Mizzima recently got hold of a copy of a confidential document
detailing the plan of the Burmese junta's information minister to
improve the dissemination of information from various government
agencies.

The following is an excerpt of a circular issued by the Information
Ministry to all government ministries on the management of news and
other sensitive information.

"...2. In this IT age, tactful 'pre-emptive' action taken by
governmental departments in releasing their news is better than the
total control and blackout of the said news...

"...3. The private media conducts its coverage of the government
departments by gathering information by all possible means and
writing commentaries and features when they cannot get official
news from the departments concerned. In these cases, the
departments concerned frequently issued objections, elaborations
and clarifications. Sometimes they have to take action against the
media in such instances...

"...(a) In the press censorship policy adopted, positive writing on
government departmental news has been allowed. Thus, the government
departments should understand this situation to some extent and
should cooperate with the private media for the benefit of their
respective departments...

"...(b) Since the people want to know the progress of work being
performed by the government departments, they should form an
information committee for the occasional release of official news
on the work being conducted by them for the benefit of state and
people. In this way, the people can get in-depth information on
what work is being done for the long-term benefit of the state and
people, their progress, their future plans, etc. By doing these,
the people will cooperate more with the government departments. The
people will appreciate the transparency of the state whenever they
see this occasional news released officially by the government
departments. It will also deter rumors being circulated among the
people. Government departments can release this official news
either by inviting media themselves or through our Information
Ministry. At present, the Yangon (Rangoon) City Development
Committee (YCDC) and People's Police Force (PPF) have established
their own press committees for the release of official news through
these committees. Thus, the media can easily get the official,
confirmed news from them and cover this news in their media. This
system is found to be successful and functioning smoothly...

"...(c) If the departments concerned have some news which is to be
withheld, concealed, and censored and not to be circulated publicly
to the people, they should send a written request to the
Information Ministry ahead of time. The ministry will then control
the release of this news in desired form by using appropriate
means. Therefore, the ministries should coordinate with us in
releasing information from time to time in accordance with their
needs...

"...(d) Moreover, the ministries should have 'contact points'
concerning the media for the verification, confirmation and
clarification of official news released by the ministries and
departments."

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