Internet answers demand for news

BANGKOK: -- With television and radio in military hands after last night's coup, the Internet newspapers seem the only way to keep abreast of the situation.

Domestic and international news sites such as the Thai News Agency and CNN have been popular among surfers.

Websites such as the government's www.thaigov.go.th and the Government Public Relations Department site were so busy servers temporarily crashed.

After midnight www.pantip.com's political message board was overwhelmed by those seeking to voice opinions.

Many were harsh in their dissatisfaction with the Administrative Reform Council for depriving people of their rights and damaging the economy. Some demanded a return to democracy. By morning access to the board had been terminated.

Its webmasters apologised to surfers and said the ban was out of their control.

There were rumours last night that all Internet access would soon be closed down.

Website crashed, but ok now

Hundreds of thousands of visitors to The Nation's website http://www.nationmultimedia.com are being urged to be patient due to heavy traffic on the homepage.

The Nation's main website crashed temporarily last night due to the overwhelming traffic. It is back in service but access may be slow due to continued heavy demand.

Updated news from The Nation can also be accessed via Asia News Network's website http://www.asianewsnet.net throughout the day.

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Latest developments on the coup can also be received via our English language SMS service: for AIS please press *424000211, for DTAC press *7511 then press 2 and press 1, for True Move and Hutch write message menu and type ER and send to 4240001.

-- The Nation 2006-09-20

They overlooked one international newsstation: with my dynasat antenne pointed at the satellite Thaicom 3 (only 3900 Baht) I can receive Russia Today. Ok, it's not CNN, but they show the headlines.

Even TV got the wobbles this morning. Could not get new pages due to traffic.

I bet George and the admin crew are happy the new server was up and running. This was the test they did not want to run.

They overlooked one international newsstation: with my dynasat antenne pointed at the satellite Thaicom 3 (only 3900 Baht) I can receive Russia Today. Ok, it's not CNN, but they show the headlines.

Well the BBC and all the other foreign news channels have just come back on UBC, and one of the commentators when asked for the reaction of the people, said that most of them had no real access to any information other than that the gov controlled channels, ain't that the truth!

Well the BBC and all the other foreign news channels have just come back on UBC, and one of the commentators when asked for the reaction of the people, said that most of them had no real access to any information other than that the gov controlled channels, ain't that the truth![/i]

Watching CNN (UBC) now. They cut to "red screen" when they began to report on Thailand. Returned when other world news came back on.

Yep, this is censorship guys. Sucks, I better fly elsewhere. I feel sorry for Thai people because of some so called Democrats wants to take over the power.

Well the BBC and all the other foreign news channels have just come back on UBC, and one of the commentators when asked for the reaction of the people, said that most of them had no real access to any information other than that the gov controlled channels, ain't that the truth![/i]

Watching CNN (UBC) now. They cut to "red screen" when they began to report on Thailand. Returned when other world news came back on.

Yes I can testify to this blatant censorship, they were interviewing some professor live from Chula, a woman, who was making some critical statements, and it was cut off, the same with CNN, I would suggest that we stick to the net, and should that be taken down, the to our SW radios! I wonder how long it will be before they round up those people speaking out! Early days yet, but I see things getting nasty!

I wonder how long it will be before they round up those people speaking out! Early days yet, but I see things getting nasty!

I seriously doubt it. Blocking criticism for a while is standard procedure for coups. In the current situation, they know Thaksin has a lot of supporters upcountry and they don't want them to get restless. But while the urban middle-class may not like the way Thaksin was removed, they all wanted him out. They aren't going to criticise the junta too harshly.

Hi,

I was lucky - my condo in Thaphra has CNN access through the Malaysian Astro service. That was unaffected by the block.

Andy.