Myanmar ends direct media censorship

YANGON, Myanmar -- The government abolished direct censorship of the media yesterday in the most dramatic move yet toward allowing freedom of expression in the long-repressed nation. But related laws that may lead to self-censorship raise doubt about how much will change.

Under the new rules, journalists will no longer have to submit their work to state censors before publication as they did for almost half a century. However, the same harsh laws that have allowed Myanmar's rulers to jail, blacklist and control reporters and writers in the name of protecting national security remain unchanged and on the books.

For decades, reporters in Myanmar had been regarded as among the most restricted in the world, subjected to routine state surveillance, phone taps and censorship so intense that independent papers could not publish on a daily basis. President Thein Sein's reformist government has significantly relaxed media controls over the last year, allowing the printing of material that once would have been unthinkable, such as photographs of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The head of the ministry's Press Scrutiny and Registration Department, Tint Swe, conveyed the news to a group of editors in Yangon.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland welcomed the news but urged Myanmar to abolish the censor board entirely.