NAYPYIDAW(MYANMAR): The Committee to Protect Journalists (CJP) has blamed Myanmar for suppressing freedom of the press in the country.
The CJP in a report published on its website said, “Myanmar's media, both local and foreign, are under heavy assault as security measures used to suppress the press under military rule are reactivated under Suu Kyi's quasi-democratic regime, several journalists who cover the country told CPJ.”
“It marks a dramatic reversal in recent press freedom gains and augurs ill for the country's delicate transition from military to elected rule,” it added.
The CJP further highlighted that authorities are increasingly abusing various draconian colonial and military era laws to repress reporting on a widening range of topics.
“Many journalists and activists had hoped the laws would be amended or scrapped when Suu Kyi came to power with a strong electoral mandate to push democratic change through liberal reforms,” it said.
The report also mentioned that Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Esther Htusan fled the country last year after she was threatened for her critical reporting.
Htusan, who is a reporter with The Associated Press, reported on various sensitive topics including the Rohingya refugee exodus, the military's controversial counterinsurgency operations in Rakhine State, to State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi's handling of the crisis.