Thai politics: Government PR team has a tough job selling TV show

[webfact]

BURNING ISSUE
Government PR team has a tough job selling TV show
JEERAPONG PRASERTPOLKRUNG

BANGKOK: -- THE GOVERNMENT and the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) have encouraged political rivals to take part in their new TV programme entitled "Moving Reform Forward".

The participating politicians are to express their views on how the country should be reformed.

The focus now is on two former prime ministers from the country's two largest political parties. They are Abhisit Vejjajiva, leader of the Democrat Party, and Yingluck Shinawatra, a key figure from the Pheu Thai Party. The NCPO's Centre for Reconciliation and Reform is seeking to have both Abhisit and Yingluck join their programme.

Abhisit attended the programme's recording on Monday and the episode was broadcast last night . Yingluck has not commented publicly as to whether she wants to join the programme on national reform. However, some sources from her political party said the former premier was unlikely to take part.

This new programme reflects an attempt by the government's public relations team and the NCPO to attract more viewers. There have been some adjustments recently to their existing programmes - "Returning Happiness to the Thai People" featuring a national address by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha every Friday night and "Moving Thailand Forward" that appears every evening at 6pm.

Although both programmes are broadcast nationwide on all major TV channels, their viewership has been unsatisfactory. This is possibly due to boring content and an stagnant format. Many people simply turned off their TV sets or muted the sound during the programmes.

However, there have been attempts by the government's PR team to make changes and attract more viewership.

For the Friday night programme, in addition to the prime minister, other Cabinet members are taking part to talk about their performances.

The daily evening programme has also seen a lot of changes recently. It pays more attention to hot topics and the current talk around town. Some episodes feature hosts who are Cabinet members or senior bureaucrats, instead of professional emcees. Just recently, the programme's guest was Kiatisuk Senamuang, the national football team's head coach, who talked about his work.

A member of the PR team admitted that the viewership of the programmes is not high when compared to popular TV shows like drama series, variety or game shows. The PR team is well aware of this fact and is finding it difficult to change viewers' habits, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

However, a more difficult problem for the PR team is to get certain Cabinet members to appear in their TV programmes. It is taking much effort and patience before those government ministers will agree to come on the programmes. And some of them are not sufficiently eloquent.

There are also some Cabinet members who have deliberately avoided appearing.

Each time they were invited to join the programmes, they often assigned other people to turn up on their behalf. A problem like this has caused headaches for the PR team, who just hopes the prime minister will instruct his Cabinet members to cooperate better, a source from the PR team said.

Instead of looking out for guests, the government and the NCPO should first make sure their people are cooperative in explaining on TV about their performance. This is just one of many concerns of the people doing the PR work for the government and the NCPO.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Government-PR-team-has-a-tough-job-selling-TV-show-30264535.html


-- The Nation 2015-07-16

[NongKhaiKid]

Uncle Too or junta propaganda versus Thai soaps and better ' comedy ' shows complete with sound effects ?

No Contest !

Edited July 15, 2015 by NongKhaiKid

[GinBoy2]

Most shocking part of this story was the fact that they actually HAVE a PR dept!

Who would have known, lol

[BigBadGeordie]

Uncle Too or junta propaganda versus Thai soaps and better ' comedy ' shows complete with sound effects ?

No Contest !

Agreed, the good Generals show is clearly has superior comedic value, it does not need the "bells and whistles" to tell us when to laugh.

[Wilsonandson]

It's plain to see that reconciliation is between the democrat party and the pheu thai party. With the exception of Yingluck who will be excluded from the show due to the so called 'Thaksin regime' that is th root of all evil in most pro government opinions. They may send her an invite but I'm sure she'll never get on the show due to some legal issue.

[NeverSure]

They meant attitude adjustment department.

[bangkokfrog]

If I was a cabinet minister, I would also be embarrassed to have to explain and justify some of the actions of this government.

[Tatsujin]

If I was a cabinet minister, I would also be embarrassed to have to explain and justify some of the actions of this government.

It would be far more interesting to hear from the previous Government and have them explain how they completely < deleted > up the country and why everyone (well, the working class at least) is far poorer now than when they started, despite all the populist policies aimed (supposedly) at directly helping them.

[oneday]

Here's an idea...rather than shoving the government vision down the throats of the people, why not let the people write in, call in or send emails with their questions, problems and suggestions. Start making it pertinent to the people they are governing.

