Myanmar Papers Protest Sentencing Of Reporters

Several private newspapers in Myanmar printed black front pages to protest the recent arrests and sentencing of journalists, in the latest sign the country's media climate is worsening.

The black front pages -- which included a protest message -- in the influential Daily Eleven newspaper, its Sports journal and other papers follow a court decision in which a video journalist for Democratic Voice of Burma was sentenced to one year imprisonment for trespassing and obstructing a civil servant while doing a story on education.

"We are publishing the black front page in protest against the sentencing of the DVB reporter and also to oppose the recent harassment of journalists," Wai Phyo, chief editor of the Daily Eleven newspaper, told The Associated Press.