Burma’s Press Scrutiny Board ordered the temporary closure (via) of the weekly Myanmar Times after the newspaper published an article bout the government’s decision to raise satellite fees from 6,000 kyat (US$4.80) to 1 million kyat (US$800).

“That the government prohibits the media from reporting on its own pronouncements confirms the absurdity of Burma’s censorship regulations,” said Joel Simon, CPJ’s executive director.

All news publications in Burma publish as weekly editions because of a time-consuming pre-censorship process which systematically ensures that nearly no news critical of the government is published. According to the paper’s Editor-in-Chief, Ross Dunkley, an average of 20% of the articles his paper submits to the censorship board every week are rejected.

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