Thaksin Left With Few Friends In The Press Corps

[george]

Thaksin has been left with few friends in the press corps

BANGKOK (THE NATION): -- There's no faster way for a government to turn the entire press corps against itself.

If Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had been at the headquarters of the Thai Journalists' Association yesterday to witness the brouhaha, his hair would surely have stood on end.

He might well have given some serious second thought to the notorious executive decree the government has just enacted ostensibly to keep the lid on simmering violence in the country's deep South.

At one crazy fell swoop, Thaksin has lost virtually all his friends in the media. Many of his erstwhile friends are not just disillusioned; they have reportedly pledged to become his sworn enemies from now on.

Here are the minutes of a historic day for the Thai press:

10.00am:

The forum begins. You have never seen so many editors crammed into the same small place at the exact same time. But they need no warm-up exercises. Pongsak Payakwichien, chairman of the National Press Council of Thailand, gets right down to business. He delivers a soft-spoken yet unequivocal message: "Shall we buckle under and allow such sweeping powers to be given to a man widely considered to be a potential dictator?"

Next speaks Klanarong Chantik, the former secretary-general of the National Counter Corruption Commission now serving on the Press Council. He reiterates journalists' worst fears: the emergency decree has suspicious motives written all over it.

10.20am:

The booming baritone of Matichon's Boonlert Changyai evokes the acrimonious exchanges on Parliament's floor. "This is outrageous!" he declares.

A former member of the Constitution Drafting Assembly, he insists the emergency decree demonstrates the Thaksin government's blatant disregard of and contempt for the citizenry in charting the national course.

"We journalists have a responsibility," he says. And that "responsibility" entails more than pandering to authorities by penning lies and half-truths.

10.30am:

An unexpected guest intrudes on Boonlert, cutting him short. He is an elderly stranger and apparently furious that he has been prevented from distributing anti-media leaflets at the forum. He launches into a tirade: "You are all scum! Animals, all of you!" he shouts.

He is trying his best to get manhandled and so physically assaulted, but nobody rises to his bait. As he is politely being escorted out of the room, he can be heard calling the editors "a bunch of hypocrites," who have impinged on his right to voice his opinion.

10.50am:

A newspaper editor from the deep South adds to the gathering doom and gloom. Even a partial enforcement of the martial law will have "staggering repercussions" for the region, he stresses. God save Thailand!

The decree affording authorities carte blanche in arresting people without charges will further inflame Thai Muslim opinion and alienate locals, "who are already feeling like second-class citizens," he warns. "In the past the press has helped keep an eye on authorities. But this decree will end that role of the media," he explains.

11.00am:

The southern editor's warning becomes the rallying cry for the gathered. Yes, who will be monitoring authorities now that the enforcement of the potentially most abusive law of the modern democratic era is in the offing? A senior broadcast journalist laments that the job of TV reporters, normally hard, will now become "easier": They will just report what the government wants people to see or will not report anything at all.

11.20am:

Pichai Chuensuksawadi, a former editor of the Bangkok Post, counsels participants not to turn the forum into a self-serving exercise for media professionals. The real issue, he insists, is that the government is obstructing the people's right to know when it comes to the most contentious and sensitive national crisis.

11.45am:

A retired colleague of Pichai from The Post, Banyat Thatsaneeyavej says it is highly suspicious the government should be restricting media freedom just when it is being rocked by scandals left, right and centre. "This is not just about a fight against a [repressive] decree. It's much more than that," she stresses.

Noon:

With the forum drawing to a close, participants take a unified stance against the decree. The consensus is clear:

The last thing the troubled deep South needs is this executive decree, and the last man who should be allowed to wield the unbridled powers it accords is Thaksin Shinawatra.

-- Tulsathit Taptim, The Nation 2005-07-20

[stumonster]

the emergency decree has suspicious motives written all over it.

aside from the control of the press during the revelations of corrupt practices by thai lak thai politicians and their associates , I have been wondering if this declaration of a "state of emergency" is also an attempt to circumvent the increasing critism the thai govt and its leader is getting internationally about its human rights practices. Is the govt also looking forward at the anger likely to be created as the financial strain increases on the average thai - 8 baht a day wage increase is unlikely to ease the situation.

we will have to wait to see if there is any real change in the media's attitude or if this turns out to be merely just posturing.

[The_Doctor]

Shame the elections been and gone...

[penzman]

For every person he favours or promotes in his entourage or anywhere else, he angers five. It's now coming back to bite him.

I don't think the media will just sit back, watch and obey from now on.

[thaibebop]

I think for all the nay-sayers this is proof that there is hope for Thailand. I view this as really good news and hope they fight the good fight the good fight.

[Sphere]

IMHO it doesn't take much to fix the media in Thailand. A full page advertisement in any national daily can get you glowing tributes 2 pages away in the same paper!

I am pretty sure that by the time of the next election, the same media will be singing praises for the dear leader and attending his campaign parties with smiley badges on their jackets.

[Artisi]

The news media here are toothless tigers - more like wimpy pussy cats