Internationally, the paper had been derided as "sophisticated propaganda" and a public relations tool for more progressive elements in the government, such as General Khin Nyunt, Myanmar's former Prime Minister.

[4] The charges were imposed retroactively after Military Intelligence was declared an illegal organisation, which in turn meant The Myanmar Times had been effectively publishing uncensored material since its launch.

[6] However, she was forced by the Ministry of Information to sell her stake to another local media entrepreneur, Tin Tun Oo, whose company, Thuta Swe Sone, publishes four other journals.

[4][9] Following Sonny Swe's imprisonment in 2005, another Burmese media entrepreneur, Tin Tun Oo, acquired the locally owned share of MCM in controversial circumstances.

In late 2007 investors in Myanmar Consolidated Media took a controlling interest in well-regarded English-language newspaper The Phnom Penh Post, based in Cambodia.

[14] Six months after the takeover, The Phnom Penh Post, which was established in 1991, began daily publication, including an article republication agreement with The Myanmar Times.

In July 2007, a Danish group named Surrend placed an advertisement in The Myanmar Times' English edition that contained the concealed messages "freedom" and "killer Than Shwe",[8] a reference to Burma's head of state.

The bogus advertisement appeared to be a call for tourists from Scandinavia and contained the word Ewhsnahtrellik, or "killer Than Shwe" in reverse, as well as a supposed "old Danish poem", the acrostic of which read "freedom".

[16] While no serious action was taken against The Myanmar Times for publishing the advertisement, two staff at the Press Scrutiny Board were removed from their positions and copies of the newspaper were pulled from the shelves.

The stunt was widely criticised by those in the local media industry but Surrend founder Jan Egesborg defended the group's prank, saying "we are very sorry for the people ... but if [the authorities] do something like that it says something about the regime".

[18] The ban was imposed by the Press Scrutiny Board after the newspaper's editors published a story on 11 January about satellite licence fees, despite being warned not to do so.