CNN, BBC Fully Deserve Criticism Over Thai Protest Coverage

[hideki]

The assertion that soldiers were only shooting at armed protesters is clearly rubish. They managed to shoot quite a few journalists - one of them three times just because he was wearing a black T shirt and sunglasses. There were many other filmed examples of unarmed protesters being shot at indiscriminately. As with the police the soliers had insufficient training and in most cases were just blasting away at the first target they found. Disgraceful!

Why do I have more faith in believing the aforementioned war correspondent Michael Yon's version of events which is the polar opposite of yours?

[hideki]

Sherman is apparently the Yellow Shirts' (and government's) answer to Conor Purcell or Jeff Savage. There are a lot of Purcells and Savages on the Yellow government side, only they hide behind the internet.

If there's "a lot," then it shouldn't be difficult to produce a couple of examples of foreigners on the yellow side that voice plans to burn and loot shopping malls or equally outlandish behavior that is parallel in its intensity.

I look forward to reading your documentation.

[jucel]

I filly agree that Thailand should kick out Foreign media, especially BBC & CNN.

It Thailand like, we can keep some foreign media from China CCTV, Myanmar, North Korea, etc.

With NBT & CRES, Thailand have enough to keep our own people informed already.

Don't even start... There is no propaganda left in Thai media because all propaganda media (like PTV, Prachathai) has all been shut down. So you only get 100% pure facts.

are you being sarcastic? i really hope so!! otherwise u must be a very very naive person!

[TAWP]

He is trolling, never mind him.

[hideki]

Sorry Mazeltov, as you know, that's not the video discussed in the article. Here is the correct link. Sigh.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=6rGqZDvRa_U

Thank you for the honesty.

[kuffki]

And who are you Mr. Sherman. What are your credentials ? Did the Nation or the Thailand Government pay you well for your rebuttal ?

Thank you for your opinion piece, but it only supports the government and does not help any any type of national reconciliation. You are being used or willing being used. The government propaganda fight to ward off any blame at all in Thailand's problem is well served by you.

I for one would believe CNN and BBC and rather than Mr Sherman AND THE NATION, but I am a long visitor to Thailand to I do not need any of the propaganda to help me make my own decisions. I see it with my own eyes everyday.

i for one would come to Bangkok and witness everything with my own eyes prior to making statements like you did.I would also probably do some reading and research throughout all media, including youtube, and all other networks.

This article is spot on. Both networks failed to show other side in this conflict and how every day people were affected. In every video on both networks there was only footage of poor red shirts being hurt, but no footage at all of soldiers being hurt, of civilians being attacked and destruction of BKK by the red shirts.

Aljazeera was much more fair in its reporting, and i found Aljazeera is by far better network to get accurate news.

[finchy74]

removed

Edited June 21, 2010 by finchy74

[carenot]

Sadly it's come to a point with the media that you need to read reports from as many sources as possible and then make a judgment call about what really happened, the reporting on all sides during this was, as far as i can see biased in one dirrection or the other so if you pick the middle ground you may be somewhere close to the truth!!!

[flotsam]

CNN (domestic for the US market) dumbs down all the international news. I would say it was not too biased because they hardly paid any attention to it one way or the other . . . . of course half the people I know here in the USA are confused as to which country is Taiwan and which is Thailand. . . . .

[asiawatcher]

And who are you Mr. Sherman. What are your credentials ? Did the Nation or the Thailand Government pay you well for your rebuttal ?

Thank you for your opinion piece, but it only supports the government and does not help any any type of national reconciliation. You are being used or willing being used. The government propaganda fight to ward off any blame at all in Thailand's problem is well served by you.

I for one would believe CNN and BBC and rather than Mr Sherman AND THE NATION, but I am a long visitor to Thailand to I do not need any of the propaganda to help me make my own decisions. I see it with my own eyes everyday.

Duh... are you afraid of the truth? Shermans analysis is right on the mark.

