Myanmar media in transition: legacies, challenges and change

Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change is the first volume to overview the country's contemporary media landscape, providing a critical assessment of the sector during the complex and controversial political transition. Moving beyond the focus on journalism and freedom of the press that characterizes many media-focused volumes, Myanmar Media in Transition also explores developments in fiction, filmmaking, social movement media and social media.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Contributors and Editors -- Burma or Myanmar? A Note on Terminology -- 1. Introduction: Myanmar Media Historically and the Challenges of Transition / Brooten, Lisa / McElhone, Jane Madlyn / Venkiteswaran, Gayathry -- Part I. Structural Constraints and Opportunities -- 2. Legal Changes for Media and Expression: New Reforms, Old Controls / Venkiteswaran, Gayathry / Thein, Yin Yadanar / Kyaw, Myint -- 3. Whispered Support: Two Decades of International Aid for Independent Journalism and Free Expression / McElhone, Jane Madlyn / Brooten, Lisa -- 4. The Changing Face of Print Media: An Interview with News Veteran Thiha Saw / McElhone, Jane Madlyn / Venkiteswaran, Gayathry -- 5. Privacy Risks in Myanmar's Emerging ICT Sector / Emad, Kamran / McAuliffe, Erin -- Part II. Journalism in Transition -- 6. Silencing a Snakehead Fish: A Case Study in Local Media, Rural-Based Activism, and Defamation Litigation in Southern Myanmar / Leehey, Jennifer -- 7. Precarity and Risk in Myanmar's Media: A Longitudinal Analysis of Natural Disaster Coverage by The Irrawaddy / Banki, Susan / Seng, Ja -- 8. Educating a New Generation of Watchdogs: Interview with Ye Naing Moe, Director of the Yangon and Mandalay Journalism Schools / Nai, Nai / McElhone, Jane Madlyn -- 9. The Metamorphosis of Media in Myanmar's Ethnic States / McElhone, Jane Madlyn -- 10. Covering Rakhine: Journalism, Conflict and Identity / Thu, Eaint Thiri -- 11. Media in Myanmar: Laws, Military and the Public / Weng, Lawi -- 12. Cracking the Glass Ceiling in Myanmar Media / Win, Thin Lei -- 13. Media and the 2015 General Elections / Jaquet, Carine -- Part III. Creative Expression -- 14. Myanmar's Pop Music Industry in Transition / MacLachlan, Heather -- 15. New Video Generation: The Myanmar Motion Picture Industry in 2017 / Ferguson, Jane M. -- 16. Films for Dignity / Myat, Mon Mon -- 17. A "Fierce" Fear: Literature and Loathing after the Junta / Thida, Ma -- Part IV. Society and Media -- 18. The Tea Shop Meets the 8 O'clock News: Facebook, Convergence and Online Public Spaces / Oak, Yan Naung / Brooten, Lisa -- 19. From Blogging to Digital Rights: Telecommunications Reform in Myanmar / Aung, Htaike Htaike / Htut, Wai Myo -- 20. Counter-Narratives: Myanmar's Digital Media Activists / Oh, Sarah -- Epilogue: Media Studies in Myanmar - Where Do We Go from Here? / Brooten, Lisa / McElhone, Jane Madlyn / Venkiteswaran, Gayathry -- Index

Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change is the first volume to overview the country's contemporary media landscape, providing a critical assessment of the sector during the complex and controversial political transition. Moving beyond the focus on journalism and freedom of the press that characterizes many media-focused volumes, Myanmar Media in Transition also explores developments in fiction, filmmaking, social movement media and social media. Documenting changes from both academic and practitioner perspectives, the twenty-one chapters reinforce the volume's theoretical arguments by providing on-the-ground, factual and experiential data intended to open useful dialogue between key stakeholders in the media, government and civil society sectors. Providing an overview of media studies in the country, Myanmar Media in Transition addresses current challenges, such as the use of social media in spreading hate speech and the shifting boundaries of free expression, by placing them within Myanmar's broader historic social, political and economic context.