...or is that too progressive for the starched shirts in charge.

[ikke]

If I was a cabinet minister, I would also be embarrassed to have to explain and justify some of the actions of this government.

It would be far more interesting to hear from the previous Government and have them explain how they completely < deleted > up the country and why everyone (well, the working class at least) is far poorer now than when they started, despite all the populist policies aimed (supposedly) at directly helping them.

" up the country and why everyone (well, the working class at least) is far poorer now than when they started, despite all the populist policies aimed (supposedly) at directly helping them."

Explain where you get the point that the working class up-country is poorer than when they started ????

In 15 years doing doing business in Thailand and having facilities in Isaan, I travel a lot up-country.

What I have seen is that till 10 years ago all where planting rice by hand, harvesting by hand rice and cassava, living in camps-a-like barracks.

Today that same people live in western style houses and planting, seeding, harvesting are done by expensive machinery .

Most families have a car, smartphones tv etc... things they didn't have when they started , so tell me, Where did they they get this from ?????

[Tatsujin]

If I was a cabinet minister, I would also be embarrassed to have to explain and justify some of the actions of this government.

It would be far more interesting to hear from the previous Government and have them explain how they completely < deleted > up the country and why everyone (well, the working class at least) is far poorer now than when they started, despite all the populist policies aimed (supposedly) at directly helping them.

" up the country and why everyone (well, the working class at least) is far poorer now than when they started, despite all the populist policies aimed (supposedly) at directly helping them."

Explain where you get the point that the working class up-country is poorer than when they started ????

In 15 years doing doing business in Thailand and having facilities in Isaan, I travel a lot up-country.

What I have seen is that till 10 years ago all where planting rice by hand, harvesting by hand rice and cassava, living in camps-a-like barracks.

Today that same people live in western style houses and planting, seeding, harvesting are done by expensive machinery .

Most families have a car, smartphones tv etc... things they didn't have when they started , so tell me, Where did they they get this from ?????

Credit, loans and loan sharks, encouraged by the populist policies of the previous Goernment. And guess who can't pay it all back now.

[dageurreotype]

Here's an idea...rather than shoving the government vision down the throats of the people, why not let the people write in, call in or send emails with their questions, problems and suggestions. Start making it pertinent to the people they are governing.

...or is that too progressive for the starched shirts in charge.

Given that today's BP reports yet more nationalism to be introduced into the national curriculum by reinforcing the '4 pillars' of Thai history/Monarchy and 'Moral Values' (whatever they may be deemed to be but I'm guessing it won't be the West's version), and all this to be implemented in 2017 (so that's a couple of years more of the junta like it or not, despite all their talk of democracy and reforms), regression is and has always been the order of the day. Happy smiling peasants is Prayuth's dream and the populace's nightmare. The world's version of The Stepford Wives, with added Stepford Husbands and Stepford Children. Ugh.

Edited July 16, 2015 by dageurreotype

[FangFerang]

If I was a cabinet minister, I would also be embarrassed to have to explain and justify some of the actions of this government.

It would be far more interesting to hear from the previous Government and have them explain how they completely < deleted > up the country and why everyone (well, the working class at least) is far poorer now than when they started, despite all the populist policies aimed (supposedly) at directly helping them.

" up the country and why everyone (well, the working class at least) is far poorer now than when they started, despite all the populist policies aimed (supposedly) at directly helping them."

Explain where you get the point that the working class up-country is poorer than when they started ????

In 15 years doing doing business in Thailand and having facilities in Isaan, I travel a lot up-country.

What I have seen is that till 10 years ago all where planting rice by hand, harvesting by hand rice and cassava, living in camps-a-like barracks.

Today that same people live in western style houses and planting, seeding, harvesting are done by expensive machinery .

Most families have a car, smartphones tv etc... things they didn't have when they started , so tell me, Where did they they get this from ?????

Credit, loans and loan sharks, encouraged by the populist policies of the previous Goernment. And guess who can't pay it all back now.

As your byline says "If you read the newspapers, you are misinformed". You are definitely misinformed, and are buying what they are selling.

[fred Kubasa]

Some cabinet members are suspected of lacking any scintilla of intelligence so why open their mouths and prove it ?

[oztaurus]

Here's an idea...rather than shoving the government vision down the throats of the people, why not let the people write in, call in or send emails with their questions, problems and suggestions. Start making it pertinent to the people they are governing.

...or is that too progressive for the starched shirts in charge.

