Rohingya 'Censorship': BBC Burma pulls out of Myanmar TV deal

The BBC's Burmese language service yesterday said it was pulling a broadcasting deal with a popular Myanmar television channel citing "censorship" as the two partners clashed over coverage of the Muslim Rohingya minority.

The announcement is the latest blow to struggling press freedoms in the country and a remarkable turnaround for a news organisation that famously kept Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi up to date during her long years of house arrest under junta rule.

Since April 2014, BBC Burmese broadcast a daily news programme on MNTV with 3.7 million daily viewers.

Yesterday, the BBC said it was ending the deal after MNTV pulled multiple programmes since March this year.

"The BBC cannot accept interference or censorship of BBC programs by joint-venture TV broadcasters as that violates the trust between the BBC and its audience," a report on the BBC's Burmese website said.

The BBC statement did not detail what content was censored.

But in a statement MNTV, a joint venture between private and state media, said it began pulling reports to comply with government orders over "restricted" words.

"The BBC Burmese program sent news that included wordings that are restricted by the state government," the statement said.

A station official said the problematic word was "Rohingya".

"That's why we cannot broadcast their service," the employee said, asking not to be named.

The Rohingya are a stateless Muslim minority in Myanmar's western Rakhine who face severe state-sanctioned persecution and have fled in droves in recent years.

Most international media call them Rohingya because the community has long self-identified that way.

But Myanmar's government -- and most local media -- call them Bengalis, portraying them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh despite many living in the country for generations.