Mizzima News

New Delhi - Burma's censorship board, infamous for its stranglehold on the media, has denied permission to Rangoon based weekly journals from publishing stories on the cyclone devastation. In depth stories focussing on cyclone devastated Irrawaddy delta were cut by the censors, said an editor of a weekly journal.

"At least one-fourth of the cyclone related reportage was censored by the board in this week's journal. It was the same in last week's publication," said the editor, who requested not to be named.

"We are also not allowed to cover the possibilities of a rise in prices of rice in the near future due to the cyclone's impact that destroyed seeds in the delta," he said.

Nearly all news coverage on the cyclone's impact and the lives of the victims including - urgent relief for villagers in the remote delta, the need for domestic animals for cultivators, and cyclone survivors' living conditions - were cut by the censor board.

"They [censorship board] only allow publishing the work of the government in reconstruction and resettlement programmes in the delta," he added.

The Burmese junta has restricted both local and foreign correspondents from going into cyclone affected zones and imposed a restriction on carrying cameras into the Irrawaddy delta.

But several local journalists as well as foreign correspondents have sneaked into the Irrawaddy delta and filed stories, which are so far the only information that reveal the picture of the cyclone's devastation for people outside.

A local journalist working with another weekly publication said, "Our publication this week was filled with cyclone stories but all of them are related to the government's work on reconstruction and resettlement."