Thailand’s media the freest in Asia or under threat?
Only last week at a meeting of the Confederation of ASEAN Journalists (CAJ) Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra boasted that Thailand’s press is the freest in Asia. The events occurring in Thailand this week would suggest the opposite.
“The Prime Minister’s words ring hollow now considering the weeks events,” said IFJ president Christopher Warren.
“How can a free press exist when the government and corporations are using a multitude of tactics aimed at silencing all dissenting and critical voices in Thailand?” said Warren.
This week saw the resumption of the criminal defamation trial brought by Shin Corporation against media reform activist Supinya Klangnarong and the Thai Post, a criminal defamation law suit brought against the Bangkok Post by the government authorities responsible for the airport and the introduction of regulations designed to curb community radio.
Government control of community radio
The Prime Minister’s Office Minister Suranand Vejjajiva, who oversees the Public Relations Department (PRD) backed down from his plan to close down all community radio stations, limiting the new regulations to limiting radio stations transmission range and their commercial content.
Suranand was forced to reconsider his plans to shut down all community radio stations and bring them under the PRD’s control after a consortium of local stations petitioned the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) that the proposal would be not in accordance with the constitution.
In response to local SME stations petitioning, the cabinet ruled that community stations would be allowed to stay open on the condition they limit their transmission tower to 30 metres, transmission power to 30 watts and their transmission range to 15km. Stations must also restrict their contents to issues not affecting national security, peace and order and people’s morality, said the minister in charge of the public relations department.
The cabinet ruled that the stations were only allowed to run commercials which described community activities or local products and that tax measures would be imposed on all stations requiring them to report their income from advertisements to the authorities. The customs department would be asked to look into the tax records of stations imported equipment.
The cabinet warned that those stations not complying with the strict rules would be warned and if the warnings ignored they would be arrested and the station shut down.
Silencing critics through the courts
The decision by the Thai Government to pursue a criminal libel lawsuit against the English language daily The Bangkok Post has the potential to stop media from publishing critical and alternative voices in Thailand.
Despite the Post printing an August 10 retraction and prominent front page apology for the article, the government agencies responsible for the airport filed a criminal suit against the paper.
On August 15, the Airport of Thailand (AoT) and the New Bangkok International Airport Co. (NBIA) filed a criminal lawsuit against the Post Publishing Plc and its editor Kowit Sanandang. The plaintiffs are seeking the Post to pay for full-page ads in countries such as the USA, the UK and Italy and one hour clarifications in media networks like CNBC, CCTV and BBC every day for 15 days.
In addition to the criminal suit, the Plaintifs are considering a 1 billion BHT (US$25 million) civil suit.
Free speech trial continues
The trial of Shin Corp versus media reform activist resumed yesterday, August 16, 2005 with the cross examination of the first defense witness Dr Professor Ubonrat.
Associate Professor Ubonrat Siriyuwasak of Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Communication Arts and CPMR president was the first witness to testify in support of Supinya and her case on August 5.
Supinya Klangnarong, secretary general of Campaign for Popular Media Reform (CPMR) faces a two-year prison sentence and a ten million US dollar civil lawsuit if Shin Corp is successful in their defamation lawsuit against her and the Thai Post. The charges are a result of a 2003 article where she suggested that Shin Corp financially benefited from Thaksin Shinawatra’s election as prime minister.
Court will resume today, August 17 with the testimony of Thepchai Yong, group editor of the Nation and former news editor of ITV.
The IFJ is in Thailand for two months to observe the trial and to support the campaign for freedom of expression in Thailand.
For more information please contact Lara Hook in Thailand on +66 67360969 or IFJ President Christopher Warren on +61 411 757 668
The IFJ represents over 500,000 journalists in more than 110 countries worldwide.
