Burma opens its doors to foreign journalists and relaxes protest laws
Foreign journalists will be able to work for up to a year in Burma (also known as Myanmar) from April 2013, under new regulations aimed at ensuring wider press freedom.
It is the latest in a series of moves by the Burmese government to enact an increasingly democratic agenda, including lifting a 25-year-old ban on protests.
Speaking about the new visas available for journalists, Shawn Crispin, Committee to Protect Journalists’ south-east Asian representative, said: “This could be a positive development towards greater media freedom in Burma.”
Political reform has been underway in Burma since November 2010, when the military government became a civilian government backed by the military.