Oct

11

Myanmar Vloggers Post Riot Video Blogs

Filed Under Vlogalism

Video of Myanmar Riots by Vloggers
The Myanmar government, dealing with the country’s most intense political unrest in the last twenty years, is closing off access to international media organizations. Local video bloggers, however, are taking up the slack.

Local vloggers are using whatever means they can find to get their video out to media organizations and websites such as YouTube. As the government attempts to limit internet access, the citizen journalists have had to resort to using proxy servers and satellite phones (traditionally quite expensive - these are not simply everyday cell phones).

With an internet penetration rate at less than 1%, the country was hardly a mecca for technology even before the recent crack down by the government. In addition, cell phones (especially cell phones with video) are beyond the means of many ordinary citizens.

Still, they are getting their video out. Journalists from traditional media outlets are said to be vetting it for accuracy.

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about the phenomenon.

You can see a sample of the types of vlogs that are coming out of the country below.

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