Since its creation, Radio Free Asia has been a crucial source of independent news in Myanmar where the dominant army has not criticized, even during the years when democracy took root.
First of all by short wave radio, then mainly via social media, RFA Birmsese, throughout everything, given a first version of each turn and turns into the turbulent modern history of the nation. He reported on the struggle for freedom, military repression and the current civil war.
The coverage made its impact from its audience who was among the most enthusiastic consumers of RFA in Asia. The Burmese service has always put the testimony and the personal stories of ordinary citizens, its main audience, at the center of its reports.
SAFFRON REVOLUTION 2007
The BIRMAN FRG ensured 24 -hour coverage of the largest democracy demonstrations in two decades led by Buddhist monks, in a demonstration of challenge against the military leaders of Myanmar.
RFA reporting on the saffron revolution, broadcast by short wave radio, has demonstrated the capacity of the network to exploit sources within the country and to document the violence inflicted on demonstrators. This included revealing accounts of torture prisoners and other abuses, and a military truck plowing civilians. RFA coverage won a gold prize for New York festivals for broadcasting.
Aung San Suu Kyi after his 2010 release
One day after the chief of democracy Aung San Suu Kyi was released from 15 years of reverse offense, she was interviewed by RFA Burma and called for a dialogue with the power junta. She also said that during her residual residence, she had listened to RFA. “For RFA, as well as other press agencies, I listen to new politicians as a duty,” she said.
His release inaugurated a decade of reform which led to Suu Kyi becoming the civilian chief of the nation; But in February 2021, she was back in a state of arrest when the army took power during a coup.
Gen Z of myanmar opposing the coup d'etat
The coup d'etat of 2021 sparked a wave of conflicts, while the junta reprimanded the peaceful demonstrators with a deadly force.
Young Burmese fled urban centers and fought alongside ethnic armies – risking their lives for democratic change. RFA Burmese reported inside the Myanmar to tell the personal stories of the Z generation which picked up arms to oppose the junta.
“I had to cut my head, my brother.
A little over a year after the coup, the RFA Burma revealed extraordinary evidence of atrocities by the Myanmar army in their own words. The mobile phone data of a soldier shared with RFA revealed clues to a massacre.
More in -depth reports, based on testimonies and visual evidence, established a massacre of almost 30 men in the village of my Ting Pin in the sagaing region on May 11, 2022.
In a video recorded on the mobile phone, three soldiers exchanged macabre stories about the way they had killed people, in which one of them extended: “I had to cut my head, brother.
Medal gymnast, living in a cabin
While the civil war has plunged Myanmar into poverty and despair, the Burmese FRG has highlighted stories of difficulties and perseverance.
The history of the 21 -year -old gymnast Thae Su, who had fallen in difficult times after the 2021 coup, attracted more than 6 million viewers – then surveillance by the army. She showed a pocket of medals, stored in the small house in the shape of a hut in Yangon.
RFA also included a restaurant of 1,000 kyats which offered cheap meals for the heel at the bottom. The story attracted 4.6 million viewers, stimulating demand so that the restaurant had to develop.
Imprisoned director Shin Daewe
The Myanmar junta has ruthlessly persecuted journalists since the 2021 coup. They include the award -winning contributor to the FRG and documentary SHIN DAEWE, who had produced environmental features and videos on the difficulties of the villagers taken in the fights.
She was sentenced to life imprisonment for an accusation of terrorism after picking up a drone who, according to her husband, was for cinema. His sentence was then reduced to 15 years in prison. In March 2024, she won a prestigious Gracie Prize for her environmental reports for FRG.
According to the Committee to protect journalists, Myanmar was the third global jailer of journalists in 2024, with 35 behind bars at the end of the year.
Edited by RFA staff.