RAISA has implemented human rights documentation and media monitoring for 8 months in 2024. Our volunteers from Rakhine and Bangladesh collect primary information and remote research team implement daily media monitoring for 8 months during the conflict in Rakhine state. At the end of 2024, we produced 8 montly human rights documentation reports and media monitoring report. To monitor media coverage, our team compiled a list of 30 mainstream and social media news outlets, primarily Facebook and X media pages. This included six international media outlets: Al Jazeera, BBC, VOA, RFA, Reuters, and Dhaka Tribune. We also monitored Rakhine-based media run by Rakhine ethnic groups, such as Narinjara, Development Media Group, Arakha Times, Western News, and Border News Agency, alongside mainstream Myanmar media that report on national issues, including Khit Thit Media, DVB, Eleven Media, Irrawaddy News, Myanmar Now, Frontier Myanmar, People’s Spring, and Mizzima Media. Additionally, we tracked Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) pages that provide updates on Rakhine and Rohingya news, such as Rohingya Today, Mayyu Waves, and Arakan Express News, as well as social media accounts of prominent figures such as Arakan Army’s generals’ X accounts and Rohingya human rights activists’ Facebook and X accounts. Given our focus on human rights violations, we monitored reports related to mass killings, torture, forced displacement, forced conscription, destruction of public property, village burnings, forced labor, airstrikes, kidnappings, extortion, heavy weapon attacks, hate speech, incitement, and gender-based violence in Rakhine State.

The following are our key findings on media monitoring. 

Key Findings: Media Monitoring

1. Limited Coverage of Human Rights Violations Against Rohingya Our findings indicate a significant lack of media coverage on human rights violations against Rohingya by both mainstream Myanmar and international media. During the monitoring period, only two major incidents received substantial international attention: the mass burning of over 35 Rohingya villages in Buthidaung Township on May 17, 2024 and a drone attack that killed over a hundred Rohingya on August 5. Despite ongoing reports from Rohingya-focused Facebook pages like Maungdaw Daily News, Mayyu Waves, and Arakan Express News, most events failed to gain traction in either Myanmar’s mainstream media or international outlets.

2. Bias in Myanmar’s Mainstream Media Narrative Since the coup, Myanmar’s media landscape has been shaped by the polarized divide between pro-military and anti-military factions. This polarization has led to an implicit assumption that being anti-military equates to supporting ethnic armed groups fighting against the regime. Consequently, many mainstream media outlets have framed ethnic resistance groups such as the Arakan Army (AA) and the Three Brotherhood Alliance as heroic forces against the military junta, while downplaying or ignoring their human rights violations. For example, following the reported crimes in Buthidaung, the NUG issued a statement via “People Spring” Facebook page in April, which was swiftly amended. The initial version highlighted the suffering of “particularly the Rohingya” without identifying a perpetrator. However, the revised statement broadened its scope to include the suffering of the “Rakhine, Rohingya, and Hindu” communities while explicitly blaming the military, despite substantial evidence implicating the AA in crimes against the Rohingya.17 Multiple mainstream media chose to share the amended version of the statement while none of these media reports on Arakan Army’s attack on Rohingya. The reports on forced recruitment, forced displacement, and other abuses committed by these ethnic armies and revolutionary armed groupsincluding Arakan Army were either underreported or dismissed. When these violations were covered, they were often justified or denied by online commenters.

Another type of media bias is selective reporting by Rakhine based Medias when it comes to Rakhine state related information. Rakhine-based media primarily reported human rights violations committed by the Myanmar Military or Rohingya insurgent groups but remained silent on abuses perpetrated by the Arakan Army. While these outlets highlighted Arakan Army’s charitable efforts such as distributing aid to Rohingya and providing medical treatment, they ignored or downplayed its forced recruitment, extortion and other abuses such as forced recruitment and forced displacement against both Rohingya and other ethnic minorities in Rakhine State. For example, after the August 5 drone attack which killed hundreds of Rohingya in Maungdaw, both NUG and Myanmar mainstream media were silent about the incident.

3. Reliance on Arakan Army’s Information Desk A notable trend among mainstream media was their heavy reliance on the Arakan Army’s information desk as a primary source. While these outlets extensively reported on military operations in other regions, coverage of Rakhine State was often limited to Arakan Army narratives. When Myanmar Military forces committed atrocities against Rakhine civilians, the media promptly reported the details and identified those responsible. In contrast, when the Arakan Army was accused of similar crimes such as the May 17, 2024, Rohingya village burnings mainstream media either remained silent or delayed their reports, echoing the Arakan Army’s denials. Despite calls for accountability from Rohingya victims and civil society organizations, many Myanmar media reports omitted details on the perpetrators, citing a lack of evidence. Even when these media outlets reported the event, their reports lack the information of perpetrators ignoring the accounts of victims.

