A Photojournalist in Myanmar

“I had a lot of mixed feelings. I felt the temptation to join the protest. But then, at the same time, I couldn't do that when I'm working for a big news organization, and when I wanted to be a journalist. It was quite tough.”

The Tatmadaw has long tried to cover its sins in darkness... and until recently, it's been fairly successful. Before the internet age, when they still held a tighter control over the country, this was a bit easier to manage. It is horrific to think about recent protests where the military literally killed thousands by spraying bullets into crowds, driving protesters into the water to drown, or stuffing youngsters into police vans to suffocate. This time around, however, it's been a bit more difficult for them, as journalists both in and out of the country have risked their lives to make sure the truth gets out.

Few have done this more effectively than a Burmese photojournalist for the New York Times who has recently been nominated for the Pulitzer. For safety, he has kept his identity a secret... yet the only post-coup interview he has sat down for has been with us at Insight Myanmar Podcast.

Calling himself "Moe," in this excerpt he describes how he made the toughest decision of his journalistic career: whether to actively join the democracy movement to overthrow the military, or to stand back and document the scene unfolding before him.

He chose the latter, knowing that by doing so, he needed to immediately take on a sense of professionalism and impartiality, even as his own people were being subjected to horrific treatment before his eyes. What is more, he had to seek out the worst atrocities and be there to photograph them, so that the world would be able to see what was taking shape as the military attempted to reassert its power. In doing so, he was able to allow thousands of people around the world to bear witness to the nightmare as it played out day by day.