As the toll from Cyclone Nargis looks to reach up to 100,000, the situation for the media in a country that already lacked press freedom is also getting no relief. Official news reports cite the death toll at around 22,000, but since all the junta in Myanmar is allowing are the official reports it's hard to tell what the real devastation is. From Reporters Without Borders:

"Burmese TV stations are broadcasting footage of the damage and of the military helping victims. In reality, many Burmese are complaining that they are not getting any help. Journalists working for the Burmese media in exile say they have information that indicates that the regime is underestimating the toll from the cyclone and is trying to show that it is coping with the situation.

'Near Rangoon, a witness told me that soldiers arrived with a state TV crew to film the distribution of clothes to cyclone victims but, in practice, they gave out almost nothing,' a Burmese journalist based in Thailand said.

There is no information about the cyclone on Myanmar.com, a government website, or on the website of the Myanmar Times, a privately-owned weekly.

...Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association also call on the government to explain the circumstances in which the security forces opened fire on inmates in Insein prison during the cyclone. Organisations based in Thailand say more than 30 prisoners were killed. There has been no word of the prisoners of conscience held in Insein such as journalist U Win Tin."

The junta is being urged to grant visas to foreign journalists; BBC journalist Andrew Harding was deported shortly after his arrival from Bangkok on Monday. Reported the official newspaper, New Light of Myanmar:

"A journalist who is working for BBC was deported as he broke visa rules and regulations. ...Journalists from news agencies in Western countries illegally entered the country very often and made fabricated news with the help of anti-government groups."

Translation: Heaven forbid journalists and see the real story of the government not coming to the aid of cyclone victims!

CNN's Dan Rivers made it into the devastated town of Bogalay. Watch his reports here.