Why Digital Reporting Is Essential for Myanmar

If you've been following Laura Fitton on Twitter (@Pistachio), you've probably seen a lot of links with news about the cyclone and resulting aftermath in Myanmar. And the junta running the Myanmar government doesn't want its citizens seeing the information behind those links. Actually, they don't want anyone to see them.

I've mainly been following the story on Irrawaddy, and the news is not good. The junta is delaying aid to people suffering, sometimes to make it look as if the aid is coming from the government rather than foreigners sending things in, but often to skim off the top of what's being sent in; as much as 70% of the aid being sent is being re-appropriated by the military and village headmen.

And lest you think that Burmese citizens are risking a lot by reporting any information out about the real conditions there (the official death toll from the government is under 29,000, while the UN estimates 100,000 may have died), foreign journalists are being searched and detained. I have mentioned the reported checkpoints and tracking of people within the Myanmar borders, especially when it comes to foreign nationals traveling in-country, and received comments claiming that it wasn't the case. CNN reporter Dan Rivers had to sneak his way through those checkpoints in order to get out of the country once he'd been identified. He was detained before his return flight, and if that much attention is being paid to a high-profile foreign journalist, what is the risk for citizens reporting the story? Nay Myo Latt was arrested for blogging about loss of freedoms in the country after the elections; what do you think will happen to any citizen blogging about the throttling of global relief efforts?

While I think that the upcoming Bloggers Unite for Human Rights is a great idea for drawing attention to global issues such as the current situation in Myanmar, one day out of a year isn't nearly enough when it comes to highlighting the injustices occurring every day. People are dying in Myanmar, not because the world doesn't want to help, but because a government isn't allowing the world to help. And I'm glad that people are using Twitter and blogs to get that word out.