"We've been waiting half a century for this day," said Khin Maung Lay, chief editor of the new daily Golden Fresh Land. "It shows how much people long for private daily newspapers. This morning, I was in tears seeing this."
Burma closed all private daily print production in 1964 under a military junta headed by General Ne Win. For much of the next five decades the country became better known for spying on, censoring, jailing, torturing and seizing equipment of journalists deemed against the state.
The changes have significantly opened up freedom for Burma's press, such as last year's rolling back of pre-publication censorship and the recent opening of an Associated Press bureau in Rangoon, the first foreign news agency to be based in the country.
However, journalists are still subject to strict regulations under the 1962 Printing and Registration Act, which carries a seven-year jail sentence for failing to register and also allows the government to suspend publishing licenses at any time meaning there is still much progress to be made in terms of reforms for freedom of speech within the formally reclusive country but the future has been looking bright ever since Aung San Suu Kyi's election to parliament.
A further 12 dailies will soon appear, including one from Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy. There will also be a new Yangon Times and Mizzima Daily, an offshoot of the online news portal Mizzima.
Mizzima's Sein Win stated "From today, the style of reporting has changed."
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