Mizzima TV and Voice of America (VOA) jointly organized a seminar under the title ‘Myanmar Press Freedom and Democracy Level’ at Wyndham Hotel in Yangon on June 29.

Ambassador of India to Myanmar Mr Sauranh Kumar and Director of Voice of America for the East Asia and Pacific Division Ms Nadia Madjid delivered the opening addresses and U Aung Thu Nyein from ‘Institute for Strategy and Policy – Myanmar’ delivered the Keynote Speech at the event.

Around 50 senior editors from media houses of the country who participated at the seminar discussed two issues - ‘How much media freedom is there in Myanmar’ and ‘Race, religion and nationalism in Media.’

Than Lwin Tun from VOA Burmese Service said, “The status of media freedom is declining. Even though the status of media freedom in Myanmar is said to be slightly free. We wish to see absolute freedom. So, we organized this workshop to discuss how we can change the current status to absolute freedom by inviting really seasoned journalists.”

The topic ‘How much is Myanmar media free’ was discussed by Swe Win from ‘Myanmar Now’, Sein Win from ‘Internews’, Dr Zin Mar Kyaw from ‘National Management Degree College’ and Nan Paw Gay from Karen Information Centre.

The topic ‘Race, religion and nationalism in Media’ was discussed by Myint Kyaw from ‘Myanmar Journalism Institute’, Aye Mya Kyaw from ‘Yangon Journalism School’, Thiha Saw from ‘Myanmar Journalists Association’ and Dr Yan Myo Thein who is a news commentator.

This seminar was attended by seasoned journalists, editors, invitees from various fields and all participants agreed to continue discussions in future regarding media development in the country including press freedom.