With all due respect to the many fine people who have worked there, the China Daily is not one of the world's great newspapers. Last night, at a cold and windswept drinkathon at an outside table at Shanghai's Cotton bar, Imagethief found himself in a conversation at which the China Daily was compared extremely unfavorably with Shanghai's own English rag, the Shanghai Daily. This might have been just another example of the perennial SHA-PEK rivalry, but my fellow drinkers included Asiapundit, the now retired Running Dog, one of Running's Dog's wire service colleagues, a former China Daily employee who now works for another wire service, and (somewhat incongruously) a Chinese physicist. If that's not an authoritative panel, I don't know what is.
However the team at China Daily can console itself with two thoughts. First, it's still on the list of China information sources that I give to new foreign hires at my agency. Second, it is an unimpeachable beacon of insight and daring reportage when compared to the New Light of Myanmar.
I had a chance to browse the New Light of Myanmar recently when my father stopped in Beijing on his way back from an epidemiological trip to Myanmar. Apparently the newspaper is slipped under the door of every (occupied) hotel room in Yangon in order to ensure that foreigners are disabused of all of the vile propaganda that the western media has filled their heads with. The idea is, I suppose, that after a few reads the scales will fall from your eyes and you will suddenly understand that SLORC the State Peace and Development Council* (SPDC) is a righteous organization dedicated to advancing the prosperity and freedom of the Burmese people and not, as you might have thought, a bunch of murderous, kleptocratic thugs growing fat on drug money while their people live in fear and their democratically elected leader languishes under house arrest.
The New Light of Myanmar is beyond parody. Immediately below the nameplate the printed newspaper recaps the state's four political objectives, four economic objectives and four social objectives. These are essentially bromides: "The initiative to shape the national economy must be kept in the hands of the state and the national peoples" (number four under economic objectives). At the foot of the front page a banner reads, "Emergence of the State Constitution is the duly of all citizens of Myanmar Naing-Ngan". Foreigners need to know this, although I am not sure why.
The one and only headline on the front page of the Saturday, 20 January edition (3rd waxing of Tabodwe, 1368 in the Myanmar Era, we are also reminded) is: "Senior General Than Shwe attends coord meeting between State Peace and Development Council, State/Division PDCs". The article goes on to recount in numbing detail everyone who attended the meeting and what time it started at. It omits any recap of what was discussed or in included in the reports that each of the participants apparently presented.
Only junta supremo Than Shwe gets a solo photo on the front page, but the story continues on page six, where you can see photographs of all of the other junta members layed out in meticulous protocol order. But what really heaves the whole thing into surreality is that each of them bar one is shown in the exact same pose, referring studiously to his notes. I don't know why Vice-Senior General Maung Aye gets a different pose. I guess it's a perq of being Vice-Senior General.
The interior of the paper is altogether more entertaining than the front page. After all, there are only so many ways to tart up grey men in shoulder boards resort resorting to drag which, I am guessing, the SPDC is not into. But on page four --and on several other pages-- is a series of declarations from Myanmarian Myanmarese Burmese civic organizations apparently entirely spontaneously condemning the recent submission of a resolution on Myanmar to the United Nations Security Council by the United States and Great Britain. Among the organizations standing together against Yanqui/Rosbif meddling are the Democratic Kayin Buddhist Association; the Myanmar Theatrical Association; and the Myanmar Pulses, Beans and Sesame Seeds Merchants Association.
On page eight a long article by journalist Maung Lae La carries the headline, "Instigation-free and sincere humanitarian endeavors are being carried out in Myanmar with total freedom." This is also a rejection of the joint US-British resolution, which, it says, is rooted in "the US and its stooges' --internal and external saboteurs-- inability to interfere in Myanmar's internal affairs at will." I think that's actually literally correct on some level. But I don't think of Britain as an American stooge. It's more henchman in my book. With refreshing candor, the article goes on to list some of Myanmar's problems, such as AIDS and tuberculosis, and malaria (now you know why Imagethief's father was there) and the progress being made against them.
There are two pull quotes. The better one reads, "The current changing developments in the national political situation of Myanmar have destroyed [America and Britain's] plot to subjugate Myanmar and keep her as a new colonialist minion after installing a puppet government. Applying wicked means, the US and its allies have been hatching evil ploys to interfere in Myanmar's internal affairs, using [the United Nations Security Council] as a tool to save their plot to subjugate our nation." I think "wicked means" is a great turn of phrase, and you can expect to see it used in Imagethief in future.
The other pull quote says that Myanmar "always opens her door to international assistance with no strings attached..." and that such assistance "...should come from the peoples of global countries who provide with (sic) sincere goodwill." It doesn't specifically say that the cheques should be made out directly to the junta, but it's safe to assume that's what they would prefer.
On page ten you can be treated to, a "Comparison and study of slanders of the US and Britain against Myanmar and the nation's objective conditions." This is number four in a series. It apparently had to be spread over several days as each slander needs to rebutted in detail. Slander no. 4, "Full cooperation of Myanmar with the International Labor Organization in eliminating forced labor", is refuted with 22 bullet points before spilling onto another page, which I don't have. It's safe to assume it goes on a while.
Page fourteen is a small but credible sports section. Real Madrid was dumped from the King's Cup by Real Betis, Rene Muelensteen returned to Manchester United, Serena Williams lost to Nadia Petrova at the Australian Open and eight men went on trial in Frankfurt for fixing football matches. Well, you gotta have something that people will actually read, I suppose. Plus, it even has attribution, mostly to Reuters and the Myanmar News Agency. Several articles are simply attributed to "Internet" however. Seems risky. After all, we all know how much unreliable crap there is on the Internet.
The New Light of Myanmar is explicitly written in English for foreigners, but the stridency and combativeness made me wonder if it is perhaps similar to how Chinese newspapers were after the Communist victory and during the dark and isolated years of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. Much of the language reminds me of Chinese propaganda posters from that era. Despite its wicked means (I warned you), I don't begrudge the government of Myanmar explaining its side of the story. But it could perhaps do a more graceful and certainly a more readable job of it. Any journalist or editor looking for a new and unique challenge might want to give them a call.
The New Light of Myanmar is a reminder that, as turgid as Chinese state media for foreigners is, things could be much, much worse. Next time I'm stuck for subway or airplane reading and I grab a China Daily, I'll be a little more appreciative.
If your curiosity is piqued, you can explore the
New Light of Myanmar online. It's a strange trip indeed.
*In 1997, SLORC (the State Law and Order Restoration Committee), as the junta was once known, was advised by a PR firm to adopt a name that didn't sound like an organization that the Justice League might have to fight. It was not a banner moment for PR.
Note: Click on the images for larger, readable versions. Sorry about the appearance, they are photographed, not scanned.