[jayboy]

And who are you Mr. Sherman. What are your credentials ? Did the Nation or the Thailand Government pay you well for your rebuttal ?

Thank you for your opinion piece, but it only supports the government and does not help any any type of national reconciliation. You are being used or willing being used. The government propaganda fight to ward off any blame at all in Thailand's problem is well served by you.

I for one would believe CNN and BBC and rather than Mr Sherman AND THE NATION, but I am a long visitor to Thailand to I do not need any of the propaganda to help me make my own decisions. I see it with my own eyes everyday.

i for one would come to Bangkok and witness everything with my own eyes prior to making statements like you did.I would also probably do some reading and research throughout all media, including youtube, and all other networks.

This article is spot on. Both networks failed to show other side in this conflict and how every day people were affected. In every video on both networks there was only footage of poor red shirts being hurt, but no footage at all of soldiers being hurt, of civilians being attacked and destruction of BKK by the red shirts.

Aljazeera was much more fair in its reporting, and i found Aljazeera is by far better network to get accurate news.

Spot on because it confirmed your own views, and possibly your prejudices.You praise Aljazeera and I agree that network has real strengths.However when Rageh Omar presented an Aljazeera report sympathetic to red aspirations the yellow mob were howling with rage.Similarly Crispin of Asia Times is usually praised by opponents of the reds for his knowledgeable realism, but when he presented an analysis of sinister militar/elite influences the enthusiasm evaporated.Someone on this thread sensibly points out its necessary to have many sources of information.It's actually necessary to process this diverse data and draw independent conclusions.Some have the aptitude and intellect to do so and some don't.Some just mouth slogans and tired mantra.

[kuffki]

And who are you Mr. Sherman. What are your credentials ? Did the Nation or the Thailand Government pay you well for your rebuttal ?

Thank you for your opinion piece, but it only supports the government and does not help any any type of national reconciliation. You are being used or willing being used. The government propaganda fight to ward off any blame at all in Thailand's problem is well served by you.

I for one would believe CNN and BBC and rather than Mr Sherman AND THE NATION, but I am a long visitor to Thailand to I do not need any of the propaganda to help me make my own decisions. I see it with my own eyes everyday.

i for one would come to Bangkok and witness everything with my own eyes prior to making statements like you did.I would also probably do some reading and research throughout all media, including youtube, and all other networks.

This article is spot on. Both networks failed to show other side in this conflict and how every day people were affected. In every video on both networks there was only footage of poor red shirts being hurt, but no footage at all of soldiers being hurt, of civilians being attacked and destruction of BKK by the red shirts.

Aljazeera was much more fair in its reporting, and i found Aljazeera is by far better network to get accurate news.

Spot on because it confirmed your own views, and possibly your prejudices.You praise Aljazeera and I agree that network has real strengths.However when Rageh Omar presented an Aljazeera report sympathetic to red aspirations the yellow mob were howling with rage.Similarly Crispin of Asia Times is usually praised by opponents of the reds for his knowledgeable realism, but when he presented an analysis of sinister militar/elite influences the enthusiasm evaporated.Someone on this thread sensibly points out its necessary to have many sources of information.It's actually necessary to process this diverse data and draw independent conclusions.Some have the aptitude and intellect to do so and some don't.Some just mouth slogans and tired mantra.

I agree with you, i did not mean that Aljazeerta is the best, what i meant too say was for the news out of BBC and CNN , Aljazeera is more balanced but by no means ideal.

If someone really wants to get a full view, you would need to watch ALL of them including local media and peoples youtube video's and even then everyone has a different perception of things and will interpret it to their mind. But to be able to make assessment you need to see all the facts not just 1 side as BBC and CNN did

In this case though, i thought BBC and CNN was way to bias and all we saw was the "poor" red shirts and the bad government and army, even speaking to my mother back in Oz, during the conflict she also believed that it was very dangerous because the army was just killing and shooting at innocent people according to CNN and BBC that she watched. Took me hours to convince her that this was the case and showing her other reports of what was really happening

Just common sense alone would suggest that if thousands of Bangkokians went on streets every day to protest against the red shirts and support the government already should tell you something.

