Media asked to be more understanding

Human Rights

Media asked to be more understanding

Junta getting jittery

Chiding S.H.A.N. for trying to be "too exact", sources inside Burma have sought out for more understanding from the media outside.

"We know, as you do, that truth is the best policy," said a source from southern Shan State. "But too much truth disclosed at the wrong time can be a tricky business for us. So I hope you don't mind if we sometimes sound a bit vague."

Not divulging the name of the source, as is the usual practice of self-regulating news agencies, is not enough, sources argue. "Sometime, it is also necessary to keep the military intelligence in the dark about where we are established," said one.

Sources however are more uneasy about the radio programmes that attach "too much importance" on getting "sound bites". "We would like them to excuse us if we refuse to allow them to record our conversation," said a source from northern Shan State.

S.H.A.N. lost a valuable volunteer informant last year after a radio news broadcast his voice expressing his opinion on a certain event. The source is now serving a three-year imprisonment somewhere in Shan State.

"MI officers voice their annoyance openly every time they hear somebody inside Burma giving information to a radio programme, be it BBC, VOA, RFA or DVB," she said. "Now with the National Convention drawing attention from the whole world, they are getting more edgy. And we certainly don't want to encourage them to do anything rash just yet."

Meanwhile, a delegate from eastern Shan State, who recently called his family, was reported to have described the plight of all participants in the following way:

"We are like prisoners here. We cannot go anywhere. We cannot even discuss things with delegates from a different group. We eat when they feed us, we listen when they read their papers and we sleep when they say it's time. The only thing we're different from those in prison is we eat better."

Burma has been ranked 164th by Paris-based Reporters without Borders (RSF) out of 166 countries listed. It is ahead of Cuba and North Korea.