IPI in Myanmar: The road to press freedom

This year’s World Congress is scheduled to take place in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma) from March 27 to 29. The Southeast Asian country destination is a country in transition. Myanmar,with a population of 51 million is bordered by  exotic countries of Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand and like Nigeria it has a long history of […]

This year’s World Congress is scheduled to take place in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma) from March 27 to 29. The Southeast Asian country destination is a country in transition. Myanmar,with a population of 51 million is bordered by  exotic countries of Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand and like Nigeria it has a long history of military rule. It ended in 2011, after a general election in 2010 and a nominally civilian government was installed. Although the military retains enormous influence, it has taken steps toward relinquishing control of the government. The release of Aung San Suu Kyi, a famous political prisoner and others heralded improvement in the Myanmar’s human rights record and the opening up of the country.
IPI chose to go to Myanmar in solidarity with the local media and the efforts being made by media practitioners to return their country to the global hall of press freedom. Before our elections was postponed from February 14  to March 28, many of us looked forward to attending 2015 IPI Congress and getting to see Myanmar, a country that shut its doors to the rest of the world for decades. The topics listed on the programme also have special attraction for Nigerian delegates as they are the same issues that we have been discussing in an election year.  They  include: Effective Strategies to Address Hate Speech, -Upholding Media Freedom in Myanmar Through Laws and Practice, Journalism, a Dangerous Profession: How Do We Stop the Killing of the Messenger? Others include -Producing Good Journalism Using Data and -Conflict-Sensitive Reporting. In addition to panel discussions, the Congress will offer inspiring conversations at a Town Hall debate titled “Myanmar and the Road to Freedom”.
Other regular events are the   inspiring gala dinner and awards ceremony usually organised to honour IPI’s 2015 Free Media Pioneer and IPI’s 66th World Press Freedom Hero. For the curious ones who want to chronicle the opening up of Myanmar, There will be tours of local media houses! The guided tours will be led by senior media professionals from some of the most respected Yangon-based media houses. This will enable participants to learn first-hand about the rapidly changing Burmese media landscape, including its past, its transformation and the challenges it faces.  Press freedom remains a  challenge even in more open societies so it would be interesting to compare notes with progress made in Myanmar in the past few years.