Myanmar Protests Reported by Citizen Journalists, And Possibly Government Journalists As Well
from the information-is-power dept
As Myanmar struggles towards democracy after 40 years under military junta, the Internet is playing a crucial role in the fight. News of Monday's protest was reported within a few hours of it starting, due largely in part to thousands of citizen journalists who sent their stories, photos and videos to global news sites. This is in stark contrast to the days that it took for news to break about the 1988 8888 uprising, where 3,000 civilians were killed. Now, armed with cameraphones and email, coverage of the events in Myanmar are posted immediately to blogs and news sites, forcing the junta to play out this weeks events under the scrutiny of global eyes. Well, perhaps the government has started to take notice -- false reports are being sent out as well, presumably by Burmese authorities looking to undermine those reporting the news or to spread government propaganda. However, regardless of how the medium is used, the most important thing is that the Internet has made it easier for information to be free, which presumably will make it more difficult for totalitarian regimes to hang on to the reins of control.
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Filed Under: citizen journalism, myanmar
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Re: Re: Re: Will freedom do them any good?
Buddhists, and hate? Right. *rolls eyes*
And the plight of other Southeast Asian nations does not make the plight of the Burmese irrelevant. It only means that there's more work to do.
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