CMPO tells media not to provoke unrest: state of emergency

[webfact]

STATE OF EMERGENCY
CMPO tells media not to provoke unrest
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Centre for Maintaining Peace and Order (CMPO) is to invite editors of selected media to discuss and make clear that their reports should not provoke unrest, the CMPO's secretary Paradorn Pattanatabut said Wednesday.

He did not reveal which media would be invited. His statement came a day after the government announced a state of an emergency in Bangkok and the surrounding areas to deal with the ongoing antigovernment protests led by former Democrat MP Suthep Thaugsuban.

The order, which took effective today, will remain in force for two months. Paradorn dismissed reports that the centre will use the authority granted to it under the emergency decree to shut down the media, saying the invitation has nothing to do with blocking the press.

"We should have a similar understanding that news reports are not a source of provocation and instigation that could lead to chaos and unrest," he said.

The media should not worry if they stuck to reporting the facts, he added.

Asked whether he will invite Blue Sky Channel, which is affiliated to Democrat Party, Paradorn said he had already conveyed the message but if there were inappropriate news reports, its editors would also be invited.

-- The Nation 2014-01-22

[whybother]

This is the first step of the government "not censoring the media".

[EyesWideOpen]

Well, I guess to get real news now will have to shift and be the same as

the Arab spring, where ongoing information was disseminated by social

media such as facebook..... OMG , maybe that will be shut down too... :-)

[Robby nz]

So they will be told that they can only report what CAPO tell them to report and if they don't they will be shut down.

Normally that's called censorship.

[EricBerg]

"The Centre for Maintaining Peace and Order (CMPO) is to invite editors of selected media to discuss and make clear that their reports should not provoke unrest"...

Not provoke unrest. Good thing nobody reds Thaivisa.

[webfact]

Govt To Invite Press Editors For 'Discussion'
By Khaosod English

BANGKOK: -- The Director of National Security Council has asserted that government's enactment of emergency decree will not lead to the crackdown on anti-government protests.

Lt.Gen. Paradorn Pattanatabutr said the government has decided to invoke the State of Emergency yesterday in order to respond to escalating incidents in the past few weeks, which saw deadly grenade attacks on the protesters, drive-by shootings, and occupation of important state agencies by the protesters.

"The protesters might feel hostile, but I believe that when we make them understand the intention of the government behind the declaration of emergency decree, the people who attend the protests will understand, and some might even leave the protests," said Lt.Gen. Paradorn.

He stressed that the decree is aimed at assisting the police in providing public security. "There won′t be a crackdown on the protests," Lt.Gen. Paradorn added.

Nevertheless, Lt.Gen. Paradorn asserted that another objective of the emergency decree is to "manage" the media in order to ensure that the press will refrain from "inflammatory" reporting and stick to "presentation of facts", which will help the public exercise their judgment whether to join the protests.

Lt.Gen. Paradorn insisted that this power will not constitute as a censorship, as the authorities will simply invite editors some news agencies for a discussion, in which the officials will kindly ask them to refrain from broadcasting false, inflammatory, and violence-inciting contents.

"If they report only the facts, there will be no problem," said the Director of the NSC.

The government can also employ the powers of National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commision (NBTC) to "manage" the media in a timely manner, Lt.Gen. Paradorn suggested.

Asked whether there would be any action against Blue Sky TV, a satellite channel allied to the anti-government protest leadership, Lt.Gen. Paradorn replied that "message has been sent. If they still continue to act inappropriately, we will have to invite them for discussion".

He added, "I believe the officials will exercise good judgment and find appropriate measures" in dealing with the channel.

Source: http://www.khaosod.co.th/en/view_newsonline.php?newsid=TVRNNU1ETTROVEV4TlE9PQ==


-- Khaosod English 2014-01-22

[whybother]

"Lt.Gen. Paradorn insisted that this power will not constitute as a censorship"

"invite editors some news agencies for a discussion, in which the officials will kindly ask them to refrain ..."

"also employ the powers of National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commision (NBTC) to "manage" the media in a timely manner"

That sounds an awful lot like censorship to me.

[bigbamboo]

The first casualty in a war room is the truth.

[Mampara]

Can somebody please write exactly what the “State of emergency” entails? Before some foreigner does something stupid.

[RubbaJohnny]

I hope the no fibs rules wont inhibit the advertising,election or promotions industries,

May lead to amended emergency copy

e.g. I may love you for quite an extended period (terms and conditioners may apply)

Semi -Amazing Thailand, buy one pay for two. Your inconvenience is seldom too much trouble

Vote for us we'll make it worthwhile ...one day,,,honest ...the cheques in the post.

