“Promote the voice of the voiceless and enhance the information rights for the country's citizens”. In Myanmar, such a quote one would expect to come from an independent journalist, that worked for years under crazy censorship, often reporting in secret. But this were the words from the Ministry of Information (MOI), deputy minister U Pike Htwe to be exact.

He said this in his opening speech of the Ethnic Media Conference that took place last week in Shan state’s capital Taunggyi. Over 250 journalists with different ethnic backgrounds from all over Myanmar gathered to discuss the media reform with high ranking politicians and attend workshops with international media experts.

It was the first time these ‘ethnic media’ could make such a strong voice to promote democracy and freedom of expression, also on a local level. However, of late MOI has toughened measures against local and foreign journalists following several media controversies. Four journalists from Unity Journal were arrested for their report on an alleged chemical weapons factory. Visas for foreign journalist has been curbed, followed over a year of liberalization. The government has blamed foreign media inaccurate reports on communal conflicts. So nobody expected MOI to openly welcome the development of ethnic media.

The questions remains if this was only ‘lip service’ in front of an audience of critical journalists, or if the mindset at the Ministry is truly changing. Time and local media will tell.