MediaWatch2009

This is the first I've heard of this crime and I read all the papers every week.

So Phuket is turning in Kuala Lumpur with machete wielding muggers.

What else isn't being reported?

Glad, I never invested here.

It was interesting to note the ThaiVisa legal advisor's comment that being able to prove that a comment made (in an article, etc) was true, was not in itself an adequate defence against defamation. This goes a long way towards explaining the lack of anything approaching investigative journalism in the Nation or the BB Post ... and the true state of democracy that exists here

RE: Thai Visa rule which forbids, "... criticism of sponsors .."

So Thai Visa merging , first with The Nation and now the Phuket Gazette, ( i can't say what I think about that publication ) means no calling out the papers for any alleged bias or NON reporting

This is why media consolidation is a bad thing for democracy , good for profit though, and if that's your motive..

He should just plead guilty, That Aussie who shot and killed the American in Chang Mai got 2 years and the aussie sheila who pinched the bar mat ran from police, then abused them, got an apology. Both pleaded guilty. He should should get off fairly easy..(edited bit) Just an observation, but it seems the more you fight the thai system the harder the penalties.

I read in the paper that it has come out she did abuse the Thai police and its all on record.

How funny that at the time it was reported that she wasn't drunk, didn't run away or abuse the police

and people believed this BS...

This is so OT but I must defend this ( again )

I'm sure you're quoting the local Phuket rag , that printed a letter to the editor

Quote: " Dear Editor, I HEARD ...blah blah , she's guilty..."

The editor has made it clear in an edtorial , that he supports the witchunt on this woman.

Dont you think the police would have charged her with abusive behavior IF she actually HAD been?

Alibis and the Phuket Governor vouched for her...

But you choose to persecute her, ..

And may I say those smiliey faces, all 5, are really obnnoxious- Ask yourself why are you so happy to denigrate this individual?

HOw does it make feel? Think about it

Pandas need a bamboo forest like environment. This structure is in no way adequate for an animal's needs and is geared only for visitor's amusement, not welfare of the Panda.

( Much like the tiger that was kept in a cement block within a department store in Bangkok. )

Pic from The Nation

Pic from the Nation

Pattaya health officials, cleaning the streets is a good idea but ( A for airborne) A H1 N1 virus is an AIRBORNE virus . That means you breathe it in from the air- it has to lodge in the lungs- not the nose , not the mouth, but the LUNGS.

in fact all the air pressure and vaporized water just may be picking up microbes from the ground and depositing them into the air where the influenza can spread more easily .

All those 25 bahts help pay for the paper.

After 3 or 4 weeks, the full edition is online.

As does printing a front page picture of a young woman, captioned " Pregnant Girlfriend," in shock, crying- having just found out her boyfriend has drowned.

The editor really sank to new levels with that one.

After last week's far right wing US Congressional race propaganda ( in a Phuket local?) and the misinformation on the Phi Phi deaths...I'll never buy another one.

A close look at an earlier Thai Airways crash, Surathani 1998, will show some sobering similarities.

The Kingdom of Thailand does not seem release crash reports or any factual, verifiable, information. Of course, this means no one can learn from previous mistakes and they are doomed to be recreated.

In the case of OG269 case, the families and the professional piloting community have uncovered all of the proof and truth put forward. This incomplete summary report - produced only in Thai - was provided in response to significant pressure from the international community. We look forward to providing more truth with the NTSB report in September.

The wording, or at least the translation makes it appaear as if safety standards NEED to be adopted, in fact they were there the whole time but were ignored.

This is illegal and resulted in deaths and injury

Indictments were promised last July against the company, where are they?

Norwegian article in VG today : (google translation)

-----------------------------------

I'm afraid this is not good news

This report you've posted is nothing but a recycled article from the Phuket Gazette which well may not be substantiated as was their report it was " Food Poisoning .." which they have yet to retract or correct.

It bears mentioning The Gazette has not reported on the St. Onge family biopsy findings that refer to fluid in the lungs.

Look at what a perhaps more credible source says -

phuketwan.com/tourism/phi-phi-deaths-riddle-findings-autopsy-claim-11218/

By Alan Morison

Saturday, June 13, 2009 MYSTERY continues to surround the deaths of two young women tourists who were staying at the same guesthouse on the holiday island of Phi Phi when they suddenly became ill.

The Norwegian Ambassador, Merete Fjeld Brattested, told Phuketwan yesterday that the results of an autopsy on Julie Bergheim, 22, had been passed to the embassy on Wednesday, and forwarded on to the Bergheim family.

The ambassador said that she was not at liberty to reveal what the report contained because this was a private matter for the family.

A spokesperson at the US embassy in Bangkok said yesterday he was unable to confirm that results had been sent to the embassy or the St Onge family by Thai authorities after the autopsy on the American victim, Jill St Onge, 27.

The results of the two autopsies are, as in last week's notorious case involving American actor David Carradine, and his death in a Bangkok hotel closet, supposed to be a private matter.

An online site of a local Phuket newspaper [ Phuket Gazette] today claims the autopsy results on the two Phi Phi victims were ''inconclusive.''

The report quotes a deputy health official in Krabi, the province that contains Phi Phi, as saying that tests on blood and tissue taken from the bodies showed the cause ''definitely wasn't food poisoning.''

The health official is also quoted as saying: ''This is looking like some freak accident.''

[ However Phuket Wan reports;]

There has been no statement yet from the Royal Thai Police Institute of Forensic Medicine in Bangkok, where the autopsies were conducted.

Krabi Governor Siwa Sirisoawaluk, who had previously suggested it would be unwise to speculate about the cause of the deaths, told Phuketwan he was unaware of the results of the autopsies.

The two women were in adjoining rooms at Laleena Guesthouse on Phi Phi, about 90 minutes by ferry from the larger island of Phuket, when they fell ill in early May.

Both women died within hours of each other at the local hospital, having fallen ill suffering similar symptoms. Two other people also fell ill, but survived.

Ryan Kells, 31, Miss St Onge's companion, believes her death involved some kind of chemical, possibly circulated into their adjoining rooms through the airconditioning.

Miss Bergheim's 19-year-old companion, a Norwegian woman, remained seriously ill for several days.

She probably has the most complete survivor's account of what transpired, but she has been reluctant so far to talk to the media.