[LomSak27]

shows posted

I am a long term resident of Thailand (15 years) who was watching the only "live" coverage I could get from my hospital bed outside Thailand on BBC World. I was STUNNED at the coverage. I saw it as one-sided and with none of the analysis I would expect from a news organisation I respect and admire. When I read the article in The Nation this morning I felt my opinion to have been vindicated.

Tha is because you are a Democrat/yellow/PAD supporter, and I have no problem with that. I guess I can now be considered a "long term resident", if you add 4 years I worked here in the 80's, to the decade I have now lived here. and I view the Nations articles as stidently one sided as you can get - far more than CNN or the BBC.

Depends on what side you are viewing it from

[phomsanuk]

Investors didn't seem to pay attention to all the negative publicity, the Thai SET a measure of stocks rose double digit during the crisis.

[shows]

shows posted

I am a long term resident of Thailand (15 years) who was watching the only "live" coverage I could get from my hospital bed outside Thailand on BBC World. I was STUNNED at the coverage. I saw it as one-sided and with none of the analysis I would expect from a news organisation I respect and admire. When I read the article in The Nation this morning I felt my opinion to have been vindicated.

Tha is because you are a Democrat/yellow/PAD supporter, and I have no problem with that. I guess I can now be considered a "long term resident", if you add 4 years I worked here in the 80's, to the decade I have now lived here. and I view the Nations articles as stidently one sided as you can get - far more than CNN or the BBC.

Depends on what side you are viewing it from

I'm glad you can classify me in any way from my posting. I have no political allegiance in Thailand - it too alien for me to understand. I was just commenting on the coverage I saw on the BBC from abroad which did not take into account any of the complicated social and political problems that beset the country. I have much sympathy for the real Red Shirt protesters but I have little sympathy with their strident leadership and none whatsover with the paramilitary black-shirted brigade. That said that is not the topic. I was only and still am only commenting on the coverage from the BBC (and I expect Australian ABC) for not taking a wider more informed perspective - after all they did have 2 months to do just a little research!

[wayfarer108]

What I am saying however that the really impressive Westerners, the ones with long experience of the Kingdom achieved at a high level will tell one, albeit discretely, that there is much in the red cause with which they sympathise.

A rather dubious presumption, I'd say. I've been here over 30 years and most of the longterm international residents I know have no sy,pathy whatosver for the UDD, seeing it for what it is, the tool of one self-exiled megalomaniac.

I agree with Shawn Crispin, who wrote back in March:

What strikes many long-time observers of the country's politics is the UDD's apparent collective amnesia of Thaksin's own anti-democratic record, marked by his efforts to bypass parliamentary processes, undermine checking and balancing institutions and pressure the free press, and the benefits he reaped through close relations with the bureaucratic elite, including the privileged state-granted telecom concessions he leveraged into a multi-billion dollar personal fortune.

While the UDD clamors for Abhisit to dissolve parliament and hold new elections it has failed to give voice to the fact that a controversial Peua Thai politician, Chalerm Yoobamrung, would most likely run as the party's prime ministerial candidate. His son, Duangchalerm, was accused of murdering an off-duty police officer in 2001 and many say Chalerm epitomizes the double standards that favor the powerful over the poor. Duangchalerm was acquitted due to insufficient evidence in 2004 and is now a father-propelled, rising political star.

Edited June 22, 2010 by wayfarer108

[David006]

not sure whats happening with TV ..posting reply before its written..oh well try again

"I don't think more "sophisticated" societies would tolerate domination by a feudal elite, a treasonable military coup, manipulation of justice,a rigged constitution and murder of unarmed civilians."

No ..your right never would be tolerated ..well excepting for a brief period of hundreds of years in Great Britain/Ireland/Scotland, Europe,Eastern Europe, Asia, Americas, Africas, ............naaa never happen....

