Thailand:Bangkok-Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) will mark World Press Freedom Day on 3 May with the launch of the Free Burma VJ Campaign-FCCT
The Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB)
with the launch of the Free Burma VJ Campaign, a push to raise global awareness
of DVB’s jailed journalists and work towards their release, as well as improving
conditions for media workers inside Burma.
Seventeen video journalists, or VJs, working for DVB are in prison in Burma,
with sentences ranging up to 27 years. They make up more than half of the nearly
30 media workers behind bars in Burma, a country with some of the world’s most
draconian press laws. With domestic media under lock and key of the government,
a number of underground reporting networks have emerged that feed information to
exiled news groups such as DVB. These become a crucial window into what is
otherwise a media black spot.
DVB will be calling on international bodies such as ASEAN and UN to pressure the
new Burmese government to release its jailed journalists. DVB will be looking
for support from by international media and advocacy groups over the next eight
months as it pushes ahead with a series of actions and petitions.
Speaking at the launch event will be Toe Zaw Latt, the head of DVB’s Chiang Mai
operation; Marwaan Macan-Markar, Asia correspondent with Inter Press Service
(IPS); and David Mathieson, Burma researcher at Human Rights Watch.
Moderator: Jeanne Hallacy
Speakers:
Toe Zaw Latt
- - Democratic Voice of Burma (Chiang Mai Bureau Chief)
Marwaan Macan-Markar
- - Correspondent, Inter Press Service news agency
David Mathieson
- - Burma researcher, Human Rights Watch
