| Abstract |
In recent years, the military government in Burma has allowed a wider range of digital news media to become available in the country.
This paper seeks to identify the forms and extent of such media availability, and assess the likely implications for social change in Burma. As it will be suggested, while a highly significant development, the wider availability of digital news services in Burma may not be a catalyst for wide ranging social change, and most especially, a movement towards greater democracy. Given strict limitations on such media, their impact will always be severely circumscribed. As well, there are disturbing signs the military government will be channelling the future development of such digital news services in particular directions. Mimicking other authoritarian countries such as Singapore and Malaysia, the military government is encouraging the expansion of business-related services and the exclusion of nearly anything else. This severely compromises the capacity of digital news services to act as agents of broader social change. On the whole, the paper concludes digital news will only have a marginal impact in fostering social change within Burma so long as the military regime remains in power. The removal of the regime is an essential prerequisite if digital news services are to play a role informing, educating and empowering the public in a process of social advancement.
|