Or a hybrid of the two formats: Something like the program Q&A on Australian TV - which the Aussie Prime Minister M. Rabbit has wisely decided to ban his cabinet from attending - better to be silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and confirm it.

[Tatsujin]

Explain where you get the point that the working class up-country is poorer than when they started ????

In 15 years doing doing business in Thailand and having facilities in Isaan, I travel a lot up-country.

What I have seen is that till 10 years ago all where planting rice by hand, harvesting by hand rice and cassava, living in camps-a-like barracks.

Today that same people live in western style houses and planting, seeding, harvesting are done by expensive machinery .

Most families have a car, smartphones tv etc... things they didn't have when they started , so tell me, Where did they they get this from ?????

Credit, loans and loan sharks, encouraged by the populist policies of the previous Goernment. And guess who can't pay it all back now.

As your byline says "If you read the newspapers, you are misinformed". You are definitely misinformed, and are buying what they are selling.

In that case, I'd love to hear where YOU think they suddenly got all the money for the 1.5 million+ new cars they have, the 100,000's of new homes and new TV's, smartphones etc if it's not on credit or a loan ... they all suddenly had a huge amount of spare cash on hand to buy these things?

I think perhaps it's not me that's misinformed. From what I see and hear, it's all been bought on credit or on loans (as they were encouraged to do), and now there are a lot that are having difficulties paying it all back (surprise, surprise). But you keep your head in the sand (or wherever else it is) if you wish.

[greenchair]

If I was a cabinet minister, I would also be embarrassed to have to explain and justify some of the actions of this government.

It would be far more interesting to hear from the previous Government and have them explain how they completely < deleted > up the country and why everyone (well, the working class at least) is far poorer now than when they started, despite all the populist policies aimed (supposedly) at directly helping them.

" up the country and why everyone (well, the working class at least) is far poorer now than when they started, despite all the populist policies aimed (supposedly) at directly helping them."

Explain where you get the point that the working class up-country is poorer than when they started ????

In 15 years doing doing business in Thailand and having facilities in Isaan, I travel a lot up-country.

What I have seen is that till 10 years ago all where planting rice by hand, harvesting by hand rice and cassava, living in camps-a-like barracks.

Today that same people live in western style houses and planting, seeding, harvesting are done by expensive machinery .

Most families have a car, smartphones tv etc... things they didn't have when they started , so tell me, Where did they they get this from ?????

The pt years under taksin leadership, have been documented as the most prosperous in all of thai history. Even with corruption, the country has continued to grow at an amazing rate. That's why people kept voting him in.

Although he did manipulate things to keep winning, there was always always the option that pt would eventually be voted out by the Thai people.

The protests are going to destroy this country.

[GinBoy2]

Explain where you get the point that the working class up-country is poorer than when they started ????

In 15 years doing doing business in Thailand and having facilities in Isaan, I travel a lot up-country.

What I have seen is that till 10 years ago all where planting rice by hand, harvesting by hand rice and cassava, living in camps-a-like barracks.

Today that same people live in western style houses and planting, seeding, harvesting are done by expensive machinery .

Most families have a car, smartphones tv etc... things they didn't have when they started , so tell me, Where did they they get this from ?????

Credit, loans and loan sharks, encouraged by the populist policies of the previous Goernment. And guess who can't pay it all back now.

As your byline says "If you read the newspapers, you are misinformed". You are definitely misinformed, and are buying what they are selling.

In that case, I'd love to hear where YOU think they suddenly got all the money for the 1.5 million+ new cars they have, the 100,000's of new homes and new TV's, smartphones etc if it's not on credit or a loan ... they all suddenly had a huge amount of spare cash on hand to buy these things?

I think perhaps it's not me that's misinformed. From what I see and hear, it's all been bought on credit or on loans (as they were encouraged to do), and now there are a lot that are having difficulties paying it all back (surprise, surprise). But you keep your head in the sand (or wherever else it is) if you wish.

Amazing how these threads always turn into a 'but, but, PT did this, the rice scheme did that'. The rice pledging scheme has been blamed for everything under the sun; corruption, moral decay, debt, probably even the cause of the voluminous size of Kim Kardashians ass!

Curiously today we read that our illustrious leader is worried that the poor teachers cant repay their household debt, and not a few weeks ago it was the sorry Bangkokian middles classes pawning their jewelry to pay for the kids school fees due to high household debt. Curiously enough cant remember reading anything about them receiving any rice pledging money!

