When the West advocates on behalf of Burmese journalists, it focuses on what the Burmese can and cannot say. But, if the West truly wants to engage in effective advocacy for Burmese journalists, it should expand its concerns to what Burmese journalists, and those who would finance them, can and cannot freely create. Ko Aung Naing, for instance, was handcuffed to U Win Aung because U Win Aung was the authorized license holder of Education Digest, the only education journal legally permitted in Burma at that time. By law, Ko Aung Naing was not free to create a competing journal without a license. If he wanted to write about education, Ko Aung Naing had to work with U Win Aung or engage in an unpredictable license approval process.
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