Mizzima.com-May 19
Ma Thin Ya Nant, an alias, is a veteran female reporter who has experienced the challenges of everything from the traumatic aftermath of Cyclone Nargis and heady expectations of the elections to the public anger in the wake of the 1 February 2021 military coup. As a reporter and cofounder of a news agency, she recognizes that female reporters tend to have to take more risks than women in other professional fields. It’s the nature of the game. But last year’s military coup badly disrupted Myanmar’s independent media – causing problems for both male and female journalists. Media licenses were revoked and offices closed, throwing the essential job of independently reporting the news into disarray. Safety is a core concern for female reporters, Ma Thin Ya Nant tells Mizzima, in large part because they are exposed to the public as they go out chasing stories, and there is the possibility they might be molested. Up until the disruption of the military coup, female reporters made up a sizeable percentage of people working in the media space. Ma Thin Ya Nant has worked in the media for 18 years and has seen major changes during this time. What was particularly difficult, however, was how her world – and those of others in her agency – was turned upside down forcing her to flee to the hills of an ethnic area to continue to report. Comfortable jobs and lives were disrupted for many media employees, particularly those forced to flee the relative comfort of the city for the jungles of Myanmar’s hinterlands. Read more at: https://www.mizzima.com/article/challenges-faced-female-reporters-myanmar-post-coup
