Angered by Article on Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar Regime Bans TIME
The Myanmar regime has denounced TIME’s article based on Min Aung Hlaing’s first interview with a Western media outlet since the 2021 coup, blacklisting the reporter, demanding that the story be taken down and banning the magazine in Myanmar.
The Irrawaddy has learned that the regime has blacklisted TIME editor-at-large Charlie Campbell following his interview with Min Aung Hlaing for “failing to accurately reflect the responses provided.” In a press release, the regime complained that the article includes “non-constructive writing, interviews with other individuals and unfounded commentaries.”
Published on Wednesday, the article, headlined “Myanmar’s Dictator Wants to Rebuild Ties With the West,” features Min Aung Hlaing’s first interview with a Western media organization since he seized power. In the story he makes his case for engagement with the West as Myanmar’s civil war grinds on.
On Wednesday evening the regime condemned TIME and its reporter, saying they “emphasized topics that were not part of the initial agreement [for the interview] and utilized phrasing that could mislead the international community regarding the Myanmar government and the country.”
“Therefore, as the writing and publication by journalist Charlie Campbell of Time Magazine are contrary to journalistic ethics, the Information Team of Myanmar has denounced his actions in this regard,” the regime said in the press release.
However, the regime has not made public its decision to blacklist Campbell.
The regime’s chargé d’affaires in Singapore, Zaw Minn Aung, pressed TIME to remove the story from its website, according to a source familiar with the issue. It was Zaw Minn Aung whom Campbell first approached in April with a request to interview Min Aung Hlaing. Despite the request, the story remained online at the time this report by The Irrawaddy was published.
The Irrawaddy has also learned that the regime has removed TIME from its selection of magazines distributed to Business Class passengers on Myanmar-operated commercial aircraft.
The regime’s condemnation of TIME’s story has provoked ridicule among Myanmar people online. They mocked Min Aung Hlaing’s annoyance at a news organization that did not operate in the way pro-regime media do: simply parroting everything Min Aung Hlaing says. One dubbed him “the most thin-skinned dictator in the world.”
“It’s not Myawaddy—no one came to echo MAH [Min Aung Hlaing]’s propaganda. They interviewed him just to see how unhinged he would get, and what kind of dictator he actually is,” reads one comment. Myawaddy is a military-run TV network
Unhappy with TIME’s reporting, the regime responded by releasing Campbell’s interview with Min Aung Hlaing on social media and publishing a four-page transcript in Burmese and English. The interview includes Min Aung Hlaing praising his own administration and blaming problems on the previous government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.
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