Front page of the Myanmar Times’ first daily edition. PHOTO/COCONUTS MEDIA
In the journalism world, mistakes are inevitable. They happen frequently and at media outlets of varying quality. The writer Saul Bellow once compared the craft’s practitioners to live musicians. At some point, they are bound to hit the wrong note.
And so there are corrections, clarifications, letters from the editor, letters to the editor, and in some cases, retractions of entire articles.
The Myanmar Times, however, took the rare step on Monday of posting a “Letter of Regrets” (that’s right, plural) to apologize for running a cartoon that offended the military, which has suffered dozens of losses fighting Kokang rebels in the north since mid-February.
According to the Democratic Voice of Burma, in the cartoon, a man reading newspaper reports about the conflict says that “the army is taking the hills,” while a woman responds with a reference to alleged land grabbing: “As if taking farms isn’t enough.”
Military-friendly media criticized the illustration after it ran, which may in part have prompted the apology. Signed “CEO,” the letter also vows to take “disciplinary action against those involved,” without elaborating.
The cartoonist could not be reached for comment. Though satirical drawings in newspapers and magazines are practically a hallowed tradition in local media, the deadly ongoing fight in Kokang is sensitive territory when it comes to media coverage.
The Times went daily in English on March 9, ramping up production as the intermittent clashes between the military and the ethnic Chinese rebels entered a second month. In its first official daily edition, the paper ran a vague editorial on the front page entitled “Our Vision for Peace” that urged “reconciliation.” But the Myanmar-language version, in which the offending illustration ran, remains a weekly.
“It was a misunderstanding on our part,” Thiha Saw, editorial director of the Times, told DVB, adding that the paper regretted publishing the cartoon. “The land grab cases and the fighting in Laogai [one spelling of the administrative capital in the Kokang region] are two unrelated issues that should not be compared, and our cartoon could have created confusion.”
Here is the text in full of the “Letter of Regrets from MT [Myanmar Times],” and a link to the original in the English edition:
“The Myanmar Times is deeply sorry for the cartoon which was printed in the Myanmar Times Myanmar [edition] on 25/31 March 2015. This cartoon was inappropriate and not in good taste. It characterized the contribution of the brave soldiers and families of the Tatmadaw in a poor light. No offence was intended.
The Myanmar Times is taking disciplinary action against those involved. It is also strengthening internal controls to prevent this type of action in the future.
On behalf of all staff at the Myanmar Times, we wish to confirm our support for the sacrifice made by members of the Tatmadaw [military] in defence of the integrity of the country.”
Not everyone is happy with the full-throated mea culpa. One staffer said on Twitter that it was an embarassment after the paper tweeted a link to the apology.
