Myanmar: Journalists Paying the Price for Reporting Genocide | The Listening Post (Full)




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Summary: On The Listening Post this week: The sentencing of two Reuters reporters and the failed promise of media reform in Myanmar. Plus, the British media and their monarchy. Myanmar: Journalists Paying the Price for Reporting Genocide Earlier this week two Burmese journalists working for Reuters, Wa Lone and Chaw Soe Oo, were sentenced by a judge in Myanmar to seven years in jail for obtaining state secrets as they researched the killing of ten Rohingya men in 2017. If the sentences appeared harsh, add to that the testimony by a police witness alleging that the journalists were in fact victims of a police set up. The story of the ethnic violence against minority Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar has been in the headlines for more than a year now, during which international media have had access to the country severely restricted and much of the local media have taken the government and military's side over the treatment of the Rohingya. The Listening Post's Meenakshi Ravi reports on the case of Wa Lone and Chaw Soe Oo, and the very high price journalists in Myanmar pay if they report unfavourably on the military. Contributors Kevin Krolicki – Asia editor, Reuters Anna Roberts - executive director, Burma Campaign UK Kyaw Win - executive director, Burma Human Rights Network Toe Zaw Latt - Myanmar bureau chief, Democratic Voice of Burma On our radar Barbara Serra speaks to producer Tariq Nafi about the new social media law approved by President Sisi in Egypt, with additional analysis from journalist Amr Khalifa and the New York Times' publication of an explosive op-ed by an anonymous White House official. Deference over scrutiny? Media and Monarchy in the United Kingdom The royal wedding that took place in Windsor four months ago played like a scene from a fairytale. And the media lapped it up. Events like these play a part in the British royal family's ongoing effort to re-brand itself. Like Prince William's wedding to Kate Middleton back in 2011, the televised nuptials of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have helped Buckingham Palace repair its public image, which was badly damaged following the death of Princess Diana in 1997. But what about the role played by the intermediaries - journalists - in this royal re-brand? The pomp and pageantry might mean little more than ratings and clicks for international media, but Britain's fourth estate is supposed to hold the country's elite to account. And they don't come much more elite or privileged than the House of Windsor, funded by the taxpayer. But is the royal reporting British audiences usually get long on deference and short on scrutiny? The Listening Post's Daniel Turi reports on the relationship between media and monarchy in the United Kingdom. Contributors Tim Ewart - former royal editor, ITV Katie Nicholl - royal correspondent, Mail on Sunday; author, 'Harry: Life, Loss and Love' Dawn Foster - columnist, The Guardian Laura Clancy - lecturer in media and cultural studies, Lancaster University - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/ - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/