The policy change will end the short-lived heyday of private weekly newspapers, commonly called journals, the most popular of which have only launched since 2000. Regulators under the military government had allowed weeklies, as they afforded censors ample time to pore over the papers for signs of dissension. A thriving group of more than 200 private weeklies arose during the last decade as the reading public sought an alternative to government-run dailies that read more like staid corporate newsletters than newspapers.

From the ashes of these weeklies will spring the new breed of daily publications. Ko Ko, chairman of The Rangoon Media Group which publishes The Yangon Times weekly, sees converting from a weekly to a daily as a necessity, not a choice. "We, the local media industry, are facing a do or die scenario ... If you don't publish daily newspaper, your business will be finished because once daily newspapers come in, who will read weekly newspaper?" he said in an interview at the media group's offices in Rangoon.

The newsroom at The Seven Day Weekly. (Jake Spring)

The crush of new daily newspapers - most in the industry expect up to 25 to launch - must first clear regulatory hurdles. According to local reports, media regulators announced on Saturday that of 17 media companies that have already applied for daily licenses, eight have been approved for publication starting next month, six were denied and three remain under consideration. Despite the rejections, the government has yet to signal that licenses will be used as a gatekeeping mechanism to shut out critical newspapers. Among the rejected was Eleven Media Group, which publishes one of the highest-circulation weeklies. The group reported on its website that the rejection was based on a technicality, the lack of an official revenue stamp and failure to specify what the language of the publication would be. The ministry advised the group to reapply. Media leaders in Rangoon like Ko Ko said in mid-February they were certain the government would approve all completed applications.

Licensed dailies must then overcome a litany of logistical hurdles in a country that still struggles to keep the lights on. "The people are now realizing that initially there is a big dream, daily newspapers is a dream. Now the dream's come true and they started to realize this is not an easy job," Ko Ko said. "This is not only the fourth estate, but this is a business."

Kyaw Min Swe, the chief editor of the news journal The Voice Weekly, is one journalist who professes to have long dreamed of publishing a daily newspaper. But like Ko Ko, Kyaw Min Swe has no illusions about the challenges that must be overcome to launch a daily and admits he knows little of how a daily newspaper operates. The Voice is also publishing a daily newspaper in-house to allow reporters and editors to practice on tighter deadlines. But delivering the newspapers to readers' hands will be the primary obstacle, Kyaw Min Swe said.