We can all do an 'anal extraction' to pull some anecdotal evidence to prove almost anything in this country. Maybe facts one day will prevail.....nah what am I talking about, wild speculation, exaggeration and downright untruths, much more fun!

[jerojero]

Government PR? Start with a mouth zipper for you know who....

[15Peter20]

Cabinet ministers are not eloquent enough to go on TV to explain themselves? I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

[Tatsujin]

Credit, loans and loan sharks, encouraged by the populist policies of the previous Goernment. And guess who can't pay it all back now.

As your byline says "If you read the newspapers, you are misinformed". You are definitely misinformed, and are buying what they are selling.

In that case, I'd love to hear where YOU think they suddenly got all the money for the 1.5 million+ new cars they have, the 100,000's of new homes and new TV's, smartphones etc if it's not on credit or a loan ... they all suddenly had a huge amount of spare cash on hand to buy these things?

I think perhaps it's not me that's misinformed. From what I see and hear, it's all been bought on credit or on loans (as they were encouraged to do), and now there are a lot that are having difficulties paying it all back (surprise, surprise). But you keep your head in the sand (or wherever else it is) if you wish.

Amazing how these threads always turn into a 'but, but, PT did this, the rice scheme did that'. The rice pledging scheme has been blamed for everything under the sun; corruption, moral decay, debt, probably even the cause of the voluminous size of Kim Kardashians ass!

Curiously today we read that our illustrious leader is worried that the poor teachers cant repay their household debt, and not a few weeks ago it was the sorry Bangkokian middles classes pawning their jewelry to pay for the kids school fees due to high household debt. Curiously enough cant remember reading anything about them receiving any rice pledging money!

We can all do an 'anal extraction' to pull some anecdotal evidence to prove almost anything in this country. Maybe facts one day will prevail.....nah what am I talking about, wild speculation, exaggeration and downright untruths, much more fun!

I never mentioned the rice scam and I don't think anyone else did specifically ... I was referring to the moronic PT policies that encouraged the entire nation to get into debt with credit cards, new cars and homes etc ... and now that household debt is unable to be repaid (surprisingly) ... with the spending made during these periods, it's not surprising the country "prospered" (although it was false prosperity) and now we see the results of it today.

[Benmart]

If I was a cabinet minister, I would also be embarrassed to have to explain and justify some of the actions of this government.

It would be far more interesting to hear from the previous Government and have them explain how they completely < deleted > up the country and why everyone (well, the working class at least) is far poorer now than when they started, despite all the populist policies aimed (supposedly) at directly helping them.

" up the country and why everyone (well, the working class at least) is far poorer now than when they started, despite all the populist policies aimed (supposedly) at directly helping them."

Explain where you get the point that the working class up-country is poorer than when they started ????

In 15 years doing doing business in Thailand and having facilities in Isaan, I travel a lot up-country.

What I have seen is that till 10 years ago all where planting rice by hand, harvesting by hand rice and cassava, living in camps-a-like barracks.

Today that same people live in western style houses and planting, seeding, harvesting are done by expensive machinery .

Most families have a car, smartphones tv etc... things they didn't have when they started , so tell me, Where did they they get this from ?????

Contentment and "wealth" of the governed is not necessarily measured by material possessions. Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, freedom from unlawful arrest, etc., cannot be purchased on credit at Big C or Tesco-Lotus.

The personal debt load carried by individuals in this country is at an all time high and makes them vulnerable to manipulation by various factions and other camps that have self-serving motives.

I see many people driving new cars and chatting on the latest phones, which may equate to prosperity by some. However, the true test of "happiness" may be contained in the ingredient called freedom, which seems to be in short supply.

Edited July 16, 2015 by Benmart

[Tatsujin]

If I was a cabinet minister, I would also be embarrassed to have to explain and justify some of the actions of this government.

It would be far more interesting to hear from the previous Government and have them explain how they completely < deleted > up the country and why everyone (well, the working class at least) is far poorer now than when they started, despite all the populist policies aimed (supposedly) at directly helping them.

" up the country and why everyone (well, the working class at least) is far poorer now than when they started, despite all the populist policies aimed (supposedly) at directly helping them."

Explain where you get the point that the working class up-country is poorer than when they started ????

In 15 years doing doing business in Thailand and having facilities in Isaan, I travel a lot up-country.

