Tidbits on the region’s media

Times have been a bit tough recently for Burma's chief censor, Major Tint Swe. Pesky scribes have seemed to be turning more defiant than ever, refusing to sign so-called assertion letters, which state that they will abide by the guidelines set by the euphemistically named Burmese Press Scrutiny and Registration Department. Clearly failing at his job, the upstanding Swe promptly handed in his resignation. But the junta works in mysterious ways, and the honourable information minister would not accept the resignation.

A number of factors seem to be at play here. First, Burmese journalists say that the highly efficient censor board is becoming less effective by the day. With about 120 weeklies now being published in the country, the office is understaffed and simply unable to keep up with the rapidly expanding publishing industry. Second, there also appears to be something of a schism between Swe and the hardliners in the information ministry. Evidently, the chief censor is seen to be a bit too sympathetic to the local media, especially when it came to reporting on Cyclone Nargis. Chhetria Patrakar shudders to think of the future of the Burmese media, if one of the ministry boys replaces the 'open' Swe.

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Moving on to a regime that does not view information solely as a danger, after months of delay Bangladesh's interim cabinet has finally approved the Right to Information Ordinance. This will allow public access to information from certain government offices and foreign-funded NGOs. Of course, the key word here is 'certain'. It comes as no surprise that six security and intelligence agencies are exempt from the Ordinance, but the caretaker government has also deemed that the public has no right to information related to corruption and human-rights violations. So, if a Bangladeshi wants to know whether a particular person has been arrested, the authorities must confirm or deny within 24 hours. On the other hand, the citizen has no right to ask whether the arrest was made legally, or whether the arrestee was (or is being) tortured. Interesting how 'transparency' and 'accountability' can be such relative concepts.

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On the subject of answerability, it has been clear for years the Indian media's tendency to broadcast unsubstantiated reports – even straight-up rumours – as news. Media outlets do not seem to be moving away from this trend, even when the news in question is something as serious as the 13 September bomb blasts in New Delhi. On the eve of the blasts, Aaj Tak, the self-proclaimed "best channel in the country", repeatedly ran a 'breaking news' flash that a young boy with a bomb strapped around him had been arrested. In fact, the boy in question had seen the person whom police suspected had planted one of the bombs, and the police had thus taken the boy to get some more details from him. In the already charged environment, that piece of 'news' caused even more panic in New Delhi. Later, the channel nonchalantly confirmed that the report had been false, but apparently saw no need to apologise.

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This latest Aaj Tak fiasco only serves to emphasise the need to improve media standards across the region. And this is exactly what the South Asia Media Solidarity Network (SAMSN), comprised of media representatives from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, is striving toward with its newly adopted South Asia Media Charter. The Charter pledges to promote editorial independence, neutrality, social dialogue and diversity, and to introduce a plan to advocate for journalists' rights – all areas requiring much improvement in Southasia. CP wishes SAMSN all the best in this endeavour.

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SAMSN is not the only entity that cares about the media, from the looks of it. President Asif Ali Zardari cares so deeply about journalists that he has promised affordable housing to working journalists in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Meanwhile, across Pakistan, news abounds of press clubs being attacked, and journalists being kidnapped, questioned or attacked by security forces, intelligence agencies and militants alike. It should also be pointed out that the president has yet only promised housing to journalists – along with peace, political stability and economic growth. And while housing should be easier to manage than the other grand promises, CP remains a sceptic.

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(Ex-) Mr Ten Percent's pledges aside, there is more alarming news from Pakistan. Amir Liaquat Hussain, the anchor of a religious programme on the popular GEO TV (he's also the former minister for religious affairs), told the country that it was the duty of 'true' Muslims to kill members of the Ahmadi religious group, a splinter sect not considered to be 'Muslim' by the federal government. And, indeed, two Ahmadis were killed soon after the show was broadcast. Regardless of whether there is any connection between the two events, that such sentiments are being aired by mainstream, indeed even anti-establishment, media is loathsome. And while CP worries about advocating for censorship of any kind, Islamabad would do well to try to address the intolerance and violence that is being encouraged – clearly not only by militants.

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In Sri Lanka the news is not much better. As the civil war wages on, reports of journalists being pressured to keep quiet, harassed and attacked are everyday occurrences. A prime recent example is the Colombo government filing terrorism charges against Tamil journalist J S Tissainayagam (aka 'Tissa'), that too after detaining him for five months without explanation. Charges of 'promoting terrorism' are apparently based on coverage critical of the government by the magazine Northeastern Monthly, which Tissa published for some months in 2006. Meanwhile, CP is sad to note that even in such a repressive environment, some editors appear to continue to put commercial interests over independent reportage. Citing just that, four senior editors from the Sinhala weekly Siyatha have resigned from their jobs.

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Anti-junta Burmese sites have recently had their jobs made more difficult. The websites of three news outlets, operating in exile, were hacked into on 18 September, the day marking the one-year anniversary of the 'Saffron Revolution' in Burma. Servers of the Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma, the Irrawaddy magazine and the New Era Journal, the latter two operating out of Thailand, all crashed when they were suddenly flooded with requests for information. Sources at these agencies say that they received anonymous tips before the event, warning them that Burmese military rank-and-file training in Russia were likely to attack their sites. And indeed, experts have confirmed that the attacks came from Moscow. It is believed that the trainees might have launched the attacks to please their bosses in Naypyidaw. This seems to be a case of going above and beyond the call of duty, but then again CP's bosses have never had a penchant for meting out prolonged and painful punishments.

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Excited to check in on fellow-travellers, CP has been eager to check out each new issue of Covert, the still-new fortnightly started up recently under duress by the indomitable M J Akbar, after he was ungraciously dropped as editor at The Asian Age and the Deccan Herald. Rumour has it that "straight government pressure" was to blame for the sudden severance, but the government couldn't possibly have thought that such action would have kept someone like Akbar down. Since this past March, Covert has been offering up cogent reportage, analysis, opinion, eminent columnists and more – including a notable plethora of back-of-the-book nudity. While there is, of course, a long tradition of paging through magazines from back to front, the amount of envelope-pushing going on has tended to make CP wonder whether the interns have taken over the newsroom – issue after issue after issue.

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Finally, CP would like to end by cheering on the beleaguered citizens of Afghanistan. Considering the range of the country's problems, one would think that a stand-up comedy show would fail due to a lack of content. But Afghans have embraced just such a show – Laugh Bazaar, which is aired on the popular Tolo TV. Aspiring funnymen – as yet there are no funnywomen – vie to be voted best comic. The jokes invariably revolve around the myriad problems facing the country – bombings, drugs, poverty, high food prices, corrupt politicians and the like. The only group they refrain from mocking is the Taliban, and who can blame them for that?

– Chhetria Patrakar