The Myanmar military has demanded that two independent news channels that it had shuttered now pay the junta thousands of dollars in transmission fees.
The military’s Ministry of Information on Sunday said that Mizzima TV and Democratic Voice of Burma TV or DVB owed about $47,800 in fees for using channels on the state-owned Myanmar Radio and Television, or MRTV, to broadcast their programs.
The ministry said it would take legal action if the two outlets fail to pay.
But the media outlets say that the contracts were signed with the democratically elected government that the military ousted in 2021, and that the junta had breached the deal by closing their channels down.
Because of that, Mizzima and DVB both said they don’t plan on paying the fees.
“We don’t have to pay them since we have signed a contract with the first elected government. We have no reason to give them anything because they seized power illegally,” DVB founder Aye Chan Naing told VOA Burmese. “We don’t owe anything to the regime.”
The demand for unpaid fees is the latest challenge for independent media since the military seized power in February 2021. Since then, about a dozen news outlets have been banned and more than 170 journalists have been arrested. Many journalists and media outlets have gone into exile. [[
Both Mizzima and DVB operate in exile due to the risks for their teams. Legally, neither can broadcast inside Myanmar but both still produce content.
Media analysts say that the military takeover has, in effect, destroyed the country's media landscape. The country currently ranks 173 out of 180 countries in terms of press freedom, where 1 is the best, according to Reporters Without Borders.
A spokesperson for Myanmar's military has previously dismissed concerns raised by analysts about the state of media freedom in the country.
Mizzima co-founder Soe Myint said that on the first day of the coup the military ordered his outlet to be closed without notice. The action was a breach of contract, he said.
“It violates the contract as it states 15 days’ prior notice is required. Shutting down our channel on the first day of the coup without notification was illegal,” he told the Myanmar news site The Irrawaddy.
The military later froze Mizzima’s bank accounts.
Myint told VOA Burmese he isn’t sure how the military expects Mizzima to pay the fees considering the junta suspended their accounts.
This story originated in VOA’s Burmese Service.