What I have seen is that till 10 years ago all where planting rice by hand, harvesting by hand rice and cassava, living in camps-a-like barracks.

Today that same people live in western style houses and planting, seeding, harvesting are done by expensive machinery .

Most families have a car, smartphones tv etc... things they didn't have when they started , so tell me, Where did they they get this from ?????

Contentment and "wealth" of the governed is not necessarily measured by material possessions. Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, freedom from unlawful arrest, etc., cannot be purchased on credit at Big C or Tesco-Lotus.

The personal debt load carried by individuals in this country is at an all time high and makes them vulnerable to manipulation by various factions and other camps that have self-serving motives.

I see many people driving new cars and chatting on the latest phones, which may equate to prosperity by some. However, the true test of "happiness" may be contained in the ingredient called freedom, which seems to be in short supply.

"The personal debt load carried by individuals in this country is at an all time high and makes them vulnerable to manipulation by various factions and other camps that have self-serving motives."

And that my friend is exactly correct and the whole point of the schemes implemented by the Thaksin Governments.

What was it I read today? 1.6 million farmers unable to repay 400 million or so ... what a surprise ... and Thaksin is their best buddy and only wants to help them out ... right, it's a < deleted > joke.

[Emster23]

"However, there have been attempts by the government's PR team to make changes and attract more viewership." preceded by "This is possibly due to boring content and an stagnant format."

Here's a few suggestions:

1. Get some of those scantily clad hotties on there, the ones that were complained about a month or two ago

2. Some white faced clowns, a few sight gags, maybe pie in face from time to time

3. Get some of governments hiso friends on there to run some sub plot soap opera theme to keep viewers interested

4. Oh yeah, add those sound effects they use to remind us when something is funny (need to be careful with that. One wrong whoop and off to attitude adjustment farm.... hmm maybe that could be a game show?)

[tukkytuktuk]

There have been some adjustments recently to their existing programmes - "Returning Happiness to the Thai People" featuring a national address by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha every Friday night and "Moving Thailand Forward" that appears every evening at 6pm.

What are those adjustments? Still boring, same bloke speaking, it's like watching paint dry. And why can't the chap smile? Also helooks depressed, hardly the messenger of hope for the future. Right, had enough, time to go out for a walk.

[baboon]

There have been some adjustments recently to their existing programmes - "Returning Happiness to the Thai People" featuring a national address by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha every Friday night and "Moving Thailand Forward" that appears every evening at 6pm.

What are those adjustments? Still boring, same bloke speaking, it's like watching paint dry. And why can't the chap smile? Also helooks depressed, hardly the messenger of hope for the future. Right, had enough, time to go out for a walk.

I honestly, honestly tried to sit down and watch tonight with an open mind. Christ, it was dull. I mean, maybe he had things of interest to say, but who could sit through that monotonous delivery?

[tukkytuktuk]

There have been some adjustments recently to their existing programmes - "Returning Happiness to the Thai People" featuring a national address by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha every Friday night and "Moving Thailand Forward" that appears every evening at 6pm.

What are those adjustments? Still boring, same bloke speaking, it's like watching paint dry. And why can't the chap smile? Also helooks depressed, hardly the messenger of hope for the future. Right, had enough, time to go out for a walk.

I honestly, honestly tried to sit down and watch tonight with an open mind. Christ, it was dull. I mean, maybe he had things of interest to say, but who could sit through that monotonous delivery?

As dull as his sad baggy eyes. PR need to do a full make over on this one. I think he misses the old job, the price of fame, with all the weight of the country on your shoulders. Still he dressed better, no more Dr Evil shirt.

[GinBoy2]

There have been some adjustments recently to their existing programmes - "Returning Happiness to the Thai People" featuring a national address by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha every Friday night and "Moving Thailand Forward" that appears every evening at 6pm.

What are those adjustments? Still boring, same bloke speaking, it's like watching paint dry. And why can't the chap smile? Also helooks depressed, hardly the messenger of hope for the future. Right, had enough, time to go out for a walk.

I honestly, honestly tried to sit down and watch tonight with an open mind. Christ, it was dull. I mean, maybe he had things of interest to say, but who could sit through that monotonous delivery?

As dull as his sad baggy eyes. PR need to do a full make over on this one. I think he misses the old job, the price of fame, with all the weight of the country on your shoulders. Still he dressed better, no more Dr Evil shirt.

Oi, now don't you go criticizing Dr Evil shirts! LOL