Anyways way to go ..Nation...finally some decent journalism instead of unsubstantiated, unquestioned quotes by "reporters"...

Edited June 22, 2010 by David006

[jayboy]

What I am saying however that the really impressive Westerners, the ones with long experience of the Kingdom achieved at a high level will tell one, albeit discretely, that there is much in the red cause with which they sympathise.

A rather dubious presumption, I'd say. I've been here over 30 years and most of the longterm international residents I know have no sy,pathy whatosver for the UDD, seeing it for what it is, the tool of one self-exiled megalomaniac.

I agree with Shawn Crispin, who wrote back in March:

What strikes many long-time observers of the country's politics is the UDD's apparent collective amnesia of Thaksin's own anti-democratic record, marked by his efforts to bypass parliamentary processes, undermine checking and balancing institutions and pressure the free press, and the benefits he reaped through close relations with the bureaucratic elite, including the privileged state-granted telecom concessions he leveraged into a multi-billion dollar personal fortune.

While the UDD clamors for Abhisit to dissolve parliament and hold new elections it has failed to give voice to the fact that a controversial Peua Thai politician, Chalerm Yoobamrung, would most likely run as the party's prime ministerial candidate. His son, Duangchalerm, was accused of murdering an off-duty police officer in 2001 and many say Chalerm epitomizes the double standards that favor the powerful over the poor. Duangchalerm was acquitted due to insufficient evidence in 2004 and is now a father-propelled, rising political star.

I was talking about high achieving Westerners,well off, perceptive and highly intelligent - typically Ivy League or Oxbridge graduates with detailed knowledge of Thai culture and history.There are plenty of long term westerners who to put it kindly don't meet these criteria.

Anyway let's hypothetically assume we are talking about the same people.I think most would certainly agree with your assessment of Thaksin's record.I think however while not denying his continuing influence his greater significance would be seen more as a catalyst.There would also be agreement with your view of UDD leadership, shoddy and rather frightening.

And yet...(this is the common theme I have noticed) this group would have a sneaking (discrete, because their Thai friends would think differently) sympathy with red aspirations.They know the nature of amart society, its selfishness, corruption and greed.They deal with it every day unlike the retired wastrels and sexpats who think of themselves as long term residents.They know the denouement is not too far away.They would love the Thai elite, with whom they have much in common by virtue of social class and education, to reform itself.But they fear the worst and despite the poison of Thaksin and the mediocre UDD leadership, they know the Red Cause holds the moral high ground.

[Ulysses G.]

 

I was talking about high achieving Westerners,well off, perceptive and highly intelligent - typically Ivy League or Oxbridge graduates with detailed knowledge of Thai culture and history.

There might be a few around, but most likely they are perves who are wanted by Interpol and are not available for interviews. 

[jayboy]

 

I was talking about high achieving Westerners,well off, perceptive and highly intelligent - typically Ivy League or Oxbridge graduates with detailed knowledge of Thai culture and history.

There might be a few around, but most likely they are perves who are wanted by Interpol and are not available for interviews. 

Yes, that's it.Well done.

[GarryP]

I was talking about high achieving Westerners,well off, perceptive and highly intelligent - typically Ivy League or Oxbridge graduates with detailed knowledge of Thai culture and history.There are plenty of long term westerners who to put it kindly don't meet these criteria.

Anyway let's hypothetically assume we are talking about the same people.I think most would certainly agree with your assessment of Thaksin's record.I think however while not denying his continuing influence his greater significance would be seen more as a catalyst.There would also be agreement with your view of UDD leadership, shoddy and rather frightening.

And yet...(this is the common theme I have noticed) this group would have a sneaking (discrete, because their Thai friends would think differently) sympathy with red aspirations.They know the nature of amart society, its selfishness, corruption and greed.They deal with it every day unlike the retired wastrels and sexpats who think of themselves as long term residents.They know the denouement is not too far away.They would love the Thai elite, with whom they have much in common by virtue of social class and education, to reform itself.But they fear the worst and despite the poison of Thaksin and the mediocre UDD leadership, they know the Red Cause holds the moral high ground.

