawaddy. The chapter explores coverage through an examination of the sourc ... more

External Link (12)

Google Scholar (7)

WorldCat (7)

Legal Changes for Media and Expression: New Reforms, Old Controls

Gayathry Venkiteswaran, Yin Yadanar Thein, Myint Kyaw

In: Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change

Lisa Brooten; Jane Madlyn McElhone; Gayathry Venkiteswaran (eds.)

Singapore: ISEAS (2019), pp. 59-94

"This chapter provides an overview of the laws related to media and free expression introduced or changed in Myanmar since 2011. We begin with a review of the literature on media legal reforms during transitions, followed by a mapping of the media laws in Myanmar and issues related to the reform pro ... more

Download (0)

Mapping Media Development in Myanmar

Jane Madlyn McElhone et al.

Yangon: UNESCO;International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) (2018), viii, 49 pp.

"This mapping of the Myanmar media development sector is informed by three activities: a status update of the recommendations in the 2016 Assessment of Media Development in Myanmar report based on UNESCO’s Media Development Indicators, an online survey conducted in March and April 2018, and a seri ... more

Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change Top Insights

Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change
Top Insights