DVB Talk Show host Mon Mon Myat led a roundtable discussion in-studio with Aung Zaw, the founding editor-in-chief of The Irrawaddy online news magazine, as well as Sai Maung, the editor-in-chief of Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) – one of the 16 members of the ethnic media alliance Burma News International (BNI) – on the sustainability of independent media from Myanmar in exile.
MMM: Hello and welcome to DVB. Our guests today are the founder and editor-in-chief of The Irrawaddy, Aung Zaw, and the editor-in-chief of the Shan Herald Agency for News, Sai Muang. Welcome, Aung Zaw and Sai Muang.
The topic I would like to discuss with you is the long-term sustainability of independent Myanmar media. I want to know how you are operating, because this kind of discussion between media outlets was not very common in the past. We can say this is a first. Another topic of discussion is the current situation of the media. After the 2021 military coup, independent media outlets have been facing increasing difficulties. First, their publication licenses were revoked, forcing them to go into exile.
After 2-3 years, they have been facing funding cuts. International financial support is gradually decreasing or has stopped altogether. For example, two major media outlets, Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Voice of America (VOA), were shut down due to a policy change by the new President Trump administration in the U.S.. We’re seeing many such cases. So, in this situation, how did the idea of working together, of collaboration for our long-term survival and sustainability, originate from you? Aung Zaw, Let’s start the discussion there.
AZ: In February, we heard news that USAID funding would be cut. That’s when we got the idea that we need to show solidarity. In the past, our first time in exile was different. There were fewer of us. There was only The Irrawaddy, Mizzima in India, DVB in Oslo [Norway]… BNI, SHAN, and [Karen Information Center] started to appear. Back then, we were separate. Coordination was very weak. We each used the funding and support we received on our own. It’s still like that now, but what I want to say is that by nature… we worked separately, and there was competition.
But now, we see that we can’t operate like that anymore. We felt we needed to show that we have solidarity. With that idea, we approached the issue. At [Chiang Mai University], we had a meeting to discuss this. It was a closed-door meeting. It was the first time we initiated this. The major media houses that participated were The Irrawaddy, Mizzima, DVB, Myanmar Now, and BNI, which is an umbrella organization that includes outlets like SHAN and KIC. They attended as well.
The main topic of discussion was the shrinking funding and how to use the remaining funds effectively. The importance of our collective voice. We discussed how to improve communication between us, the implementing partners, and the back-end donors. We discussed issues of transparency and accountability. A key word was “co-funding.” We started to discuss how to achieve co-funding. We need to be sustainable.
The people, both inside and outside of the country, in this situation where the military is running its own [dis]information campaign… our media cannot die. They want to see us disappear; they would be very happy. On our side, to remain sustainable and to keep the flow of information going… We initiated this with that idea. At first, there were some difficulties.
Building trust and confidence between each other… we had to do that. But when we actually met and talked, I think… We started in February, and now by July, we are starting to see some results. After the meeting, we issued a memorandum. We sent it to donors and implementing partners. The response we received has been positive. The most important thing they saw was that the media houses have solidarity and are working together. I see that as a result.
MMM: This reminds me of something. Around the end of 2014, before 2015, the phrase “Media and Collaboration” was a buzzword in donor proposals. But it wasn’t a pressing issue then. It was more ‘funding-oriented’—media outlets would go with that agenda to get funding. But now, it’s a real emergency. We have to cooperate to survive. We have to think about how to approach the donor countries. The idea that we media will cooperate in unity is something they want to hear, and it’s also important for our own long-term survival. So, for Sai Muang at SHAN, have you faced funding cuts, and how are you planning to overcome them and survive? What plans have you considered?
SM: From the beginning, when we started publishing our magazine and journal, we were reliant on donor funding. It’s a nightmare that comes back to haunt us… Like in 2010-2011, when the Thein Sein government invited us to return to the country, donors pressured us, saying they would cut funding if we didn’t go. We faced that once. Then, when democracy seemed to be advancing, there was a concern that support for the media would be reduced, like what happened in Timor-Leste or Indonesia.
