CHIANG MAI- In a cramped home office on the Thai-Myanmar border, a group of young Myanmar men are hard at work proofing reams of type and tapping on computer keyboards. A paper sign taped to the front door reads: "News Room".In their early twenties, far from their real home and with meagre resources, these enthusiastic scribes represent the next generation of Myanmar's journalists.
Having fled from the country's ruling military regime in the late 1990s after becoming too involved in politics for the generals' liking, the group are now battling to make self-taught careers for themselves in journalism.
"The writing business is a long way from our favourite subjects, which are mostly science," says editor-in-chief Maung Maung Htwe, who was a second-year maths major when he left Myanmar. "I never expected to become a journalist," chimes in sports reporter Win Naing, once a physics student.
But seeing a free press in action in Thailand compelled them to give their new profession a go.
"When we arrived at the border, we discovered what newspapers that are published in a democratic state are like. We were shocked at the policy of press freedom -- it was unbelievable. Everything was new for us, from the writing style down to the cartoons," Maung Maung Htwe says."We wanted to share our experiences with our fellow citizens and let them get a taste of free expression."
And so the Myanmar-language newspaper Ah Myin Thit, or The New Vision, was born.The 12-page weekly launched in 2000, but after some 60 issues it folded due to financial difficulties. Now its revamped nine-member editorial team is due to begin republishing in October.
Their market is a tough one to crack. More than a dozen Myanmar-language journals and newspapers are produced in Thailand by exiled political activists.Most have a particular take on the political situation in Myanmar based on their funding sources, and are given away for free, according to designer and photographer -- and former art student -- Kyaw Win.
But The New Vision funds itself through a modest cover price of 10 baht in Thailand (25 cents), or three dollars in the United States, forcing it to produce something people are willing to pay for."We believe our newspaper is the first independent newspaper of this kind," says Kyaw Win.
While The New Vision identifies with the anti-Yangon, pro-democracy movement -- its pages feature stories on politics and issues facing opposition parties -- its main objective is to inform and entertain its Myanmar readers.
"The majority of our readers are Myanmar students and workers living along the Thai-Myanmar border, as well as in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia," Kyaw Win says.
While they may find their task challenging, they concede it fades when compared with what journalists remaining in Yangon face.
"We see only two kinds of publications in the local media in Burma," Maung Maung Htwe says, referring to the country by its former name."There are the private-owned journals and magazines, which cover economic and entertainment news, and there are the state-run newspapers, which are mouthpieces of the regime, producing propaganda," says Maung Maung Htwe."That is real life for the Myanmar media, year after year."
Privately run publications -- which face strict censorship by the military -- have proliferated over the past 10 years, as government organisations and agencies have been permitted to trade what is effectively a publishing license on the open market."But most of the new publications are 'pop' news, entertainment. People can't write about what they want," says Ko Cho, a freelance journalist who recently left Yangon.
"Sometimes we write about lifestyles in foreign countries, so we'll mention what the rights of people in those countries are, which may allow readers to compare their situation with ours," he says."That is the only chance a journalist has to write about human rights in a local publication."
Only a handful of Yangon-based Myanmar journalists -- many trained decades ago -- who work for foreign media organisations actually research and write stories on national politics, the journalists say.
"But even what they write is limited," Maung Maung Htwe says.And while their skills might be top-notch, Win Naing says, they are not being given an opportunity to pass them on."We worry that they are not being given a chance to hand over their valuable experience to the younger generation," he says.
Journalists on the border have a better chance of receiving at least some media education.Maung Maung Htwe attended a six-month journalism course sponsored by the Independent Journalism Foundation earlier this year in Phnom Penh, while several of his colleagues have completed short courses provided by the US-based non-government organisation, Internews.
"We are determined to be professional journalists," Win Naing says.For now that may mean sleeping by their desks and surviving on instant noodles.But their goal is clear: to take a quality newspaper that champions press freedom back to Myanmar when the country is a true democracy.