Some of what you say is reasonable and other stuff is utter rubbish. There are a lot of Oxbridge grads who are total wan*ers. And just because someone is high acheiving does not make them all knowing. However, I will give it to you that people with an education, whether formal or self educated, do tend to view things less in black and white than in shades of grey. Or in this case yellow and red.

While I do know "the nature of amart society, its selfishness, corruption and greed", I do not believe what the red cause would bring would be any better. It would just be the new amart (but red instead of yellow). They do not know any better. It is cultural and has been this way for many generations. The red shirts do not hold any moral high ground. You are equating the red shirts with the aspirations of the poor. They are two different things. The red shirts was a political creation for political ends only.

As to the OP, if the bias in reporting brings about reform, well then okay, but to be fair does the rest of the world give a shit anyway? It is no longer news. The only people interested are Thais and the relatively few foreigners who live here. What about the investigation of the events? Will anything happen as a result of the findings, if indeed there are any conclusions? Perhaps the usual will happen and it will drag on for years until all interest disappears and they can shelve the investigation. You know how it goes here.

[jayboy]

I was talking about high achieving Westerners,well off, perceptive and highly intelligent - typically Ivy League or Oxbridge graduates with detailed knowledge of Thai culture and history.There are plenty of long term westerners who to put it kindly don't meet these criteria.

Anyway let's hypothetically assume we are talking about the same people.I think most would certainly agree with your assessment of Thaksin's record.I think however while not denying his continuing influence his greater significance would be seen more as a catalyst.There would also be agreement with your view of UDD leadership, shoddy and rather frightening.

And yet...(this is the common theme I have noticed) this group would have a sneaking (discrete, because their Thai friends would think differently) sympathy with red aspirations.They know the nature of amart society, its selfishness, corruption and greed.They deal with it every day unlike the retired wastrels and sexpats who think of themselves as long term residents.They know the denouement is not too far away.They would love the Thai elite, with whom they have much in common by virtue of social class and education, to reform itself.But they fear the worst and despite the poison of Thaksin and the mediocre UDD leadership, they know the Red Cause holds the moral high ground.

Some of what you say is reasonable and other stuff is utter rubbish. There are a lot of Oxbridge grads who are total wan*ers. And just because someone is high acheiving does not make them all knowing. However, I will give it to you that people with an education, whether formal or self educated, do tend to view things less in black and white than in shades of grey. Or in this case yellow and red.

While I do know "the nature of amart society, its selfishness, corruption and greed", I do not believe what the red cause would bring would be any better. It would just be the new amart (but red instead of yellow). They do not know any better. It is cultural and has been this way for many generations. The red shirts do not hold any moral high ground. You are equating the red shirts with the aspirations of the poor. They are two different things. The red shirts was a political creation for political ends only.

As to the OP, if the bias in reporting brings about reform, well then okay, but to be fair does the rest of the world give a shit anyway? It is no longer news. The only people interested are Thais and the relatively few foreigners who live here. What about the investigation of the events? Will anything happen as a result of the findings, if indeed there are any conclusions? Perhaps the usual will happen and it will drag on for years until all interest disappears and they can shelve the investigation. You know how it goes here.

Actually this is a very reasonable reply.I had my tongue firmly in cheek with the Oxbridge/Ivy League references, always amusing to mock the huge band of retired sexpats.The key point which you pick up on is the need to understand nuance and context, not just to mouth slogans.I also sympathise with your view on the red political alternative.But rightly or wrongly the reds do represent the aspirations of the poor...and not just the poor.There is now in Thailand a great amount of discontent among all classes at the way the elite has behaved over decades.And this is fuelled by the certain knowledge the reckoning is not far away.You may be right the Reds originally a prescibed Thaksinite objective, but this has been hijacked..and times have moved on.

