Blind Spots in Human Rights Coverage: Framing Violence Against the Rohingya in Myanmar/Burma

Abstract

Thousands of stateless Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar (also called Burma) face a humanitarian crisis since communal violence began in June 2012, displacing more than 180,000 and leading to more than 280 deaths. Yet the recent political and media opening in Myanmar has provoked celebratory headlines as eager foreigners rush in with investment ideas. These changes distract from atrocities in rural areas, as media serve as the entry point to such crises for most outsiders. This study analyzes a series of 2013 Reuters investigative reports on the Rohingya that won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize, and then a series of blog posts that further the story appearing in English language transnational media. Drawing theoretically from critical human rights scholarship, this analysis provides insight not only into how human rights discourse is employed and for what potential purposes but also into the hierarchies and tensions inherent in the processes of global journalism.

Notes

¹ These five articles are Szep (2013, April 8); Szep (2013, May 14); Marshall (2013, June 27); Szep and Grudgings (2013, July 7); and Szep and Marshall (2013, December 5).

² The third article in the series opens by discussing the “Buddhist extremist movement” and tying the origins of this radical movement to “an official in the dictatorship that once ran Myanmar.”

³ http://reutersbest.com/articles/view/2984/journalist-spotlight-mike-williams-on-the-pulitzer-prize-winning-series-war-on-the-rohingya

⁴ Thailand was indeed downgraded to a Tier 3 in 2014, the lowest possible ranking, and the lawsuit against the Thai journalists discussed below was noted in the TIP report.

⁵ About 14 of the total 44 pages are devoted to pictures. This count does not include the single photo-covered title page on four of the five articles. My reference count does not include indirect references such as someone declining to be interviewed, or someone who “recounted events,” etc., although these are also worthy of note because they keep readers aware of the agency of the journalists.

⁶ The case against Phuketwan is due to resume in Phuket Provincial Court in March 2015.