[Scamper]

This is profoundly unsettling. Why aren't the media outlets named ? The public has a right to know. They have a right to know which media outlets have been warned to stick to the facts - something the Yingluck administration finds very hard to do itself. The emergency decree has been in effect for less than a day. They are not concerned with the streets at all. Their first stop of concern is the free media. For anyone familiar with the history of media intimidation, this is the first step.

[soi41]

Sure that the media in Zimbabwe, North Korea and Iran are also called to "briefings"!!

This makes Suthep look almost like a reasonable man!

[FangFerang]

Well, I don't like this at all. Red and Yellow stations should both be allowed to promote lawlessness in equal measure! Just because Blue Sky broadcast the protest stages whenever anyone was speaking, and broadcast hate-rhetoric statements from protest leaders to encourage kidnapping, recommend sexually assaulting Ms. Yingluck, and ran the on-stage rants of people encouraging cutting off power and water to government buildings and interfering with the stock exchange, SET, and shutting down the air traffic control center is no reason for the government to....

wait a minute...

I lost my own thread....

Free speech gives anyone the right to scream "Fire" in a movie theater and....dam_n, sorry...

lost my own thread again...

My apologies.

Edited January 22, 2014 by FangFerang

[thinknirmal]

CAPO, CMPO, and we need a department to 'archive' peace & order.

Sent from my HTC One X+ using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[englishoak]

The media should not worry if they stuck to reporting the facts, he added.

Thats the Nation in trouble then

[Yunla]

Thailand has a media?

[thesetat2013]

This is the same thing Thaksin did when he was PM and declared a state of emergency!

Sent from my GT-S5310 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[bigbamboo]

Well, I don't like this at all. Red and Yellow stations should both be allowed to promote lawlessness in equal measure! Just because Blue Sky broadcast the protest stages whenever anyone was speaking, and broadcast hate-rhetoric statements from protest leaders to encourage kidnapping, recommend sexually assaulting Ms. Yingluck, and ran the on-stage rants of people encouraging cutting off power and water to government buildings and interfering with the stock exchange, SET, and shutting down the air traffic control center is no reason for the government to....

wait a minute...

I lost my own thread....

Free speech gives anyone the right to scream "Fire" in a movie theater and....dam_n, sorry...

lost my own thread again...

My apologies.

As long as free speech doesn't give anyone the right to scream "Fire" at the protest site......

[klauskunkel]

The Centre for Maintaining Peace and Order (CMPO)

Before you can start maintenance on something, you first have to have it...

[fleeing]

The Centre for Maintaining Peace and Order (CMPO)

Before you can start maintenance on something, you first have to have it...

They've obviously drafted in some of those optimistic people from TAT since changing the name from the Center for the Administration of Peace and Order.

[rogerdee123]

The Centre for Maintaining Peace and Order (CMPO)

Before you can start maintenance on something, you first have to have it...

They've obviously drafted in some of those optimistic people from TAT since changing the name from the Center for the Administration of Peace and Order.

"CAPO" sounds too much like a mafia term ..... "CMPO" sounds like a shortened version (maybe Thai street version) of "compost"

[Jonmarleesco]

"The media should not worry if they stuck to reporting the facts." That is the very thing that is most likely to induce the government to interfere.

[Jonmarleesco]

This is the same thing Thaksin did when he was PM and declared a state of emergency!

Sent from my GT-S5310 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Thaksin didn't rely on any state of emergency decree in his enthusiasm to curb the media.

[firestar]

Sure that the media in Zimbabwe, North Korea and Iran are also called to "briefings"!!

This makes Suthep look almost like a reasonable man!

Oh yeah it makes Suthep look like a very reasonable man if only he wasn't deputy PM when this happened...

Reporters Without Borders : "So far, around 4,500 websites have been blocked in an attempt by the regime to institute partial censorship of news about the nine-week crisis. Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s Twitter account has also been blocked since May 19.

On that same day, the leadership’s Centre for Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) blocked Facebook and Twitter, which had been functioning as alternative sources of news after TV stations began broadcasting government-controlled programming...."

Edited January 23, 2014 by firestar

[moonao]

The CMPO is right, some elements of the media are exploiting the situation with their constant barrage of bias anti-goverment propaganda. eg The Nation.

From a business sense i can understand but from an ethical and journalistic sense, its unethical and wrong.

[whybother]

The CMPO is right, some elements of the media are exploiting the situation with their constant barrage of bias anti-goverment propaganda. eg The Nation. From a business sense i can understand but from an ethical and journalistic sense, its unethical and wrong.

But they should leave the red shirts TV channel alone, because they're not biased at all, are they?