The other side: A Myanmar Now investigation into Frontier

2026-02-11 - 06:08

Former editor-in-chief defends Frontier’s independence in the face of baseless accusations that the outlet is part of a nefarious pro-military propaganda operation. By THOMAS KEAN Over the years Frontier has put many people and organisations under the microscope, from politicians and diplomats to businesses and organisations. United Nations envoy Christine Schraner Burgener. The Kayin State Border Guard Force. Former parliament speaker Shwe Mann. An arms dealer living in Dubai. I could go on; these are just some of the pieces that immediately spring to mind. We haven’t always got things right, but we’ve strived to be fair and transparent in our reporting process, and open to constructive criticism and complaints. When we’ve made mistakes, we’ve owned up to them. We have been – and continue to be – guided by the public interest, rather than settling scores. Over the past 15 months, we found ourselves the subject of an exhaustive – and exhausting – media investigation. In November 2024, Myanmar Now editor-in-chief Swe Win began interviewing current and former staff at Frontier about our ownership, operations and editorial processes. Then-CEO Sonny Swe spoke to him off the record, and then provided lengthy, on-the-record responses to almost two dozen questions. The trigger for Myanmar Now to look more closely at Frontier seems to have been the visit of Sonny’s father, former Military Intelligence official Thein Swe, to China in October 2024. That trip took place ahead of junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing’s visit to Kunming the following month, and Thein Swe met officials from two Chinese thinktanks in late October. We had no prior knowledge of this trip; we first learned about it from reports in Myanmar-language media outlets, and were as surprised as everyone else. We recognised though that it would probably raise some concerns about Frontier, given Thein Swe’s historical association with us. So after the visit we published a statement explaining our editorial processes and Thein Swe’s past involvement as a director of its former parent company. A few weeks later, Sonny decided to bring forward plans to leave Frontier, out of concern that his presence was harming perceptions of Frontier’s independence. After Sonny’s resignation and response to Myanmar Now, we heard little about the article and thought that perhaps it had been shelved. From our point of view, this would have made sense, as most information about Frontier was already in the public domain due to our own disclosures, corporate records and the reporting of others. The investigation was apparently still bubbling away in the background, though. In August 2025, Sonny received more questions, digging mainly into operations at The Myanmar Times, which Sonny co-founded back in 2000. He was forced to relinquish his stake when he was arrested in 2004 amid a purge of MI, and sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment for censorship offences. The Myanmar Now investigation cast an extremely wide net, interviewing many more current and former staff, including myself. I’m heartened that so many former colleagues let us know they tried to set the record straight in their interviews. We don’t have a problem with criticism, much less scrutiny – that would be hypocritical, to say the least. What I found concerning though was the lengths to which Myanmar Now appeared to be going to try to substantiate a particular thesis: that Frontier was set up with financing from former Military Intelligence members and/or their associates; that this connection to MI has influenced our work; and that this supposed MI involvement in Frontier is part of a longer-term propaganda effort in support of the military regime. Moreover, I was especially concerned that the publication of Myanmar Now’s piece could potentially put our reporters and freelance contributors at serious risk of reprisals. We’ve never shied away from who our owners are. Sonny and Sylvia Saw McKaige started Frontier in 2015. Thein Swe – who was released from prison in 2014, a year after Sonny – became a director of Frontier’s then-parent company, Black Knight Media Co Ltd, in 2016. He resigned as a director in late 2018 and transferred his shares in early 2019. This information was available in Myanmar’s corporate database, and we disclosed it again where relevant, such as this piece on The Myanmar Times, which also explained Sonny and Thein Swe’s role in that organisation. Just as importantly, this ownership had no bearing on our reporting. I should know: I served as editor-in-chief from May 2016 – less than a year after Frontier launched – to September 2022. When Thein Swe was a director and shareholder, we never discussed editorial matters (or much at all, for that matter). In fact, it was during the period that Thein Swe was a director and shareholder that Frontier did some of the work I am most proud of. We were, for example, almost alone among Myanmar media outlets in covering the Rohingya crisis in a balanced manner – most refused to even use the word Rohingya, instead calling them “Bengalis”. Sonny left newsroom management up to the editors; any shortcomings in our coverage are therefore our responsibility, not his. Sonny’s main focus was mainly on keeping Frontier afloat and trying to give us the resources we needed to do our job. There were times when we were on the verge of closing; a far cry from living off military or crony largesse. Conversely, I’ve seen what it’s like when owners do get involved in the newsroom. I joined Frontier from The Myanmar Times, where its new owner, prominent businessman U Thein Tun, was increasingly intervening in editorial matters, including firing staff who refused to follow his diktats. It came as little surprise to me when the newsroom imploded. In September 2022, I handed over to Ben Dunant but have since remained involved as a director and minor shareholder. Under Ben’s leadership, and now that of Thu Thu Aung, I believe Frontier’s coverage has gone from strength to strength, even as reporting has become more difficult and budgets have grown tighter. The idea that Frontier has been some kind of propaganda organ for the military is clearly misplaced. Our record speaks for itself. Over the years we have won dozens of awards and honourable mentions from the Society of Publishers in Asia – an incredible achievement for a media organisation of our size. It was presumably why Swe Win himself came to meet Sonny and I in 2018 to discuss a possible partnership with Myanmar Now. I personally find it hard to understand how a 15-month investigation into Frontier could be justified given the increasingly limited resources in the sector, with donors pulling out left, right and centre. Myanmar’s independent media community is fragile, and when we turn our limited energy on each other – instead of those who jail and silence journalists – we all lose. Critics might say that we have not been shy about investigating other media outlets. We have indeed published features not only on The Myanmar Times but also Eleven Media and, more recently, alleged workplace abuses at Myanmar news organisations in exile. The latter in particular was a story that we covered very reluctantly and with great caution, attempting not to single out any organisation or individual, as we were acutely aware of how the piece would inevitably be perceived. Most importantly, it was driven by grassroots concerns from journalists across the sector rather than an editorial agenda – reporters who felt that no one else would speak up for them. We know that Frontier has always been resented by some in the media industry – tolerated but never really accepted. This was primarily because of Sonny’s background, but some were also uncomfortable that many of its senior editors were foreigners. Our reporting of the Rohingya crisis and some of our more critical coverage of the National League for Democracy government did not always sit well with our industry colleagues. Over the past year, we provided Swe Win with the information that he requested on our owners and directors, past and present, as well as much about our editorial operations. Given Myanmar Now’s own proud track record of independent reporting, I remained optimistic that if an article eventually emerged, it would reflect the reality of what Frontier is and what it does, and not give oxygen to conspiracies that ultimately undermine not only Frontier but the industry as a whole, and potentially put our team at risk. Sadly, Myanmar Now’s article has contributed to perpetuating an inaccurate image of what Frontier is and does. Nevertheless, we believe that our record speaks for itself – and I’m confident that the team, under the leadership of current editor-in-chief Thu Thu Aung, will continue reporting in the same independent, transparent way we always have.