Mizzima

The Embassy of Poland in Thailand and Mizzima on Friday 14 July signed a contract whereby the Embassy will contribute US$18,500 for capacity-building of Myanmar journalists. The funding will help to cover the costs of a fourth batch of training for Myanmar journalists at the Mizzima Media Training Institute (MMTI) to run in 2023.
Upon the signing of the contract, Poland’s Ambassador to Thailand, H.E. Artur Dmochowski, said: “We are happy to support Myanmar’s young independent journalists through the ‘Polish aid’ project of supporting the Mizzima Media Training Institute (MMTI), which I am sure will contribute to the development of a free media environment in the future”.
Poland has a long history of fighting for the right to independent media, including within its own borders. Ambassador Dmochowski himself comes from a journalistic background and was a key figure in Poland’s underground journalism movement during the last decade of communist rule in Poland, having been arrested multiple times.  

“We, in Poland, may consider ourselves as very lucky to live now in a democratic country, where freedom of speech is considered one of our fundamental rights, with a vibrant and independent media that express a broad range of diverse opinions,” noted the Ambassador. “We had numerous challenges throughout our history, particularly living under the communist regime in the 20th century, so we understand well what lack of such basic human freedoms means and we wish Myanmar, and particularly yourselves [Mizzima], as representatives of the media, to enjoy all the democratic liberties as soon as possible.” 

Myanmar’s independent media, including Mizzima, were declared illegal shortly after the Myanmar junta launched its February 2021 coup. Myanmar ranks badly at 173rd out of 180 countries on the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index for 2023, having been ranked 139th prior to the coup. 

MMTI is a unique resource for Myanmar’s independent media and journalists. Established in August 2022, the facility provides trainees from throughout Myanmar with instruction across several journalistic disciplines given by noted Burmese professionals as well as distinguished foreign guests.

Journalism training for young journalists from Myanmar by the Mizzima Media Training Institute (MMTI) has received financial contributions by the governments of Luxembourg and Ireland besides Poland in 2023.