13 July 2003: The Burmese media campaign against the ruling military junta, Burma News International (BNI), expanded it's permanent membership base by accepting two new organisations from Thailand.

Thailand-based Independent Mon News Agency and the Network Media Group became the new members of Burma's western neighboring countries based BNI.

"Our aim is to provide wider coverage to neighboring news organisations so that people in these countries can better understand the situation in Burma" said BNI member and chief-editor of Mizzima News, Soe Myint, in a BNI press release.

Despite never denying his role in a 1990 airline hijacking, Soe Myint was last week acquitted of all charges by a Kolkata court. Soe Myint arrived in India in 1990 after having hijacked a Thai Airways flight to Kolkata to protest the Burma military regime's blatant disregard of the May 1990 election results, won in a landslide by the National League for Democracy party led by Daw Aung Sung Suu Kyi.

"These online independent news groups have become the window for the international community to peer inside this opaque country," said BNI's new member, Aung Naing, editor of Thailand-based Network Media Group.

A three-day long Burma Media Seminar, organized by Mizzima News, was held in Kolkata, India, from July 9 to 11. The Burma journalists attending the weekend conference discussed various issues relating to Burma and its diplomatic, economic, trade and cultural relationship with neighbouring countries. They also discussed several other matters including the issue of lack of press freedom inside Burma. Representatives from Zomi, Naga and Kachin nationalities also participated in this seminar.

"Media is a tool for bringing about national reconciliation in Burma and that is why we have joined the network", said a new member of BNI, Banyar Hongsar, managing editor of Independent Mon News Agency, based in Thailand.

After the first Burma Media Seminar held in Kolkata in January this year, BNI was born with four founding online Independent news groups; Mizzima News, Narinjara News, Kaladan Press Network and Khonumthung News. It aims to promote Burma and publish related news in the regional and international media.

"These free media groups are necessary because the dissemination of information will play a crucial role in the transformation of a society from the rule of dictatorship to a democratic Burma", Soe Myint added.

Burma, under military rule for over four decades, has no independent media networks. Its has only a few hundred internet connections and most of those are accessed ony by the elite. Private internet use is banned and failure to get a licence for a fax machine can fetch 15 years imprisonment. The two official newspapers of Burma, its radio and the television channels are strictly controlled by the Press Scrutiny Board. Burma is among the 20 nations worldwide that have limited and strictly controlled access to the internet, putting it in the same company as Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Iran and China.

Khine Mrat Kyaw, BNI's Duty Editor, stated "There is no freedom of press in Burma. There are currently at least sixteen prominent journalists imprisoned by the military junta in addition to opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi".

Now BNI has six members; Mizzima News, Khonumthung News, Kaladan Press Network, Narinjara News, Independent Mon News Agency and Network Media Group. These newsgroups each publish an average of 30-50 Burmese news stories on the web every month in both Burmese and English.

"The military junta, which is wary of our activities, has unleashed a cyber war against us as our e-mail systems are always coming under virus attacks. The viruses keep coming and we have to employ 2-3 people to just keep cleaning our system," stated Myint.

BNI aims to train amateur reporters and chart a media policy for a democratic Burma very soon.