[TAWP]

always amusing to mock the huge band of retired sexpats.

But I doubt many of them are connected and on this forum...

[jayboy]

always amusing to mock the huge band of retired sexpats.

But I doubt many of them are connected and on this forum...

Yeah, right...none of them on this forum.

[Wolfie]

always amusing to mock the huge band of retired sexpats.

But I doubt many of them are connected and on this forum...

Yeah, right...none of them on this forum.

I will have you know i am not retired

[truethailand]

And who are you Mr. Sherman. What are your credentials ? Did the Nation or the Thailand Government pay you well for your rebuttal ?

Thank you for your opinion piece, but it only supports the government and does not help any any type of national reconciliation. You are being used or willing being used. The government propaganda fight to ward off any blame at all in Thailand's problem is well served by you.

I for one would believe CNN and BBC and rather than Mr Sherman AND THE NATION, but I am a long visitor to Thailand to I do not need any of the propaganda to help me make my own decisions. I see it with my own eyes everyday.

You seem to ignore the fact that the above piece mentions a lot of vital information that was simply IGNORED by the mainstream press; forget about who's site you think you're own, this is just simply what happened...

Unlike the writer of the above piece, you immediately take a stand and feel the need to express you're political views. Why the need for this? Just discuss the topic at hand; nobody cares about your political views. The writer didn't seem to express any view favorable to either side; he just criticizes the reporting done by CNN and BCC, and I think he's right in doing so (and many others who have been criticizing the mainstream media).

Don't try to turn every topic relating to the protests in another thread about annoying farang Expats who feel the need to vent their views.

Would the reporter now like to write a piece about the coverage provided by the state run media in Thailand. What a disgrace and insult to Thai people

[wayfarer108]

But they fear the worst and despite the poison of Thaksin and the mediocre UDD leadership, they know the Red Cause holds the moral high ground.

Most of my expat circle are in fact well-educated, employed indivisuals here for 10-30 years and none of them stand on your side of the divide on these questions.

I fear your sample is too small

You may be right the Reds originally a prescibed Thaksinite objective, but this has been hijacked..and times have moved on.

You and your UDD friends can repeat that propaganda but it doesn't make it true. In terms of UDD leadership - without whom there would be no Red movement -- Thaksin and their objectives are inseparable.

This bears on the question of CNN objectivity in particular. CNN is owned by Time Warner, who along with FedEx, General Electric Company, New York Life and Unocal, became US-Thailand Business Coalition corporate chairs when Thaksin was pushing the US-Thailand Free Trade Agreement. Of course the proposed FTA is at odds with pretty much everything the 'poor' you keep pushing want or need. The US will not offer tariff- or quota-free access to any major Thai farm exports. Once tariffs are eliminated under the FTA, Thai farmers will face a further flood of subsidised US agricultural imports, threatening their livelihoods, as happened with the 2003 China-Thailand FTA (to expand further this year, 2010). US corporations and officials applauded Thaksin’s privatization program, viewing the FTA as a means to advance and lock this in, and would love to have him back in power.

There is much more going on than meets the casual eye perusing the news or listening to UDD propaganda.

[yoshiwara]

I was here during the entire episode of the red-shirts and yellow shirts and something was reported in a way that had friends in the states calling and emailing me about how I was doing during the demonstrations. The news they were getting in the states made it seem that the entire country was burning and full scale war was imminent. Nothing was said about outside of the demonstration area. Nonthaburi had some but Pathum Thani had a little. I went to Petchburi province and it was calm with nothing happening. Those outside areas were not reported so everything in Bangkok made it seem like the demonstration was country-wide. Friends in Pattaya reported things were normal although a little low on tourists. Yes, the news was biased on CNN and very one-sided. But then, they are very liberal in their reporting of events in the states so they are going to do it here also. It is surprising to hear about BBC as I have always heard good reports on their reporting. It seems that the news media is only concerned with exciting events rather than the real truth. There are enough of you readers that know that events taking place were not broadcasted truthfully and had to sift through the rhetoric for the truth. Yes, even the government did some laundering of the story but again everyone did. Let's find out the real story before commenting on the CNN/BBC news hype that always seems to be the only story until the real truth emerges.

