The unmistakable sound of the printing press, rolling out the day’s news, in April, Myanmar’s government changed a half-century’s old law restricting daily publications to the government. More than 30 private firms applied for licenses and 9 are printing today.
But getting loyal readership, he admits, is a big challenge.
"We’re not covering the same stories as the government newspapers are doing. And this is kind of creating a gap between what the readers are used to and what they expect from their newspaper, which is more fashioned after the state-run newspapers." said Thaung Sy Nyein, 7day Daily.
New publications mean new advertising opportunities. Mango is one of Myanmar’s biggest ad agencies. Client billing has recently tripled.
“Before, if we talked about daily newspapers, we got only about three or four newspapers, the state-owned newspaper. Now that we have private newspaper, the content has improved a lot and we have more choices." said Aye Hnin Swe, Mango Media.
The boom in the media sector also means new jobs. A number of foreign firms have already arrived here in Myanmar to train the country’s aspiring media professionals. And a new journalism school is scheduled to open right here in Yangon in June.
Some of its graduates may end up working here. DVB’s journalists are all accredited by the government. But PRIVATE broadcasts from Myanmar are still not allowed.
"The government has proposed a broadcast law. But, people are debating about this law, so any private broadcaster who would like to do business in the broadcast media sector, you have to wait until broadcast law is passed, but we don’t know when the law will be passed." said Khin Maung Win, DVB Multimedia Group.
When it is, he says, like in print, the business will follow.
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