We have faced these concerns repeatedly. The main thing is, first, commitment. We need to have a strong belief, a strong spiritual strength. Second, as for the staff, there’s a Shan saying: “With rice, you have enough; with money, you are complete.” This means we need to have enough to eat. For a news agency to run, funding is crucial. The donors… Most of them support training. But sometimes we have to attend these training sessions just to be polite, and it disrupts our work.
We have to leave our work to attend training. So, if the training is not designed in consultation with us about our actual needs, it’s not very effective. It would be much more valuable if we could collaborate on what training is really needed. That way the money spent would be more valuable. Another point is the need for fair salaries for our staff. That’s very important. Without that, the idea of independent media won’t exist in the long run. That’s the situation. That’s why the first thing I see is the need for full commitment. Second is that staff salaries must be regular.
And third… Working alone is not very powerful. Collaboration is very important. For example, our BNI is operating in a federal democratic style, with Kachin, Karenni, Karen, Chin, and Burman media all included. We are working together with combined strength. The main thing is transparency. Without transparency, long-term survival is very difficult. We need to have transparency appropriate to our size—a small organization needs it, and a large one needs it even more. That’s the situation.
Like Aung Zaw said, we’re being told three more months. After three months, what do we do? For three months, we’ll try to hold on. We face this kind of situation frequently. It’s like a recurring nightmare, a dark shadow following us, it’s even become traumatic. That’s the situation. So, the strength for our survival… it can’t be just ordinary strength. It has to be a mental and, beyond that, a spiritual strength. That’s the only way we can survive. But for us, the ethnic media, we also have to develop our own language, literature, and speech.
For example, if a new word like “commitment” comes up, we have to figure out how to use it in our language. In school, we’re not allowed to teach our language. So, besides our work, we also have to discuss and work on developing our language, to prevent our language from disappearing. So, in addition to fighting misinformation and reporting the truth, we also have to promote our language and literature. So the reporters who come to us… their spirit, their mental strength is absolutely complete. They are people with that.
For example, in 2010-2011, we had our salaries cut, and our bank accounts were frozen. Staff went without pay for 8 months. Some cried, some had to quit to find other jobs. But those with full commitment did not leave the job. They felt like they could not quit this job. If our SHAN newspaper doesn’t come out every day, there will be no one to read SHAN, no one to write in SHAN. So they felt they had to keep publishing the news. Even without a salary for eight months, we faced that and overcame it.
MMM: So the media is just lingering on. This must cause you, Aung Zaw, and you, Sai Muang, many sleepless nights. It’s not just about your own survival, but the survival of the organization and its people.
AZ: Yes, there are sleepless nights, frequently. But these things also make us stronger, more mature. How to deal with these challenges… it’s not the first time, or the second. We have gone through similar crises in the past 10-15 years. During my first exile, I faced similar things. We worked for months without pay. So cash flow problems and budget cuts are not new. What’s different this time is the U.S. policy’s impact. So we have to reconsider our expenses. We need to look at our budgets. And at the same time, we don’t want to reduce our daily content production. War is happening daily in the country. There are airstrikes. We have to cover these things.
Our teams inside the country and our editors here… They have to keep working. So we are trying to do this while cutting our budget. We are in a situation where we have to ask if we can do the job with 40 people or if we need 20. How do we manage with 20? Do we lay people off? Or fire them? We have reached a point where we have to face these questions. I think other outlets are in the same situation. So we have to work harder at fundraising.
We have donations from inside the country, from outside, from individual donors. It’s important to get understanding not just from institutional donors but from others as well. And for that to happen… This collaboration among major media houses is good news. And this news is starting to spread. There are people listening. So new donors might come in. And if they do, as I said, we need to manage it well. We need to have a say in how it’s managed. That’s what I think.
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Watch the DVB Talk Show in Burmese (coming soon with English subtitles).
