MILITARY INTELLIGENCE-AFFILIATED MEDIA SHUT DOWN

C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 001366

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV, EAP/PD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/19/2014
TAGS: PGOV ECON BM
SUBJECT: MILITARY INTELLIGENCE-AFFILIATED MEDIA SHUT DOWN

REF: A. RANGOON 1359


B. RANGOON 1345

Classified By: COM Carmen Martinez for Reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (C) Summary: Following the October 19 removal of General
Khin Nyunt as Prime Minister and Chief of Military
Intelligence (ref A),32 journals and magazines with links to
Military Intelligence (MI) have apparently been temporarily
closed down. Quasi-independent media licensed through other
ministries have so far been unaffected by yesterday's events.
It is unclear whether the MI Office of Strategic Studies
will retain its function of censorship over international
publications and the high-profile, bilingual Myanmar Times.
Stripping Military Intelligence of its media appendages will
deprive MI of some income. This could be part of a broader
move ordered by the regular military to separate MI from the
business dealings that provide its operating costs. End
summary.


2. (C) Journals and magazines that had been operating under
license from Military Intelligence have been told to
temporarily halt publication according to a source at one of
the affected journals. Although this week's editions will
appear, publishers were told when they submitted them to the
Home Ministry's Press Scrutiny Board for censorship to halt
work on the next edition until they obtain new licenses. The
source says that 32 publications may be affected, including
the 7 Day News, the Myanmar News Gazette, Wun Tha Nu, the
Morning Post, and the high profile Myanmar Times, a colorful
bilingual weekly newspaper run jointly by an Australian
businessman and the son of MI Brigadier General Thein Swe.
The Myanmar Times had unique status as the only local
publication that received censor board clearance from MI's
Office of Strategic Studies, rather than the Press Scrutiny
Board. Sources at the Myanmar Times say they have not
received clearance on this week's edition because their usual
interlocutors at MI are either under arrest or unavailable.
However, the newspaper intends to proceed with a planned move
to larger quarters, under the assumption that the stoppage is
temporary in nature.


3. (SBU) Publishers of quasi-independent media (weekly
newspapers and journals run by private citizens with a
license from a government entity and subject to government
press censorship rules) not affiliated with MI, such as
Myanmar Dana and Kumudra, have said they don't appear to be
affected by the change in leadership. Strangely, however,
they were granted a respite this next week from carrying the
usual obligatory "policy" diatribe reprinted from opinion
pages of the government-run media.


4. (C) Comment: Seen in the context of economic competition
between MI and the regular military (described in ref B),
stripping Military Intelligence of its media appendages will
deprive MI of some income, though not a large amount.
However, this could be part of a broader move ordered by the
regular military to separate MI from the business operations
that provide its budget. End comment.
Martinez