IPI Online Press Briefing

Missed the event? Watch the recording here

 

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists for press freedom, organized an online press briefing with

* Soe Myint, Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director of Mizzima Media Group, Myanmar

* Thin Lei Win, freelance journalist

(See speakers’ bios below ↓)

Myanmar’s military junta is accelerating its attacks on the press, aiming to smother coverage of the pro-democracy protests and the junta’s bloody crackdown. Authorities have detained more than 70 journalists, revoked licences of independent media outlets, and repeatedly blocked internet access. The crisis has shown no sign of improvement.

IPI hosted a special press briefing with two leading Myanmar journalists on the current situation. We also discussed how international community can support and show solidarity with our colleagues in Myanmar.

Moderator: Scott Griffen, Deputy Director, IPI

 

 

Briefing: Myanmar's Press Freedom Crackdown

  • Date: Held on Thursday, May 6, 2021
  • Recording available here
  • Join IPI Network: Contact us to join IPI using our special #WPFD offer!

 

Speakers’ bios

Soe Myint is the founding Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director of Mizzima Media Group. Soe Myint was in exile for 24 years while the country was under the military dictatorship. Mizzima was the first exile media to move back inside Myanmar in January 2012, after the country opened up for democratic changes. In 2007, IPI  honoured the Mizzima News Agency with its 2007 Free Media Pioneer Award. The military regime forcibly shut down its Free-To-Air Mizzima TV channel when it took over power on February 1, 2021. However, Mizzima continue to broadcast and publish independent news and information through Mizzima TV channel (on Satellite Dish), Mizzima Websites, Mizzima Facebook, Mizzima YouTube and Mizzima Application. He and his colleagues are presently working from different hideouts in the country to continue to operate as an independent media in Myanmar.

Thin Lei Win is a freelance Burmese journalist living in Europe. Thin is a specialist correspondent covering food security and climate change stories globally, including through her own Thin Ink newsletter, after nearly 13 years reporting these issues for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the non-profit arm of the Reuters news agency. Born and raised in Yangon, Myanmar, she is also the founder and former chief correspondent of Myanmar Now news agency and co-founder of the non-profit storytelling project The Kite Tales, which chronicles the lives and histories of ordinary people across Myanmar.