Come on Thai press – tell me what happened in the end!

[Inspire]

Come on Thai press – tell me what happened in the end!

Gerry Carter

 

 

Most people who follow the news in Thailand are aware of the progress – or lack thereof – in the high profile cases.

 

The stories about the Red Bull heir and Janepop who killed the students in his car have been – excuse the pun – done to death. The cases are right out there in the public domain for all to comment on both negatively and positively depending on your standpoint.

 

The same is true of high profile murders such as the Koh Thao slayings and the bombings that have played out in Thailand over the last year or so.

 

But what of the smaller cases?

 

Many make headlines in the early stages of investigation but as soon as arrests are made – and the usual quick admissions come – they disappear from the radar.

 

Is it too much to ask the Thai press to report on how these cases were eventually resolved?

 

I want to know what happened to the accused – particularly what sentence they received.

 

Particularly as I am fed up with the kind of people on forums who burble on about Thais receiving 500 baht fines for serious offences or avoiding jail time for assault and battery. Are people really out on the street a few years after murdering someone?

 

We are treated to ongoing stories in some soap opera style favorites such as the sagas surrounding the Lady Kai case and the goings on at the Nang Fa karaoke lounge in Pattaya. And we hear a lot about cases where fugitives are on the run from justice – like the monk on the private plane and the head honcho at Wat Dhammakaya.

 

But what of other recent cases that created so much public interest when they broke. They may not have all been of national interest but I sure as hell want to know what happened after the press furor died down.

 

Full story: http://www.inspirepattaya.com/lifestyle/come-thai-press-tell-happened-end/

 

 

 

[kingalfred]

The press of Thailand "journalists" don't follow up and pursue events to discover facts. Investigative journalism... hmm


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[Bung]

They don't want people to know the end as the poor get shafted and the rich get let off..... 

[Gecko123]

I believe the Thai language press does a better job on reporting court verdicts than the English language Thai press.

[elgordo38]

Yes your right. Reading your comments took me back to my childhood when going to the movies and watching the serials. Hoppalong Cassidy would jump off of a moving train onto his horse but the scene would be froze in mid air and then the words would come on the screen. End of chapter one return next week and see if Hoppalong catches the dastardly bank robbers. Same thing here it leaves you hanging in mid air. 

[steve73]

I'm still waiting to hear about those bridge players....!

[Emster23]

There is an assumption of "the end" and/or "how was this resolved?".  You been in country long? Like road construction here, or perhaps "The Never Ending Story"

[SaintLouisBlues]

Unless it's a high-profile case the papers back home rarely report on the outcome of trials. Why would Thailand? Besides, we all know that an arrest in Thailand means you're guilty anyway (even if you're not)

[Retiredandhappyhere]

This has always annoyed me too.  If we are to be assured that justice is done, we need to know a bit more than the fact that someone has been arrested. For all we know, these "arrests" could just be a way of making the police look good, and the people arrested could subsequently be released for "lack of evidence" etc.  In the West, when someone is arrested and charged with a crime, we can be reasonably certain that it will proceed to trial within a reasonable time frame and (hopefully) an appropriate senrence passed for any guilty party, so confirmation via the press of the precise outcome is not quite so important.  Here, we have absolutely no idea of the possible outcome, since there are so many different reasons why a suspect can get off, which I need not go into here. After all, we see so many examples where "prominent or connected" people are not even arrested for what appear to be very obvious crimes, so confidence in the Justice system is negligible.

[Khon Kaen Dave]

Thai justice is an enigma to me and possibly many more.

You are correct,Guy gets arrested and then it all disappears.Its very easy because there are no jury's here.Therefore there is no member of the 12 good men and true to discuss the trials outcome.Without a jury finding innocent or guilty,and the judge being the absolute controller of what sentences are handed down.

It would appear that those with money are treated very differently from those that dont.EG girl driving car,kills two university students and gets community service.

Red bull heir kills copper and gets to go on a perminent holiday to Singapore.Janehop(or what ever his name) goes to the temple and prays for forgiveness and is probably now picking his new Merc from his dads car lot.

But the poor bastard who has no money and cannot expand the relevant authorities pockets,goes into the prison system probably for the rest of his life.

Also there is the fact that the justice system does not want the media to know what happens in case it gets out and goes viral for all the world to see.And note that the judges name is never in the news.I often wonder what happened to the judge who stole the courts throne(remember that?)was he ever prosecuted?

I think that due to the lack of prisons here,many a case is never revealed,because,quite honestly,there is no where to put the guilty.The nicks must be full to busting.

[shaggy851]

I believe that most reporting in english is either translated or or just linked to stories from other websites. The thai press is much more comprehensive but exactly the same is just the first headline and only a follow up on big stories. A lot of news stories are just repeated ,linked or copy pasted basically from an original article. i see the same stories repeated and reposted from various different media sources for click bait, or just to satisfy some boring existance from a random english speaker who lives in thailand with little better to do with his time.

[Khon Kaen Dave]

To satisfy some boring existence from a random English speaker who lives in Thailand,with little better to do with his time.

Errrrm..that'll be me then...

Only joking

[neeray]

I agree with the OP 100%. The concept of follow up has often occurred to me but he hit the keyboard and exposed the issue (I only thought about it). 

