A reduction in funding for 2011 has forced the Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), to cut some of its TV and radio programmes and lay off employees. Aye Chan Naing, the executive director of the DVB, told The Irrawaddy that the exile news agency’s TV entertainment programme and its daily morning radio programme will be cancelled in late February. It will also have to lay out some employees, he added.DVB was founded in 1992 and has been funded by several international donors, particularly the Norwegian government. Aye Chan Naing said the DVB had lost 15 percent of its annual budget—down from 23 million Norwegian Krone (US $4 million) to about 20 million Krone. The DVB, however, will keep running its evening radio broadcast in Burmese. its 24-hour TV broadcast and its website, said Aye Chan Naing.
(Radio Netherlands Media Network Weblog)
