"Until free and reliable news and information become available in
Myanmar, the Burmese will continue to suffer horrors that are
literally untold."
"Absent such freedom in news and information, all =93natural=94 disasters
are ultimately man-made."
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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/10/opinion/10alampay.html?_r=3D1&oref=3Dslogi=
n
No News Is Bad News
EXACTLY four years ago this month, a cyclone, the strongest in 30
years, hit Myanmar. A journalist, writing one month later in The
Irrawaddy (a news magazine published by Burmese exiles), wondered how
the country=92s state-controlled news media could fail to make any
mention of a typhoon that the United Nations said killed at least 140
people, sunk vessels and made an estimated 18,000 people homeless.
The journalist, Dominic Faulder, wrote that =93a town of 100,000 could
burn to the ground here and nobody would ever know about it.=94 Here, he
concluded, is a country =93where disasters don=92t happen, officially.=94
For the people of Myanmar, this truth is more devastating =97 and its
tragedy more lingering =97 than anything that nature may bring.
If information can flow as freely as nature=92s elements, the
consequences of many calamities =97 be they earthquakes, floods,
droughts, hurricanes or storms =97 are manageable and even preventable.
Absent such freedom in news and information, all =93natural=94 disasters
are ultimately man-made.
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In Myanmar, caught between the need to aid its people and the reflex
to hide any suggestion of vulnerability, the junta has been consistent
in its choice. After the tsunami of December 2004, Myanmar=92s generals
made the World Food Program wait two weeks before its workers could
even visit the affected areas.
Four years later, Indian meteorologists were warning of Cyclone Nargis
as early as April 26. As predicted, the cyclone made landfall in
Myanmar on May 2 =97 the eve of World Press Freedom Day. The irony is
worth noting because the tragedy wasn=92t that India=92s advisories fell
on deaf ears. Rather, they were relayed to the GAGGED.
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As a result, the rescue and relief efforts in Myanmar will inevitably
continue to be tragic. By now it is plain that the junta=92s
uncompromising policies regarding the press and access to information
are a source not only of political repression, but also of
humanitarian emergency. Aid workers are not the only essential element
for relief and recovery that the country=92s callous leaders are denying
their people.
Until free and reliable news and information become available in
Myanmar, the Burmese will continue to suffer
horrors that are literally untold.
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_r=3D1&oref=3Dslogin
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