For me, it would not have to be a long explanatory follow up. A couple sentences would do. 

This could be ground-breaking for Thaivisa. One person at a desk should be able to handle it. 

[dick dasterdly]

3 hours ago, kingalfred said:

The press of Thailand "journalists" don't follow up and pursue events to discover facts. Investigative journalism... hmm


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

To be fair, we did hear about the old mushroom pickers that were jailed a year or so (?) ago.

 

But I agree, its rare to find out the outcome after the original story.

[Monti]

Yes does anyone know what happened in the hell's angels murder where they buried the body which the police found immediately as the pickup had a GPS record.

last I saw was one of the accused on display with an arsenal of weapons and haven't seen anything since?

Maybe I missed the trial?

 

[thecyclist]

A question I have been asking myself so many times over the years: Did that rich self-important SOB ever do any time for his murder/manslaughter committed often out of pure arrogance and a minimal loss of face.One case,ages ago, perfectly exemplified this:A wealthy tycoon with his bodyguards in a hi-so Thai karaoko bar got enraged with a doctor who had the audacity to sing another song instead of handing over the microphone to him.He ordered his bodyguards to shoot him which they did with fatal results.The Bangkok post journalist reporting this at the time asked himself how anybody could be so arrogant as to 'throw away his life'  over such a minor slight, implying that the tycoon would spend the rest of his life in a cell.But there was no follow-up at all,and I was wondering how long ,if at all, this chap spend in the slammer.

[madusa]

If I were a Thai I would be quite upset with the Farangs, why? Simply because Farangs expecting too much. You farangs get your cheap beer(or mekong) women grovelling at your feet all day long. Nice delicious "Kwai Thew pad" or "Tom Yam" cheap, cheap. Nice clean hotel or guesthouse cheap cheap.

I mean what else do you want? You expect some legal system that is fair to everyone? What in Thailand? May be the alcohol has destroyed some of the neurons in your brain so you can't think straight.

You may lose your money in Thailand but don't lose your soul as well.

Go home when it's time to go home and earn some hard earn money to visit Thailand again- that is what you farang should do. And stop longing for some social justice in this part of the world.

 

[red roger]

In fairness to Bangkok Post there are follow ups but one has to look beyond the headlines and read individual columnists. One who is particularly informative is Kohn Ritdee. How he gets away with baiting the barking mad general is very refreshing in a climate of fear of "attitude adjustment ".

[williamgeorgeallen]

4 hours ago, Bung said:

They don't want people to know the end as the poor get shafted and the rich get let off..... 

suspect you are bang on there. those that can afford it pay off all parties involved and everything is hushed up, no need to draw more attention to the matter.

[Bangkok Barry]

7 hours ago, kingalfred said:

The press of Thailand "journalists" don't follow up and pursue events to discover facts. Investigative journalism... hmm


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

 

I have been a professional journalist for several decades, and have had to work with Thai journalists on many occasions. I can assure you that none of them would last a week in a job in the west. Those I've seen spend most of their day playing Candy Crush or on social media.

[BuaBS]

Are the Hua Hin bombers caught yet ?

Who where the HH bombers .... really ?

Is everything wrapped up with the Erawan shrine bombing ? Don't ask me , I don't know.

[shirtless]

Lots of talk and little action , he has solved nothing but financial problems for a select few.

[NoshowJones]

Excellent topic Inspire, I'm sure there will be a lot of interest in this one.

[Doc46]

8 hours ago, Gecko123 said:

I believe the Thai language press does a better job on reporting court verdicts than the English language Thai press.

Like TV ?  5555

[hansnl]

6 hours ago, steve73 said:

I'm still waiting to hear about those bridge players....!

Yes, so am I.

You think they got their money back?

[AsianExport]

So funny that anybody could think that he will know the truth about any case in Thailand...

 

People are either totally stupid, totally dreaming or most of the time both.

 

 

[AsianExport]

15 hours ago, kingalfred said:

The press of Thailand "journalists" don't follow up and pursue events to discover facts. Investigative journalism... hmm


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

 

 

The real name is journashit !

 

 

 

[AsianExport]

14 hours ago, Gecko123 said:

I believe the Thai language press does a better job on reporting court verdicts than the English language Thai press.

 

 

I believe that you are dreaming, Thai press knows nothing and really does not want to know anything. They are born here, it explains a lot...

 

 

 

[AsianExport]

12 hours ago, SaintLouisBlues said:

Unless it's a high-profile case the papers back home rarely report on the outcome of trials. Why would Thailand? Besides, we all know that an arrest in Thailand means you're guilty anyway (even if you're not)

 

 

So you obviously ALSO know nothing back home...

 

 

 

[GinBoy2]

On 9/17/2016 at 7:32 PM, kingalfred said:

The press of Thailand "journalists" don't follow up and pursue events to discover facts. Investigative journalism... hmm


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

Honestly in the land of 112 and defamation laws out of the Victorian age, who in their right mind would actually want to be an investigative journalist? Fast track to bankruptcy at best, banged up for 20 years at worst!

 

Hence Thai journalism takes the path of least resistance, report all the news that's 'acceptable' to report and tactfully ignores the rest.

 

There is a reason why so many Thai journalists find they have to report their news from outside the country, and why so many websites are blocked from the normal domestic audience!