Myanmar Times Newspaper Myanmar (Burmese: မြန်မာတိုင်း(မ်); MLCTS: mran ma: tuing: [mjànmá táɪn]) is a weekly newspaper based in Bo Aung Kyaw Street, Yangon, Burma.

It is published in both English and Burmese. The 40-page English version is published on a Monday, while the 68-page Burmese version is published on a Thursday. The Myanmar Times was founded by Ross Dunkley, an Australian, and Sonny Swe (Myat Swe), from Burma, in 2000, making it the only Burmese newspaper to have foreign investment.The newspaper is privately owned by Myanmar Consolidated Media Co. Ltd. (MCM), which is 51 percent locally owned and 49 percent foreign owned. However, The Myanmar Times is often perceived as being close to the government in part because Sonny Swe’s father, Brigadier General Thein Swe, was a senior member of the now-disbanded Military Intelligence department.[2] Following Sonny Swe’s imprisonment in 2005, another Burmese media entrepreneur, Dr Tin Tun Oo, acquired the locally owned share of MCM in controversial circumstances.

Like all media in Myanmar, The Myanmar Times is heavily censored by the Ministry of Information’s Press Scrutiny and Registration Division, commonly known as the Press Scrutiny Board. According to CEO Ross Dunkley, on average 20 per cent of the articles submitted to the censorship board are rejected and the gaps are filled with soft news stories.

When it was first established, The Myanmar Times was the only publication in the country to be censored by Military Intelligence, rather than the Press Scrutiny Board. This created some resentment locally, among both the Ministry of Information and other journals. Internationally, the paper has been derided as “sophisticated propaganda” and a public relations tool for more progressive elements in the government, like General Khin Nyunt, Myanmar’s former Prime Minister. However, since Military Intelligence was abolished the paper has been censored by the Press Scrutiny Board.It is also now forced to print government propaganda, albeit under a “State Opinion” banner.

Myanmar Consolidated Media is the largest private media company in Myanmar and employs more than 300 staff and has bureaus in Mandalay and Naypyidaw. The paper has a circulation of around 25,000 copies in Burmese and 3,000 copies in English.A January 2008 report said the Burmese edition is the country’s largest circulation newspaper,while the English edition is the only privately owned and operated English-language newspaper in the country.

As well as The Myanmar Times, Myanmar Consolidated Media also publishes Crime Journal, a weekly tabloid, and NOW! Magazine, a weekly fashion, entertainment and celebrity news journal. Foreign shareholders in The Myanmar Times have also acquired a stake in The Phnom Penh Post, a Cambodian English-language newspaper.

In December 2009 the English edition celebrated its 500th edition with a 72-page feature.