media development investment IIfund ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (in alphabetical order) Contributing editors: Jane Madlyn McElhone, Tessa Piper MDIF researchers: Ei Phyu Zin Wint (Poe), Grace Thu, Jane Madlyn McElhone Chin media audience research: Myanmar Survey Research (MSR) Reviewers: Ei Phyu Zin Wint (Poe), Grace Thu, Jane Madlyn McElhone, Myint Kyaw, Oliver Spencer Maps: Marie Starr, Thomas Feichter (Inspiral) Graphic design: Arcaya Manikotama Chin media chart design: Ingyin Khine, Sai Yawn Lu Photographs: Grace Thu, Jane McElhone, Jane Stageman, Kyaw Myo Htun, Letyar Tun, Myint Kyaw, San Thar Aung, Za Biak Thawng Funded by Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) Publication date: 30 December 2019 Publisher: Media Development Investment Fund, 37 West 20th Street, Suite 801, New York, NY 10011, USA This work is provided under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial ShareAlike 2.5 license. You are free to copy, distribute and display this work and to make derivative works, provided you: 1) give credit to MDIF; 2) do not use this work for commercial purposes; 3) distribute any works derived from this publication under a license identical to this one. To access the full legal text of this licence, please click here. Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF) is a non-profit fund that invests in independent media in countries where access to free and independent media is under threat. Since 1995, MDIF has provided more than $227.5 million in affordable financing to 117 media businesses in 41 countries that provide the news, information and debate that people need to build free, thriving societies. TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE 5 INTRODUCTION 7 CHINMEDIA,THEMARKET,ANDMYANMAR’SPOLITICALOPENING 10 CHINRESEARCHDATAANDANALYSIS 17 CHINMEDIAAUDIENCERESEARCHSUMMARY 27 CHINMEDIADATACHARTS 29 CHINMEDIAAUDIENCERESEARCH 38 CONCLUDINGQUESTIONS 64 APPENDICES 66 3 CHIN MEDIA OUTLETS, MYANMAR ခ်င္းသတင္းမီဒီယာမ်ား Designed by Inspiral Creative Oct 2019 Note: Please click here to see MDIF’s interactive digital Chin media map. 4 PREFACE by Cheery Zahau Chin human rights activist The Business of Chin Media reminds me how far share news and information through messengers Chin media organisations have come. - person to person or through letters. From 2001-2003 I worked as news editor of a small That landscape is now behind us. We are in a bulletin called Rih-Lasi in the Central Chin Women constantly changing digital age. Competition is Organisation’s tiny office in Aizawl, Mizoram, on high, and the opportunities massive. the India-Myanmar border. It was my first job. I was 19 years old. The key success of the 2010-2015 political transition was the opening space for a free press. We took the name Rih from Rih Lake, the heart- Despite the immense challenges - from limited shaped, mythical, spiritual lake that Chin people financial resources to limited human capacity to have treasured for centuries. Lasi means guardian limited market opportunities - media have grasped angel, a being that protects humans from harm the opportunity to provide the public with timely and evil. We wanted to send the message that we news and information, and to hold the government – Chin women - were the guardian angels of our accountable to the people. When people have cultural heritage and people. access to accurate, factual information, they can make the right decisions impacting their lives, and At Rih-Lasi we collected women’s stories and they can take action when their basic rights are published their writing. Some women wrote about ignored and violated. This is democracy. their political aspirations. Others wrote about making pickles. We also gathered political and In 2015, people voted for the National League for social news about Chin State and Chin people. Democracy with high hopes that the democratic Some of you might remember those days, with transition would be strengthened. Yet this has not slow internet routers creating a racket, and fully materialised. Instead, Chin media’s access to always fighting unstable internet speeds to meet the local government and the parliament is even deadlines. more limited, and their credibility is under attack. Without a free press and independent media During that time, there were no newspapers or organisations, democracy cannot flourish. journals in Chin State except the government-run The New Light of Myanmar. There was no internet The Business of Chin Media is timely and crucial. and there were no mobile phones. We could only It is timely because Myanmar is heading towards 5 the third general election cycle since political It is the fundamental right of people to receive liberalisation began in 2010, bringing with it a information, to express themselves freely without hybrid political system, with the military holding reprisal, to participate in peaceful and meaningful enormous powers, both military and economic, public dialogues, and to seek collective solutions. including seats in parliaments and government Chin people were long deprived of these rights. My cabinets. In 2020, Chin media can play a key role by hope is that Chin media organisations will grasp providing the public with accurate and impartial the emerging political space to serve the public information about the electoral processes and with credible and impartial information, and that campaign agendas put forward by the contesting the government will allow a free media that has political parties and candidates. fair access to the economic and market resources it needs to survive and prosper. 