Suspicion arises that those reporters failed miserably to do his/her homework well, instead followed, driven by "sensationalism instinct" the "exciting path", of tangible "news" reporting, slightly tinted by colonialist superiority attitude towards an assumed 3rd world country, where "these things" happen on a daily scale!

Ah' "military crackdown" on "law abiding citizen who want to air their grievances about a Dictatorship"....

That goes down much better than any seriously researched reporting on these very complex, twisted and highly manipulated events.

These reporters are have been caught off guard, neglecting their duty to stick to facts and if so,

report the whole event by it's width and breath!

Did this just happen by accident through neglect and little or none background knowledge?

Both some of the CNN and BBC reporters have shown themselves to be remarkably lazy in their research.

The reds sold them the pup of the 'class war' and they bought it.

If it had been a class war then there would have been a national uprising.

There wasn't.

It was regionally-based and a cross-class alliance with no peasant or working class economic demands for that matter.

Thaksin knows, even if the reporters did not, that if Thaksin had crossed the north-eastern land owners then his voting base would disappear.

All the reporters had to do was ask 'where are the economic class demands?'

Since there aren't any then the reporters would be able to dig down, but they didn't.

They stayed at the superficial level and did a poor professional job.

Lazy buggers.

[jayboy]

But they fear the worst and despite the poison of Thaksin and the mediocre UDD leadership, they know the Red Cause holds the moral high ground.

Most of my expat circle are in fact well-educated, employed indivisuals here for 10-30 years and none of them stand on your side of the divide on these questions.

I fear your sample is too small

You may be right the Reds originally a prescibed Thaksinite objective, but this has been hijacked..and times have moved on.

You and your UDD friends can repeat that propaganda but it doesn't make it true. In terms of UDD leadership - without whom there would be no Red movement -- Thaksin and their objectives are inseparable.

This bears on the question of CNN objectivity in particular. CNN is owned by Time Warner, who along with FedEx, General Electric Company, New York Life and Unocal, became US-Thailand Business Coalition corporate chairs when Thaksin was pushing the US-Thailand Free Trade Agreement. Of course the proposed FTA is at odds with pretty much everything the 'poor' you keep pushing want or need. The US will not offer tariff- or quota-free access to any major Thai farm exports. Once tariffs are eliminated under the FTA, Thai farmers will face a further flood of subsidised US agricultural imports, threatening their livelihoods, as happened with the 2003 China-Thailand FTA (to expand further this year, 2010). US corporations and officials applauded Thaksin’s privatization program, viewing the FTA as a means to advance and lock this in, and would love to have him back in power.

There is much more going on than meets the casual eye perusing the news or listening to UDD propaganda.

I think you are probably right, namely that there is a CNN conspiracy on the lines you have outlined.You do not mention the Protocol of the Elders of Zion but I think that fits in somewhere.The odd thing is that few seem to know about this and perhaps you should write a letter to the Bangkok Post explaining the position.There you would be in the company of several other regular correspondents whose lucidity and sanity is a matter of general comment.Anyway well done for letting us know about this CNN "under the radar" development, and indeed the American establishment which backed the Thaksin privatisation programme.As a matter of interest does the American establishment provide directives to CNN, or does the latter just get on with its disinformation without being told.It will certainly provide me with an an alternative insight.The truth is out there.

Also interesting that your "well educated employed" friends here all are of one mind.I must have been taking too small a sample.

[wayfarer108]

As a matter of interest does the American establishment provide directives to CNN, or does the latter just get on with its disinformation without being told.It will certainly provide me with an an alternative insight.The truth is out there.

No but Time Warner certainly does. As usual, you over-simplify and misinterpret.