With Daily Editions, Burmese Newspapers Prepare for New Era

"For the first time in nearly 50 years, private daily newspapers are now being published in Myanmar."

The state monopoly on the daily press in Burma has come to an end after nearly half a century.  Publishers have long waited for this day – when they can publish their own private daily newspapers without fear of imprisonment and torture.

Four private newspapers are already on stands and another twelve are preparing to go daily.

Kyaw Kyaw Min is the Chief Editor of The Express Times Journal. He says it’s an exciting time.

“Although everyone is making preparations with strategies and planning their own accounts, they are still wary of the challenges ahead. We are too.” 

[Also read: Court Deals Another Blow to Media Freedom in Thailand]

But there is no denying this is another important milestone for freedom of speech in Burma. After media censorship laws were relaxed last year, newspapers have spent months, even years, getting ready for daily publication.

“We didn’t just start getting ready for a daily newspaper just now,” says Wai Phyo, Chief Editor of the Eleven Media Group. “We are ready to begin a newspaper as we have been systemically preparing for this for the past two years.”

In terms of logistics, putting out a daily paper is hard work.

For a start, more journalists are needed to fill the pages.

“We have between 90 and 100 staff including admins and printer technicians,” explains Thura Aung, editor of the Messenger News Journal.

The Messenger even started an internal daily paper to train their team. They have been studying work strategies, regulations and the challenges ahead.

Distributing the paper is one of those challenges – especially to remote parts of Burma, where infrastructure is poor.

“For distribution procedures; it is not easy, due to difficult transportation, to deliver copies to those areas,” Thura says. “But we will be distributing in as many areas as we can reach – we are currently thinking Irrawaddy, Pegu, Naypyidaw, Mandalay and Rangoon Regions.”

Other publications have the workforce, but are monitoring the situation before they go daily. 

“We want to know what the pros and cons are – how those papers compete in the market,” says Kyaw Kyaw Min from The Express Times.

“We have a lot of challenges with distribution and will wait and see how other papers solve it and whether their solutions are actually cost effective and successful.”

Expenses are another issue.

Private newspapers must compete with the three state-run dailies, The Kyemon and Myanma Ahlin, and the English-language paper, New Light of Myanmar, that sell for 5 US cents each.

“The government can sell their newspaper copies for a low price as they have government budgets and state funds,” says Wai Phyo from the Eleven Media Group.

“Private publications will have to [set higher prices] to cover expenses and also for tax.”

And they must have a workable business model.

“It’s all about the price – it’s the most important,” says this newspaper distributor.

“It’d be more convenient if they would be able to reduce the price but I see it’s difficult. They will have to struggle for about a year, until around the end of this year, until they are settled.”

The Messenger is still debating how many copies to print.  They want to make sure their papers are affordable for everyone, says editor-in-chief Thura Aung.

“Now we have the approval granted, so sooner or later, we will reach to our audience but currently we are unable to tell exactly on which date we will launch. There might be challenges and problems. We are confident we will overcome those as we have been preparing although there might also be unexpected challenges ahead.”

Printing starts this week for The Voice, Golden Fresh Land, USDP paper The Union and The Standard Time Daily.  The Express Times hasn’t been granted a license to publish yet.

But over the coming months, Eleven Media Group, The Messenger Journal and 14 other newspapers will hit the stands.

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• Ko Swe DVB