Introduction
On 28 May 2012, Ma Thida Htwe, a 27-year-old Burmese woman, was raped and killed by a group of men in the town of Kyaukphyu in the western state of Arakan.
A few days after the murder, photographs of the victim were circulated on Facebook. In early June, shots of three men named and identified as the perpetrators of the gang rape were also published.
Subsequently, these photos were widely shared on the social network before being published by a Burmese media organization.
News about the crime circulated on the Web before being published and broadcast by the media.
The speed with which it spread illustrates the growth in Internet freedom in Burma.
From the start, however, details of the religious and ethnic backgrounds of the victim and the perpetrators have influenced the way this tragic incident has been viewed, with the media highlighting the fact that the victim was a Buddhist Rakhine and the alleged perpetrators were Rohingya Muslims. This has had the effect of heightening ethnic tension, turning the Internet into a virtual battleground.
In this tense atmosphere, a bus carrying 10 passengers identified as Rohingyas was stopped by an angry crowd in the town of Taungup on 3 June. The occupants were killed and two days later photos of their bodies were circulated in the public media. Some even branded them as "Kalar", a pejorative term for Rohingyas and Bengalis living in the west of Burma.
The incident triggered an outbreak of violence. Clashes and vandalism spread throughout the state, including the capital Sittwe. More than 50 people were killed and more than 2,500 houses and religious buildings set on fire, and more than 30,000 people forced to flee their homes.
For the first time since he took office, President Thein Sein declared a state of emergency in Arakan on 10 June, authorizing troops to take effective control of the region and restore law and order, by force if necessary.
The media coverage of the communal violence, as well as the steps taken by the government in response to the way the events have been reported, represent new threats to freedom of news and information in Burma.
Although the crisis is not yet over and it is too early to draw the necessary conclusions to bring about an improvement, Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association, in a preliminary assessment, are concerned that the news may have been deliberately manipulated, perhaps in a premeditated fashion, in order to fan the current crisis.