Burma
Government hikes satellite fees, suspends newspaperPosted Apr 2 2008
The Myanmar government decided to dramatically increase satellite license fees from $5 to $800. The new fee took effect immediately, but residents were not notified of the change, the Associated Press reported. Most people will not be able to afford the new fee, deciding either to stop receiving the service or illegally obtain it.
People in Myanmar depend on satellite dishes to receive international news, which is banned by the military government.
The government also suspended publication of The Myanmar Times for one week because of articles that were published on the front page. One of them was about the increased satellite fees. The weekly newspaper was not given permission to print the article.
All Myanmar media are required to submit articles to the Press Scrutiny Board for review before printing. Editor-in-chief Ross Dunkley stood by the paper’s decision to print.
He told CPJ that approximately 20 percent of the articles presented to the board each week are rejected.