6 INTRODUCTION by Tessa Piper MDIF Program Director for South East Asia THIS report analyses the Chin media sector. It audiences are scattered across a mountainous is based on research conducted by MDIF from region with few transport links and very limited late 2018 through December 2019, as well as a infrastructure? And why would 21 of the outlets quantitative and qualitative survey conducted by that are currently operating compound these Myanmar Survey Research (MSR) in May 2019. The multiple challenges by choosing to produce report provides data on the Chin media operations content in Chin languages that further restrict themselves, as well as the news and information their potential audiences? needs and preferences of their actual and potential audiences in Chin State and Sagaing Region. Why would so many people In MDIF’s November 2018 publication, An choose to set up outlets targeting Unfavorable Business: Running Local Media in ethnic minority audiences in one Myanmar’s Ethnic States and Regions, we examined of the most impoverished states the enormous internal and external obstacles that in the country, with the lowest local media across the country are facing to survive. consumption rates, and lowest A central conclusion of our research was that local population density? media are operating in a business environment that is heavily weighted against their prospects for sustainability and, consequently, their existence. We want to understand the answers to these questions, as well as who is running these media MDIF’s latest research shows that there are and how, and which resources they have at their currently 25 private Chin media outlets operating disposal. in Myanmar. Representing close to 40% of all local media in Myanmar’s ethnic states and regions, Another major series of questions relates to news this makes them an anomaly. And their high and information access, usage, trust, preferences, number seems illogical. Why would so many people and flows in Chin State and Kalay, Sagaing Region, choose to set up outlets targeting ethnic minority where Chin media outlets’ audiences are primarily audiences in one of the most impoverished states based. in the country, with the lowest consumption rates, and lowest population density? Why would 14 of MDIF’s goal in conducting this research has been them opt to produce print publications when their to better comprehend the role these media are 7 playing in meeting the news and information Chin media are facing a major needs of their audiences, as well as to more clearly struggle to survive financially. understand the reality of running a Chin media operation. And, like local media all over the country, MDIF’s What we have found is that, in many respects, research has confirmed that Chin media are facing Chin media face very similar problems to their a major struggle to survive financially, often counterparts elsewhere in Myanmar. They have having to rely on local donors and personal savings often been set up by individuals who are deeply as well as more traditional revenue sources such committed to serving the information needs of as advertising and print copy sales. At the time their communities, and they are often an important of founding these media, their business potential source of information for their audiences. was generally not a major consideration. They have thus largely been obliged to learn the realities We also have found that Chin media are dealing of running a media business by doing, with no with challenges managing the digital transition external advice or support at hand. that are similar to both their national and local media counterparts, and that more than half Chin media also have to deal with a problem of them are also simultaneously continuing to common to all media in Myanmar, but particularly produce print publications that remain a valuable among outlets based in more remote locations, news source for local communities. namely limited access to skilled human resources. Dawei Watch founding Chief Editor Myo Aung coaching Chin editors as part of MDIF’s basic sales training for Chin media in Kalay, Sagaing Region (May 2019) 8 But while media in other parts of the country have Most Chin media have had had at least occasional opportunities to participate comparatively little access to in programs to develop the skills of their teams, capacity-building of any kind, and most Chin media have had comparatively little next to none focused on building access to capacity-building of any kind, and next their business skills.