Than Htut Aung, Chairman and CEO of Eleven Media Group in Myanmar, known for its audacious defiance of official censorship and dedication to democratic freedoms, has been awarded the 2013 Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom prize of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).

Change is in the air for the Myanmar media - after months of broken promises, the country’s censorship office was finally closed in September 2012, while pre-publication censorship has been abolished and on 1 April 2013, daily newspapers were printed for the first time in close to 50 years. However, information from media advocacy groups and journalists reveals sharp barriers to the nation’s supposed media liberation.