In the wake of Myanmar's 2015 general election, Myanmar Now, a fledgling media outlet born from collaboration between the Thomson Reuters Foundation and local Myanmar journalists, has garnered praise among leading journalists and diplomats for the exceptional quality of its election coverage.
In 2010, Myanmar embarked on political reforms leading towards a liberal democracy. These reforms resulted in a proliferation of new media outlets, but several problems - consolidation by owners, a spike in defamation cases and an overall lack of journalism skills - resulted in a shortage of objective news coverage about the reforms.
The lack of balanced reporting was particularly serious for ethnic groups, which are not only excluded from national press coverage and dialogue, but are also often the subject of inflammatory reporting that stokes violence.
Myanmar Now was proposed by the Thomson Reuters Foundation's Media Development team as a means of improving governance, accountability and inclusivity in the reform process and reducing inter-communal tension and violence. It began operations in July, shortly before the election season began.
In the following months, Myanmar Now published a wide range of content aimed at giving citizens trustworthy information about the election campaign. This included "fact sheets" with general information on various aspects of the election, and interviews with key candidates from opposing parties and representatives of marginalized ethnic minorities. (Courtesy of Trust.org)
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