US-funded Radio Free Asia or RFA on Monday announced to stop airing its Burmese service – Democratic Voice of Burma — on Myanmar’s MRTV after the government objected to the use of word Rohingya by it.
The Burmese government told DVB that it could not carry RFA’s programming if the word “Rohingya” continued to be used. RFA’s Burmese Service’s TV programming was available on the network since October 2017.
“Radio Free Asia will not compromise its code of journalistic ethics, which prohibits the use of slurs against ethnic minority groups,” RFA’s president Libby Liu said in a statement.
RFA he said will continue to refer to the Rohingya as the ‘Rohingya’ in its reports. “Use of other terms, even those that fall short of being derogatory, would be inaccurate and disingenuous to both our product and our audience,” he said.
However, RFA content and programming will continue to be available for its audience in Myanmar on shortwave radio, social media (YouTube/ Facebook) and RFA Burmese’s website, a media release said.
Liu said that by forbidding the use of the word ‘Rohingya,’ Myanmar’s government is taking an Orwellian step in seeking to erase the identity of a people whose existence it would like to deny.
“RFA will continue to provide audiences in Myanmar with access to trustworthy, reliable journalism, particularly when reporting on issues that local and state-controlled media ignores and suppresses,” Liu said.