The local printer of the <i>International New York Times</i> Thailand edition has left a blank space on an inside page on Tuesday, a fourth removal of content from the internationally respected newspaper in three months.
A message saying, "The article in this space was removed by our printer in Thailand. The Times and its editorial staff had no role in its removal," appeared on page four of its World News section on the right column where an article.
The 618-word article, written by its Bangkok correspondent Thomas Fuller, talks about a factory worker who was charged in a military court under the lese majeste law.
On Dec 1, SET-listed Eastern Printing Plc, the newspaper's printer in Thailand, refused to print a front-page article by Fuller on the weak economy, pessimism after years of political turmoil, and the concern about the royal succession. The same happened to a commentary about the Crown Property Bureau by Bangkok-based journalist Tom Felix Joehnk that was published elsewhere on Dec 3.
The daily, known until 2013 as the International Herald Tribune, recently announced it would cease printing and distributing its print edition in Thailand at the end of this year.
In a letter to subscribers, it attributed the decision to rising operating costs.
It is still available in six other Southeast Asian countries: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Singapore.