Mizzima News set up operations in a remote community to avoid the junta crackdown after the coup in 2021. Screenshot from the video “Mizzima fights for media freedom in Myanmar” on the Mizzima TV YouTube Channel. Fair use.

The story of Mizzima News attests to the role of independent media in chronicling the Myanmar people’s struggle for the restoration of democracy.

Mizzima News was established in 1998 by Myanmar refugees in India to provide accurate and independent reporting about the situation in Myanmar communities reeling from decades of military rule. When the government embarked on a democratic transition, Mizzima News became the first exiled media to establish an office in Myanmar in 2012. After the February 2021 coup, Mizzima News was forced to relocate its operations by setting up newsrooms in remote regions.

Four years after the military grabbed power, Mizzima News continues to publish and broadcast stories despite the crackdown, censorship, internet shutdown, and financial challenges it faced as an independent media with personnel working inside and outside Myanmar.

Global Voices interviewed on Zoom the founder of Mizzima News Soe Myint who shared the adjustments they made before and after the coup in order to be able to continue providing its readers and global audience with credible information about what’s happening on the ground in Myanmar. Quotes have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Soe Myint said Mizzima News anticipated the coup, which allowed it to prepare and reaffirm its commitment to continue operating even if the military were to reclaim power again.

What shall we do in case of a military coup? We have two options. [First], we stop our work, which is what the military regime wanted us [to do]. Second option is we continue our work. Both has its own consequences. We can stop our operations [which some Burmese media outlets did]. But we were very clear from the start [with our position]: We will continue and prepare ourselves for this decision.

Mizzima News also made the quick adjustment of switching to satellite and transferring its operations to rural regions.

We needed to have an alternative broadcasting system if we wanted to continue. Even if the government stopped our television channel, we can continue through satellite.

Another adjustment was to relocate our operations. We knew that we cannot hold for long in our head office in Yangon and in our other office in Mandalay, so we immediately had to relocate to different places and we chose the liberated areas controlled by the minorities with whom we have been in closely in touch with for many years. One week after the coup, we already set up a temporary headquarters in Karen State. Despite the coup, there was no single day of disruption in our broadcasts.

Since day 1 of Feb 1 #Myanmar #militarycoup local media like @MizzimaNews never wavered, providing news coverage. Mizzima continues to do so from undisclosed locations in makeshift “newsrooms”. It's 1 of 5 media where #military raided its office & banned #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar pic.twitter.com/IdQp8m90S7

— May Wong (@MayWongCNA) April 28, 2021

Soe Myint noted that the decision to continue with their work entailed hard sacrifices because of the subsequent arrests made by the junta and the loss of their revenues. According to a special report by Mizzima News on media safety, 209 journalists and news workers from various media companies were arrested from the 2021 coup until December 2024; around 55 are currently in detention or serving jail sentences.

Many people had to resign but we also relied on new recruits whom we trained, plus some supporters who offered their support from outside the country. We didn't have enough resources. We were dependent on funds from TV advertisements [which we lost] after the coup. We had to adjust in order to continue.

Soe Myint said their determination to sustain their work bore fruit as Mizzima News gained more followers on Facebook and subscribers on YouTube. He mentioned two major challenges over the past four years which motivated them to work harder and to innovate.

Safety is the main challenge because anyone who is working for Mizzima News or who is known to work for Mizzima News will be punished, arrested, and imprisoned by the junta.

The second challenge is financial. After the coup, we lost all our revenues. We became dependent on the international community, and it was encouraging to receive international support, but this source was also limited. After 2023, we tried to diversify our funding sources. That is again quite a big challenge because we have to do too many things at the same time.

Mizzima News also had to contend with prolonged internet shutdowns and other information restrictions imposed by the junta. An initial measure made by its staff is to use international SIM cards to access the internet. To ensure that its content will reach an audience with intermittent internet access, Mizzima News turned to FM radio signals.

We have to think of how people will receive [our content] apart from social media. That's why we have a show on radio and television. We set up FM stations as well in different places so that even those who don’t have internet access can listen to the the stories and hear the news.

Promoting the work of Mizzima News in Bangkok, Thailand. Photo from Soe Myint's Facebook post, used with permission.

Mizzima News also has several newsrooms as a security measure and to ensure that it can broadcast stories even if internet is blocked in a particular locality.

We have a functioning newsroom; not one newsroom but two to three newsrooms which we use everyday. For safety reasons, one set of personnel are in one group and those who are safer are in another group and they don't know each other.

Soe Myint is confident that Mizzima News will continue its role in documenting the Myanmar people’s struggle for democracy, and that this mission will be carried forward by its young contributors.

Mizzima News has been doing two things: As an independent media, it conducts its professional work by reporting about Myanmar. But its other major mission is its contribution to nation building. We work with different stakeholders. The only organization in the country that we don't work with is the military.

There is already a new generation doing this work. They are continuing the mission and they are very smart, hardworking, and committed to fulfilling the mission of Mizzima News.

Learn more about the work of Mizzima News through this documentary.