Myanmar’s state-run English daily the New Light of Myanmar (NLOM) started operating as a joint venture with a private investor last week under a new name.
The new publication, Global New Light of Myanmar, is said to aim at transforming the English language daily into a “free and public-centred” media as part of media pluralism, government officials said earlier.
The original owner, which is the News and Periodicals Enterprise of the Information Ministry, owns a 51-percent share, while Global Direct Link Co takes up 49 percent under the joint venture, according to the daily.
Myanmar government started media reforms in June 2011, which was followed shortly by liberalisation of domestic media publication control. However, Myanmar government has drawn flak recently after it handed down harsh sentences to journalists.
Myanmar announced in December 2012 free publication of private daily newspapers, dissolving its Press Scrutiny and Registration Division. Since then 31 private daily newspapers had been granted for publication, of which 24 are in Myanmar language.
There remains five state-owned dailies in addition to over 200 private-run weekly journals in Myanmar, English and Chinese languages as well as over 200 magazines and nearly 7,000 private publishers.
