Yangon’s news media has risen on the list of COVID-19’s economic victims. A recent blanket stay-at-home order for Yangon Region has forced printing presses to close their doors and most private newspapers and magazines to suspend their printed products. At the time of writing, although the Daily Eleven continues to run, 7Day Daily, The Myanmar Times, The Standard Times and The Voice have halted. State-owned media, however, with authorised government workers and printing presses and large distribution networks outside of Yangon, have stayed in print.
Tom Kean, editor-in-chief of Frontier magazine, told Thura Swiss that he expects the freeze to lead many publishers to discontinue their printed products entirely. “Given most private print media were already struggling financially before this lockdown, I have my doubts that we will see all of these publications resume printing,” he said. “This forced temporary stoppage—as well as the general economic impacts of COVID-19, which have been tough for publishers—will accelerate the shift away from print.”
Although news media is one of a multitude of industries damaged by the new wave of lockdowns and restrictions, the pandemic highlights the precarious place media holds in Myanmar’s economy and politics. Very few private daily newspapers—in print or online—are profitable, with their media houses turning to their weekly magazines and other products to stay in business, according to an analysis by Frontier. State media have historically dominated the market thanks to more large-scale printing presses and larger distribution networks that span most states and regions. Secondly, Myanmar readers get a disproportionate amount of news via social media, especially Facebook, which has become the chief battleground for political skirmishes involving hate speech, fake news and censorship.
Thus, a suspension of printed news is an enormous blow to an already vulnerable sector, and may even lead some publications to discontinue their printed products entirely. This would come as a disappointment to free speech advocates, such as the Myanmar Press Council, who stresses the need for a well-developed private media industry. Unfortunately, that industry has not found a strong market, and the pandemic will only make things worse.
