# The Irrawaddy

> The Irrawaddy is a news source in the TOLD catalogue, based in Myanmar. TOLD classifies its editorial position as **Lean left**.

- **Domain:** irrawaddy.com
- **Website:** https://www.irrawaddy.com/
- **Country:** Myanmar
- **Region:** Asia
- **Language:** English (primary), with Burmese service
- **Editorial position on TOLD:** Lean left
- **Founded:** 1990

## About

The Irrawaddy operates as Myanmar's most prominent independent news source, founded in exile and continuing through the post-2021 coup period as a clearly anti-junta editorial voice. The pace is digital-first and the register sharply critical of the State Administration Council, with reporting that has covered armed resistance, civilian casualties and exile-press persecution. Its operating model from outside Myanmar keeps it editorially free at the cost of in-country distribution.

## Profile

- **Ownership:** Independently owned; founded by Myanmar journalists in exile
- **Funding:** Reader donations, grants and digital revenue
- **Focus areas:** Myanmar politics, post-coup armed resistance, civilian casualties, exile press, ethnic affairs; independent diaspora-based news


## What the position means

TOLD classifies what an outlet publishes over time, based on ownership, funding
and focus. It describes a pattern; it is not a rating of quality and not a
ranking. Nothing in TOLD sorts, hides or promotes a source by its position.
State-aligned and partisan outlets are in the catalogue on purpose, labelled.

## Assessment note

Latest assessment: 2026-05-08. Generated with TOLD Source Prompt Brief v1.2.7. TOLD summarizes framing patterns and third-party classifications; it does not assess factual accuracy, intent, or legitimacy. External classifications: 7 (4 themes).

Corrections: report@told.news

## This source on TOLD

- Profile page: https://told.news/news-sources/irrawaddy.com
- Full catalogue: https://told.news/md/news-sources

## Other pages

- [How TOLD works](https://told.news/docs) — [markdown](https://told.news/md/docs)
- [Front page](https://told.news/) — [markdown](https://told.news/md)
- [News sources](https://told.news/news-sources) — [markdown](https://told.news/md/news-sources)
- [About](https://told.news/about) — [markdown](https://told.news/md/about)
- [AI transparency](https://told.news/ai) — [markdown](https://told.news/md/ai)
- [Cookies and data](https://told.news/cookies) — [markdown](https://told.news/md/cookies)
- [Agent overview](https://told.news/llms.txt) and [full reference incl. the whole source catalogue](https://told.news/llms-full.txt)
- [AGENTS.md](https://told.news/AGENTS.md) — how to read told.news programmatically
- [Sitemap](https://told.news/sitemap.xml)

Every page on told.news answers with markdown when the request carries
`Accept: text/markdown`.

---

TOLD news is operated by Gaerhenäs, Sweden. Contact: report@told.news