Global IssuesMEDIA-ASIA: Exiled Radio Plays A Cat-and Mouse Game
For exiled journalists working on shortwave radio programming aimed at Burmese and Tibetan listeners, dodging the ‘enemy’ in the name of freer speech is often a cat-and-mouse game.
Seeing their radio frequencies jammed, undertaking clandestine reporting and sourcing, dealing with poor signals and being spied upon are daily fare for the Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) and India-based Voice of Tibet (VOT).
Since 1992, DVB has been broadcasting news that is aimed at Burmese audiences, going past state-controlled media in the South-east Asian ountry that has been ruled by the military since 1962. Based in Dharamsala in northern India since 1996, Voice of Tibet gives out news about Tibet, which China has ruled as a province since it occupied the territory in 1959.
For both exiled radio networks, important events draw not just the possibility of more restrictions, but greater expectations from listeners who are deprived of such news by the ruling authorities.
This happened for Voice of Tibet this month, as Mar. 10 was the 51st anniversary of the uprising in the Tibetan capital Lhasa that was crushed by Chinese authorities and led to Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama’s escape into exile in Dharamsala.
Burmese audiences are expected to turn to DVB and other exiled print and online media outlets in the run-up to the national election that is expected this year. The military government, which announced the election law last week, has already banned the print media from carrying election-related analyses.
DVB will 'cover election-related issues as straightforward news stories, as well as do a lot of interviews on air with politicians and analysts', says DVB executive director and chief editor Aye Chan Naing.
In an environment of media restrictions and state-controlled radio stations' lack of substantial information on current issues, many naturally turn to foreign-based radio programmes like DVB, apart from the British Broadcasting Corp, Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, says Zin Linn, who is information director for the U.S.-based Burmese exiled government.
He says that this enables people to 'receive fresh information, updated ideas and news' about politics, society, democracy and the human rights situation in Burma. But while exiled media such as DVB can rely on undercover reporters inside Burma who send information to Norway, such is not the case for Voice of Tibet.
Karma Yeshi, Voice of Tibet editor-in-chief, says that the station has to confirm information it gets twice or thrice from various contacts abroad before broadcasting it. 'We can't send people inside (Tibet) and they can't send information to us directly so we rely on indirect sources, which is also important to protect the identities of those who tips us off from within Tibet,' he said in a telephone interview.
But this also means news can get delayed by a day or two, especially when it comes to coverage of major events such as the Tibetan uprising.
The VOT offers 30-minute Tibetan language and 15-minute Mandarin language broadcasts daily. It has programmes on Tibetan history, music and culture, health education, Tibetan exiled communities, panel discussions and the Dalai Lama's speeches and talks.
Even the way the station does surveys about the strength of its broadcast signals is circuitous. It sends non-Tibetans into Tibet to evaluate 'where we’re being received clearly or poorly', Yeshi adds.
Because DVB and VOT are trying to reach communities deprived of independent information, they are subjected to attempts to curtail their reach, including by jamming their signals.
In DVB's case, Aye Chan Naing says that the Burmese government used to try jamming its broadcasts in Burma but gave this up in the mid-1990s. 'One main reason is that their jamming was not effective and was costly. They could only jam our transmission on specific cities or location but not all over the country,' he points out.
'The junta have countered these stations with FM radio programmes, but the latter only focus on entertainment shows, especially songs and music,' adds Zin Linn.
'Our shortwave broadcasts being jammed by Chinese authorities is one of our major challenges, apart from poor signals in parts of Tibet, including the capital Lhasa and (Tibet's second largest city) Shigatse,' says Yeshi.
Because jamming persisted although VOT has five shortwave frequencies, its staffers had to think of strategies continue broadcasting. 'We simultaneously broadcast the same programme on two different frequencies at the same time,' Yeshi explains.
For both stations, among the strongest signs of making a difference in their work is the knowledge that they are being listened to by the very state authorities they are trying to get past.
In truth, DVB’s Aye Chan Naing says, 'the (Burmese) government also depends on our information'. He adds, 'They don't get the real information on what is happening in the country from their own media and their own intelligence services. In order to get this information, they will have to listen to us.'
The station even 'got a complaint from 'local intelligence services' that we are not doing our job' when DVB transmitters encountered technical problems and went off the air for two days, he adds.
Having begun with 45 minutes of daily news and features broadcasts, DVB now airs programmes on shortwave radio for two hours daily in Burma’s seven main ethnic languages. 'We started with just one relay station from Norway on one shortwave frequency. Now we have three different relay stations, which are much closer to Burma and we broadcast on two different shortwave frequencies,' he adds.
Both DVB and VOT get funding from international donors, but refer to themselves as independent stations that follow professional journalistic practices.
In recent years, this has meant trying to get the views of the ‘other side’ in their reports as well.
While junta officials still see DVB as an 'opposition media', Aye Chan Naing says more government officials appear to see it in a more ''friendly' light. 'We changed too. We began as an opposition media and would have never thought of giving them our valuable and tight airtime (before),' he said.
But VOT still faces a blank wall when trying to talk to Chinese officials.
'We tried to call the Chinese Embassy in India in 2008 during the Mar. 10 protests, but they never responded. It is important that we get their side to the story too, but oftentimes we only get the official statements distributed by the Chinese government,' says Yeshi.
© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service