Document details

Media Assistance in Burma’s Reform Decade

Washington, DC: Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) (2022), 35 pp.

Series: Media Reform Amid Political Upheaval Working Paper

"Using the coup as a vantage point, interviewees for this report were asked to reflect on three main questions: What have we learned about past media reform efforts? With hindsight, what are the legacies, best practices, and lessons learned? With a view to the future, what does the media’s response to the coup teach us about reform and resilience? One of the important lessons their collective reflections and analysis show is that over the past decade the media assistance approach in Burma should have been more strategic, nuanced, grassroots driven, flexible, and inclusive, with a greater focus on opportunities to support local initiatives, coalitions, and actors. Other important lessons learned concern risks and security, including the importance of digital security literacy and mechanisms, as well as building widespread capacity in volatile contexts with greater risk of repression." (Conclusion)
Introduction, 3
Media Reform in Burma, 11
The Current Role of International Assistance Actors, 17
Case Study: Digital Rights and Reform, 23
Conclusion, 27