Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) is Myanmar’s state-owned broadcasting company that operates television and radio channels. The company’s history goes back to 1936 when radio broadcasting was launched in the country. Television broadcasting was launched in 1980. The broadcaster’s NRC Channel airs in 11 ethic languages. The station also runs an international channel, Myanmar International Television (MITV). MRTV-4, one of MRTV’s assets, has been run jointly with the private-owned Forever Group. Channel 7, another channel run by the Ministry of Information, used to belong to Forever Group.
Media assets
Television: National- MRTV, MRTV Hluttaw, MRTV NRC, MRTV Farmer, MRTV Sport, MITV, Education Channel, MRTV-4, Channel 7; International- Myanmar International Television
Radio: Myanmar Radio
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
MRTV is owned and operated by the Ministry of Information in Myanmar. The Broadcasting Law adopted by Myanmar’s parliament set the stage for a three-tier system of broadcasting including public service, commercial and community broadcasters. The law further created the legal basis for MRTV to reform its operation with the aim of becoming an independent public service broadcaster. So far though, the station has not made any progress as the government continues to keep MRTV under tight control.
MRTV is managed by one director general (DG), two deputy director-generals (DyDG) and seven directors. Together, they form the MRTV board of directors, which is chaired by the DG. The MRTV DG is appointed by and accountable to the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Information.
Source of funding and budget
There is no information publicly available about the annual budget of MRTV. According to local journalists and experts, the station is majority funded by the government. MRTV has been struggling during the past few years to also generate funding through advertising sales, but these efforts achieved only very little.
Editorial independence
Although MRTV has been trying to reform its operations to become an editorially independent public service broadcaster, its editorial policy continues to be dictated by the government via the information ministry that operates the station as a government division. Local experts and journalists say that the station’s programming is entirely shaped by the ministry’s staff who make the key appointments to the station’s management. This control got even harsher after the 2021 coup, according to experts from independent media.
MRTV has a code of ethics aimed at offering guidance to the station’s staff about their behavior with external entities and individuals. In 2020, the station has adopted several guiding documents as following: Broadcasting Guidelines that consist of general rules regarding the editorial coverage of certain topics and people, MPedia-Knowledge Book for MRTV News Reporting, a document that details the journalistic rules MRTV’s staff have to abide by, and the Fundamental Code of Broadcasting Ethics and Code of Conduct, another document that details rules on editorial coverage. These documents overlap to a large extent, the same rules appearing in more than one of them.
The station, however, has no domestic statute that would guarantee its editorial independence and no independent assessment/oversight mechanism that would validate the independence of MRTV.
October 2023