Burmese exiled journalists challenged the perception that Burmese democracy forces outside Burma were no longer relevant during a discussion on Wednesday at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand in Bangkok.

In the discussion, “A Skyful of Lies or Telling It Like It Is,” Aung Zaw, the founder and editor of The Irrawaddy magazine, Toe Zaw Latt, the bureau chief of the Democratic Voice of Burma and Zin Linn, an exiled writer, talked about the role played by Burmese stringers, correspondents and citizen journalists, who voluntarily sent news and still and video images to exiled and international media groups.

“Citizen reporters, stringers and correspondents working for The Irrawaddy, The Democratic Voice of Burma and other news groups bravely sent images and news from inside Burma using all the available technologies,” said Aung Zaw.

“It was very encouraging,” he said. “Burmese people inside and outside the country worked very impressively during the recent uprising.”

“They had no cover and protection, and they took a huge risk by sending out information.” Citizen reporters, he said, could face up to 20 years in prison if prosecuted by the Burmese authorities.

It was important that the uprising and bloody crackdown took place in Rangoon, said Aung Zaw, where it was captured in on-the-scene images and reports that quickly spread around the world. He recalled that in May 2003, the regime attacked Aung San Suu Kyi’s motorcade in Depayin, a remote area in central Burma, far from cameras and journalists. No images and footages were available, and at least 100 persons died.

Asked about the greatest challenges for exiled media, Toe Zaw Latt said, “The challenge is the severe arrests. We had a dilemma two days ago of whether we should air news sent by a wife whose husband was arrested because of giving us [DVB] news.”

DVB showed video of the regime’s brutal crackdown on Buddhist monks and laypeople documented by its inside-Burma stringers. A Rangoon-based senior Burmese correspondent working for a foreign news agency told The Irrawaddy that stringers working for DVB and The Irrawaddy have “no cover”: “These kids bravely took footage and images during the shootings (in September).”

Some Burmese reporters who were arrested and interrogated by special branch police officers and intelligence officials said they kept asking how images and information were sent to exiled media.

‘They didn’t realize that many images were sent from the Internet,” said a veteran journalist. The regime, days after the bloody crackdown, finally shut down Burma’s Internet connection.

About the same time, The Irrawaddy’s Web site experienced a virus and had to be shut down for a few days. Since the beginning of August, the Web site has received millions of hits. It counted 39 million hits in October, about three times more than normal, according to Web site statistics.

Radio stations outside of Burma also played a key role in reporting on the uprising.

Zin Linn said: “Due to cheaper Chinese transistor radios, Burmese people knew what was happening in the country and radios played a major role in networking among different groups.”

The BBC Burmese Service remained the top source of information among the four radio stations that broadcast news of Burmese affairs, he said.

Aung Zaw said an obvious weakness in regard to Burmese exiled groups is the lack of a unifying plan and policy.

“There hasn’t been one united Burma policy outside the country on dealing with the military regime,” he said. “The regime is able to manipulate and exploit different opinions between the West and Asean and Asean and China. They can survive because they know how to manipulate and exploit the situation.”

“The word ‘compromise’ isn’t in the dictionary used by the military regime, and [Snr-Gen] Than Shwe won’t give up easily,” Aung Zaw said. “He will fight [the international community] to the last minute.”

“As exiled media, we will continue to report critically and very independently until there is change in Burma,” said Aung Zaw.