The above link is as major Burmese political and entertainment blog called “Freedom News Group”. The blog originated during the 2007 Saffron Revolution and largely was a means of expressing dissent against government measures taken during that period. Now, the blog remains as a means of political commentary and dissent however, articles covering elements of pop culture in Myanmar also hold a large percentage of the published posts.
The structure of the blog consists of posts by both individuals associated with the blog itself (I cannot determine who these posters are; there are no English translations of the author’s bios), a second source of posts originates with Op Ed posting, this can be anyone, I assume that these posts must be approved by a moderator.
In my assessment, there are two interesting features of this blog. First, is the inclusion of both political posts as well as commentary on popular culture and social issues. I wonder if this is an effort by the blog curators at attempting to avoid or circumvent existing measures against online political posting, by preventing exclusive political commentary and providing an another purpose for the website. Secondly, I find it interesting that anyone can post, and that there is no central individual responsible for the political content of the blog. Again, I wonder if this is an intentional effort at diffusion of responsibility, in order to prevent prosecution/identification of major players in the anti-government commentary that the blog is known for.
Help received: FNG website, I googled political blogs in Burma and found a Wikipedia page with a link to the FNG website, Microsoft Word Grammar and spelling check.
Levi C. Harmon