MEDIA FORUM
Reporters advised to handle South with care
JEERAPONG PRASERTPONKRANG
THE NATION

'Journalists must try to uncover the real motive, stop sensationalising'

BANGKOK: -- Several journalists joined "Rajdamnoen Talk 1" yesterday to address the challenge of covering news in the troubled deep South, as panellists urged reporters to be cautious with their words when conducting interviews.

"I think reporters should stop using words like jone tai [bandits from the South] and hua jok [ringleaders]," Pakorn Puengnetr, editor of Isra News Agency's southern bureau, said. He added that words like these hurt people's feelings.

"One of my sub-editors hails from Yala and feels the word jone is inappropriate," he said.

The forum, which was organised by the editorial team of the Rajdamnoen mini journal, took place at the Thai Journalists Association (TJA) yesterday.

AFP correspondent Boonradom Chitradon, who is a senior reporter on the Government House beat, said news coverage of the deep South affected the lives of local people.

"It's important for the media to understand the motives behind the attacks. We have to ask ourselves if we know what their goal is. Are they aiming for territorial separation and will we let them reach this goal? If not, we have to present our news reports in a way that makes people understand what the insurgents are up to and what strategies they have been using," she said.

Boonradom also urged the media to exercise caution as to whom they should interview.

"It's too risky to present a person's viewpoint if his is about territorial separation," she said.

Boonradom said experienced journalists were sometimes so confident about their decisions that they often forgot their duties and responsibility.

"We have to present the facts. We also have to create the right understanding about the situation," she said. "We have to be cautious about our sources. We need to find out why they want to give interviews and what they stand to gain. Also, what will the public stand to gain."

She also cautioned the media against sensationalising news for the sake of attracting readers.

Montri Udompong, a reporter from 3 Miti news said, said headlines like "Jone Tai Mob Tua, Yomrub Pid" or "Bandits from the South Surrender, Plead Guilty" were indeed inappropriate.

However, he defended his decision to interview Patani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo) president Kasturi Mahkota.

"If I could go back in time, I would do the same thing. It's not that I totally agree with his viewpoint, but I interviewed him in a bid to learn more about the problems," Montri said.

Meanwhile, the Forward Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4 said the military draft in Yala's Raman district continued as scheduled yesterday despite the attack on the bus carrying the soldiers.

"We have sent in an alternate team," the command's spokesman Colonel Pramot Prom-in said.

On Wednesday night, the original team was returning from their mission for the military draft in Yala's Bannang Sata district when a roadside bomb hit their bus. After the blast, unknown gunmen began shooting at the soldiers, who shot back. All 15 soldiers on the bus were injured, two seriously, one of whom has already succumbed to his injuries.


-- The Nation 2013-04-05

Some Gobly Gook from the print section of the comedy "South of The Boarder", down Malaysia way.

He added that words like these hurt people's feelings...

Who gives a sh*t. What? Journalists have to be politically correct so as not to offend terrorists? @ Pakorn Puengnetr, editor of Isra News - Get a life you moron.

Politically correct is an oxymoron.

< Boonradom also urged the media to exercise caution as to whom they should interview.

"It's too risky to present a person's viewpoint if his is about territorial separation," she said > ......... sounds like the media are being told to self censor.

I also think the word "bandits" is inappropriate. I prefer the term "mentally unstable serial killers" instead.

Is he talking about the armed Buddhist militia or the army or the insurgents???