'People's Council' would be better to regulate the media, experts say

[Lite Beer]

'People's Council' would be better to regulate the media, experts say
ASINA PORNWASIN
THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- A PROFESSIONAL body to regulate the media under the name "National Mass Media Council" is not the way to oversee the media according to concepts of the draft law on the protection of media rights and freedom, promoting ethical conduct, and standards of the profession, panellists said at a public seminar on Thursday.

A "People's Council" would be a better solution to help monitor the mass media, panellists said at the seminar, titled "Drama in Thai Media and Media Reform Journey, in the Era of Return Happiness to People". The event was hosted by the Thai Media Policy Centre at Chulalongkorn University's faculty of communication arts.

Vanchai Tantivitayapitak, deputy director of Thai Public Broadcasting Service (ThaiPBS), said his view might not represent his organisation's stance. He said the mass media did not exist today, as the industry was continually becoming niche media, so it could not have a professional body to regulate it.

"Consumers would counterbalance the media, not the media [governing] themselves. The world is more complicated [now], so [the media] have diversified and are more niche," Vanchai said.

Manop Yaemutai agreed that the concept of a People's Council would help people to be more media literate.

Atukkit Sawangsuk, a columnist who writes under pseudonym "Bai Tong Hang", had a similar view, saying society needs a "watchdog" body to regulate the media. He said media outlets would regulate themselves via competition. He did not believe in the concept of a "National Mass Media Council" to regulate the sector.

"In Thailand's current social context, we have a lot of conflict. The [National Mass Media] Council cannot have no one who becomes 'God' to address these problems," Atukkit said.

He suggested the government should let the media compete with one another. People would become media-literate through competition among outlets.

Chakkrish Permpool, formerly with the National Press Council of Thailand, said the government needed, first, to redefine the description of "mass media" in the new social context in order to get solid mass-media management and regulation, particularly in each type.

Meanwhile, civil society should be encouraged to play a strong role in monitoring the mass media, especially if the media trespassed on people's rights through the use of the existing laws, such as the laws on the protection of children and prevention of domestic violence.

"These solutions could help reduce cases of media trespass," Chakkrish said.

The panellists all agreed that there had been drama in Thai media outlets for a long time and said that the degree of drama was increasing because marketing was driving news agendas.

Items that are "news" in the Thai media nowadays may not happen in a natural way - in many cases, news was set or led by marketing. "Drama" has value and dominates in the way of news is presented. And popular news had become a blend between news and entertainment that fits consumers' behaviour. As a result, that news presented in the dramatic format gets people's attention and high ratings, in a bid to attract advertising revenue.

Vanchai said this phenomenon existed because Thais did not seek the truth but were eager to know what has happened without minding if reports are the truth or not.

The trend to more dramatic news left media outlets with "flabby" ethics, which caused calls for a professional council to regulate the mass media, such as the "National Mass Media Council" proposed by the National Reform Council's committee on media and information-technology reform.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Peoples-Council-would-be-better-to-regulate-the-me-30266646.html

-- The Nation 2015-08-15

[Rykbanlor]

"Drama in Thai Media and Media Reform Journey, in the Era of Return Happiness to People".

They getting these names from the communist handbook of catchy comittee titles?

[oneday]

A "People's Council"......hard at work restricting freedom of the press any way they can.

[maoro2013]

There is only one reason to restrict the media. Who are these people who should make these decisions?

[Benmart]

"By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise".

A quote by a nasty and horrible Austrian creature from the last century.

[Srikcir]

Asina needs to read his own report.

The People's Council discussed by the media experts would monitor the mass media in CONTRAST to the NRC's proposal to regulate the mass media.

The PC would not have enforcement authority :

"media outlets would regulate themselves via competition. He [Atukkit] did not believe in the concept of a "National Mass Media Council" to regulate the sector"

[candide]

Would it be a "good people's" council? Hmmm....

[diehard60]

more censorship?????

[dukebowling]

More North Korea themes...

[toybits]

Isn't that just like dressing the wolf in sheeps' clothing? Sounds just like more censorship to me.