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| [PHOTO: © BDTV] |
Rangoon: In a revolutionary move Burma has announced that the government is ending longs-tanding press censorship practice.
Journalists and advocates welcomed the latest reform, but they also noted challenges to press freedom remain.
The Ministry of Information announced Monday that local media are no longer required to first submit their stories to a censorship board before publication.
The policy change follows decades of official controls on what news was published in Burma and how stories were worded.
Burma’s 1962 media law was drawn up by the military the same year it seized power from an elected government.
The law requires publishers to submit all printed material to press scrutiny boards.
Burma has gradually eased controls on the media since a 2010 election replaced half a century of overt military government with a nominally civilian one.
Burma’s lawmakers, while still dominated by the military, are drafting a new media law and are expected to vote on it soon.