Exile Myanmar radio station sends news to pro-democracy activists at home
© AP
24.09.2007 17:49:21
(live-PR.com) - OSLO, Norway (AP) - From a warehouse-like building in Norway's capital, a tiny broadcast network called the Democratic Voice of Burma is struggling to provide news and encouragement to countrymen rising up against the military dictatorship at home.
Secret recordings of red-clad monks and other protesters marching Monday in the pouring rain in Myanmar's biggest
city, Yangon, flashed across computer screens at the network's plain but tidy office.
Chief Editor Aye Chan Naing said strict control of the news media in Myanmar, also known as Burma, means the first news its citizens often get of what is going on in their own country comes through the station's shortwave radio, satellite TV and Internet services.
«There is no other way for the people of Burma to get news,» he told The Associated Press on Monday, claiming that broadcasts reach as many as 5 million people in the Southeast Asian nation of 54 million.
Exiled pro-democracy student activists, including Naing, founded the radio station in 1992, a year after Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo for her peaceful pro-democracy campaign.
Suu Kyi's party won a 1990 general election, but was not allowed to take office by the military, which has been in power since 1962. She has been detained for about 12 of the past 18 years.
The pro-democracy radio station, funded by grants from government and free speech groups from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and the United States, was founded in Oslo because of Suu Kyi's Nobel Prize, Naing said.
To support the growing protests at home, the station's staff of 10 activists have doubled their shortwave radio broadcasts to seven hours per day, and have stepped up TV transmissions. But Naing said they are quickly running out of money.
«We're almost broke,» said Naing. «We lost some cameras in Burma. Some were confiscated by the authorities.» He said other cameras and equipment were damaged.
Just the same, he expressed determination. «Depending what happens in Burma, we may extend to 24 hours,» he said.
Norwegian Aid Minister Erik Solheim this weekend said he would promptly consider any application for additional funding. Naing said he plans to apply as soon as possible.
The network sends news, appeals from leading opposition figures and information about planned protests, said Naing.
He said the media is so strictly controlled in Myanmar that almost anything they transmit is news to the people there. Last year, the network transmitted TV footage of Suu Kyi's 1991 Nobel Prize awards ceremony, which she did not attend for fear of being barred from returning home.
«It was a 15-year-old story, but it was still news in Burma,» Naing said at the downtown office, decorated with pictures of Suu Kyi and lapel buttons saying «Free Suu.
The station's reporters in Burma, often using tiny hidden cameras, provide the world an often unique glimpse of what is going on there.
«We have 30-40 people on the ground, all undercover journalists,» he said. «All of the journalists shooting now were brought to a secret location in Thailand for training.
He declined to say how they get images and news out of Myanmar, although he said, despite strict military restrictions, the Internet is crucial. Sometimes, TV footage is sent one frame at a time to get it through.
Working openly, he said, brings the risk of arrest, or confiscation of cameras and equipment.
Naing, 42, was a dentistry student when he fled Myanmar in 1988, spending three years in Thailand, learning journalism there. After stops in Germany and Sweden, he ended up in Oslo in 1992.
He said he hopes someday to return to a democratic Myanmar, with the freedom to criticize whatever government is in power.
On the Net
www.dvb.no
Secret recordings of red-clad monks and other protesters marching Monday in the pouring rain in Myanmar's biggest
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Chief Editor Aye Chan Naing said strict control of the news media in Myanmar, also known as Burma, means the first news its citizens often get of what is going on in their own country comes through the station's shortwave radio, satellite TV and Internet services.
«There is no other way for the people of Burma to get news,» he told The Associated Press on Monday, claiming that broadcasts reach as many as 5 million people in the Southeast Asian nation of 54 million.
Exiled pro-democracy student activists, including Naing, founded the radio station in 1992, a year after Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo for her peaceful pro-democracy campaign.
Suu Kyi's party won a 1990 general election, but was not allowed to take office by the military, which has been in power since 1962. She has been detained for about 12 of the past 18 years.
The pro-democracy radio station, funded by grants from government and free speech groups from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and the United States, was founded in Oslo because of Suu Kyi's Nobel Prize, Naing said.
To support the growing protests at home, the station's staff of 10 activists have doubled their shortwave radio broadcasts to seven hours per day, and have stepped up TV transmissions. But Naing said they are quickly running out of money.
«We're almost broke,» said Naing. «We lost some cameras in Burma. Some were confiscated by the authorities.» He said other cameras and equipment were damaged.
Just the same, he expressed determination. «Depending what happens in Burma, we may extend to 24 hours,» he said.
Norwegian Aid Minister Erik Solheim this weekend said he would promptly consider any application for additional funding. Naing said he plans to apply as soon as possible.
The network sends news, appeals from leading opposition figures and information about planned protests, said Naing.
He said the media is so strictly controlled in Myanmar that almost anything they transmit is news to the people there. Last year, the network transmitted TV footage of Suu Kyi's 1991 Nobel Prize awards ceremony, which she did not attend for fear of being barred from returning home.
«It was a 15-year-old story, but it was still news in Burma,» Naing said at the downtown office, decorated with pictures of Suu Kyi and lapel buttons saying «Free Suu.
The station's reporters in Burma, often using tiny hidden cameras, provide the world an often unique glimpse of what is going on there.
«We have 30-40 people on the ground, all undercover journalists,» he said. «All of the journalists shooting now were brought to a secret location in Thailand for training.
He declined to say how they get images and news out of Myanmar, although he said, despite strict military restrictions, the Internet is crucial. Sometimes, TV footage is sent one frame at a time to get it through.
Working openly, he said, brings the risk of arrest, or confiscation of cameras and equipment.
Naing, 42, was a dentistry student when he fled Myanmar in 1988, spending three years in Thailand, learning journalism there. After stops in Germany and Sweden, he ended up in Oslo in 1992.
He said he hopes someday to return to a democratic Myanmar, with the freedom to criticize whatever government is in power.
On the Net
www.dvb.no
