The Development Of Civil Media In Myanmar And Social Transition

Before the political transition, Myanmar is an authoritarian state under the military control which directly came to power by military coup. Also, the media in Myanmar areunder watchful supervision by military regime. During the transition of Myanmar, people inside the country experienced “Saffron”revolution in 2007, the “Nargis” cyclonein 2008 and theelections in 2010 and 2015. Due to the control of the media by junta, domestic media remained silent on major events. At that moment, some of Myanmar’s civil media, such as “Democratic Voice of Burma”,“Irrawaddy” and “Mizzma”, depended on their own advantages of locations and made use of the communication technologies to break the media blockade. Thus, these media promote society transitionof Myanmar.This article will use the theory of media and democratization and political sociology to illustratethe Myanmar civil media, especially the “Democratic Voice of Burma”. A case study will be employed to analyze the role of the private media in different transition periods of Myanmar. This thesis states that “Democratic Voice of Burma” plays a fair and transparent roleduring the transition of Myanmar. Firstly, this civil media expose the truth to the people of Myanmar by reporting which promotecommunication both inside and outside Myanmar.Secondly, it plays a supervisory role and enhances the transparency of the elections in Myanmar. Thirdly, this independent media alsocontributes to the promotion of national reconciliation and cooperation inside Myanmar. This thesis not only enriches the democratization of media theorybut also contributes to the development of “think tanks”.