Four of 16 groups in Burma which won licenses to publish dailies under the reformist government launched their maiden editions Monday—the first time privately run daily newspapers hit the streets in nearly 50 years.
Copies of the four newspapers—The Voice, The Golden Fresh Land, The Union Daily and The Standard Time—quickly sold out due to high demand, publishers said.
The Union is run by Burma's ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), The Standard Time by a construction company called "Three Friends," and The Golden Fresh Land by a publishing house called Golden Land. The Voice and The Union had formerly existed as private weekly newspapers.
Two other newspapers—7 Days and The Daily Eleven—have announced launch dates of April 16 and May 3, respectively.
The remaining groups that were given licenses by the government, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy's D-Wave, have announced delays due to distribution issues and other difficulties.
The permission to run dailies was part of media reforms introduced by President Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian government, which took power in 2011 after decades of military rule in Burma.
The former junta had seized control of Burma’s private dailies in 1964, enforcing a monopoly on daily news by state-owned newspapers.
Kyaw Min Swe, editor in chief of The Voice, told RFA's Burmese Service that the first day of publication had been met with an enthusiastic welcome by readership.
“Papers can be sold until 11:00 a.m., but we had already sold out at around 8:00 a.m. So, it was pretty successful,” he said.
“We sell papers for 130 kyat (U.S. $0.16). People who want to learn about the news will read daily papers. The influence of weekly journals that cover the news will clearly be weakened going forward.”
A new style
Win Tin, chief editor of The Union Daily, told RFA that his paper tries to emulate the presentation and subject matter found in daily news publications around the world.
“On the opening day, readers expressed appreciation that we clearly laid out our paper’s policy, editorial style, and attitude, as well as that we included various sections,” Win Tin said.
“We have heard from readers that they are happy to finally be able to read privately owned news [publications] that really look like a newspaper,” he said, comparing the new dailies with state-owned daily publications that he said felt more like reading a government gazette.
Win Tin said that the privately owned daily style of reporting is different from the experience he had gained working for a state-run daily paper over the past 10 years.
“It was never difficult to find enough news, as the government would always provide us with it. Now, we have to find enough news to print a full paper through our reporters,” he said.
“We can use the Internet for sources of news through sites like Facebook. We find these stories and our reporters contact their networks to confirm them.”
The Union produced 30,000 copies for its launch date, including 10,000 for distribution in Rangoon and 5,000 for the capital Naypyidaw, he said.
The paper will be distributed free of charge for 10 days to generate interest and will then begin selling copies for 100 kyat (U.S. $0.11).
Thar Ban, an experienced journalist, said that reporters who are used to writing for weekly publications or state-owned media will need to shift gears to adjust to the different pace of a daily paper.
“The writing styles are not yet in line with what is necessary for a daily paper,” he said.
“To be a real daily paper, work needs to be done on their news sections, feature sections, and classified section.”
But others said that despite some initial mistakes, Burma is hungry for something new after decades of state-run reporting.
A Burmese newspaper vendor told RFA that demand for the papers had been healthy on day one.
“People want to read private [daily] newspapers because this is first time they have had access to them,” he said.
“Government offices and businesses have bought out all four papers. And while I can’t predict what is to come, we have had high demand on the first day.”
Competition
Win Tin said that with a large number of new dailies arriving in Burma, each publication will have to work hard to distinguish itself.
“As we have several daily papers, news will likely be similar, but the policy of the papers will be different. We plan to make our coverage all inclusive, with as many voices as possible. We will have opinions and reviews from academics and intellectuals for all of the news we publish,” he said.
“This will allow readers to decide for themselves which papers are good or bad and right or wrong. There will be competition. When we develop our skills in publishing, we will increase the number of pages we carry. Our Burmese newspaper readers will have lots of pages to read.”
Win Tin called on his fellow reporters to uphold the ethics of journalism, such as freedom of the press, and said that publishers must put their role as an educator and provider of true information ahead of profits.
Burmese readers know that the new private dailies will face challenges in the early stages of their existence, including a lack of reporter experience and finding a clear editorial style.
A reader named Khin Lay New said that the value of having a thriving independent media was immeasurable.
“It is very important to have access to news that is true and fast,” he said.
“We readers are exhilarated to finally be able to read different private daily newspapers.”
Reported by Yadanar Oo and Khin Khin Ei for RFA’s Burmese Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.