4. Islamophobia and Racial Bias in Rakhine-Based Media Rakhine-led media outlets—including Narinjara, Western News, Arakan Bay News, Development Media Group, and Arakha Times exhibited clear biases in their coverage of Rohingya-related events. These outlets frequently used the term “Rohingya extremists” (for insurgent groups), and “Islamic terrorists” (for Rohingya forcibly recruited by the Myanmar Military). In contrast, these outlets never used terms like “terrorists” or “Buddhist extremists” to describe Rakhine armed groups such as the Arakan Liberation Army, which has collaborated with the Myanmar Military. This language reflects not only deep-seated Islamophobia and racial discrimination but also the influence of the Arakan Army’s rhetoric. Notably, some mainstream outlets, including Voice of America and People’s Spring (the National Unity Government’s media page), occasionally adopted similar narratives in their reports. For example, in the first photo from a VOA Burmese post, VOA reported on the situation in Rakhine State, citing a Rakhine political analyst regarding clashes between the Arakan Army and Rohingya militias in Buthidaung and Maungdaw. In its coverage, VOA adopted the term "Radical Islamist Extreme Terrorists" to describe the Rohingya militias. The second photo shows an excerpt from an Arakan Army statement, in which the AA similarly referred to Rohingya militias as "Radical Islamist Extreme Terrorists." This terminology is consistently used across all Arakan Army statements and related media. However, there appears to be no clear or standardized criteria for defining "Radical Islamist Extreme Terrorists," nor is this label applied to armed groups from other religious or ethnic backgrounds. This selective use of terminology highlights a double standard and reflects broader patterns of polarization against Muslim ethnic resistance movements.The following photos show how Voice of America (VOA) highlighted the rhetoric of the Arakan Army against Rohingya armed groups describing them as, “Radical Islamist Extreme Terrorists”.

5. Absence of Rohingya-Led Mainstream Media There were no professional or major media outlets led by Rohingya journalists reporting from within Rakhine State. Instead, most Rohingya perspectives were shared through the social media accounts of prominent Rohingya and human rights activists, such as Wai Wai Nu, Nay San Lwin, Khin Ohmar, Tun Khin, Thinzar Shun Lei Yi and NUG deputy minister of human rights, Aung Kyaw Moe. Discussions on Arakan Army’s human rights violations frequently appeared in comment sections of X posts by Arakan Army General Twan Myat Naing and other figures, where Rohingya commentators often used the term “Terrorist AA.” This dynamic has significantly shaped wider coverage of Rohingya issues, leading to a fragmented information environment where narratives are often polarized. With limited reporting on the ground by independent Rohingya media, much of the international understanding of the conflict is filtered through activist accounts or external interpretations, making it harder to present a comprehensive and nuanced picture of the Rohingya experience during the renewed violence in Rakhine State.

6. Misinformation and Disinformation Both mainstream media and social media platforms contained misinformation related to events in Rakhine State. A common form of visual misinformation involved the reuse of old photos of human rights violations to depict new human rights violations. The circulation of outdated or misleading images complicates efforts to accurately document the Rohingya experience and undermines the credibility of Rohingya narratives. With limited independent Rohingya-led reporting and verification mechanisms, misinformation often fills the information gaps, making it harder for Rohingya voices to present an authoritative and trusted account of ongoing human rights abuses. As a result, Rohingya media coverage struggles to counter disinformation effectively, further marginalizing their perspectives in both national and international discussions. These misleading images originally shared in Facebook groups circulated among Rohingya individual accounts and were later picked up by mainstream media, further distorting public perception of ongoing events. We identified several Facebook groups operated by Burmese nationalist pro-military actors that were spreading misinformation about the situation in Rakhine. This misinformation was circulating among the Rohingya community in Bangladesh, with some Rohingya youth citing these groups as their source of information. For example, after the May 17 incident in Buthidaung Township, where numerous Rohingya villages were burned down, photos of burning shops from Chin State were mistakenly circulated by the Rohingya community and later used by mainstream media outlets such as RFA and DVB. Within days, the Rakhine media outlet Narinjara highlighted this misattribution, downplaying the violence and echoing the Arakan Army’s rhetoric in response to reports and civil society statements.

In conclusion, our media monitoring highlights a severe gap in coverage, misinformation and systematic bias in the portrayal of human rights violations in Rakhine State. The lack of attention to Rohingya suffering, the reliance on Arakan Army narratives, and the racialized framing of reports contribute to a media landscape that overlooks key aspects of the Rohingya crisis.