New Delhi – The publishing license of two Rangoon based weekly journals has been suspended by the Press Scrutiny Board (Censor Board) because of violation of its policy and regulations.
The censor board suspended publishing of 'True News' for two months and 'The Action Times' for a month respectively for violation of the regulations of the censor board, media circles in Rangoon said.
'The Action Time's published every Monday was suspended for one month after the news of the release of Win Tin from prison appeared in its Vol. 38, the latest issue, with a slight modification. It mentioned him as Sayagyi (Great Master) Win Tin, contrary to the permitted copy by the censor board.
"In the draft copy passed by the censor board, it simply said 'U Win Tin'. However, it appeared in the journal as 'Sayagyi U Win Tin'. The journal was banned for this," an editor of a weekly journal said on condition of anonymity.
When 'The Action Times' journal was contacted for verification and comment, the journal spokesperson replied, "The Board of Editors does not want to release any news on this. We don't want to say anything".
Similarly, in the 'True News' weekly journal, a photograph of a child labour in a construction site appeared on the front page with the caption, 'A child working in a construction site near Phuket seaside resort, Thailand'. The publication of the journal was suspended for two months.
"The censor board had permitted this photograph but it was without a caption when submitted. The caption was written before publishing. So they banned publication on account of 'inadequate page layout design," an editor said on condition of anonymity.
Another journal editor confirmed this saying, "the journal was banned for its failure to submit the complete page layout design".
The censor board summoned the editors of the journals to its office and informed them about its decision. But an official from the censor board declined to give details. He said bluntly, 'We are not authorized to say', when contacted by Mizzima over telephone.
Hein Lat, editor of another weekly news journal 'Popular Journal' said, "I heard that they were suspended for a while on account of publishing the stories which violated the policy and regulation of the censor board".
