NBTC gets two weeks to decide censorship issues at Thai PBS | Bangkok Post: news

News > Local News

Thai PBS probe extended

4 senators say 'Tob Jote' offensive to monarchy

A sub-committee of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has been given another two weeks to probe whether Thai PBS's station director had the authority to pull political talk programme Tob Jote off the air - as the station broadcast the fifth part on Monday night without notice.

Thai PBS chief Somchai Suwanban said that he considered public opposition and the safety of his staff in making the decision to abruptly cancel the fifth part of the Tob Jote series. (Post Today graphic)

The NBTC's broadcasting committee also handed the sub-committee two more weeks to probe a similar case of self-censorship by Channel 3 of its political soap opera Nua Mek 2.

This article is older than 60 days, which we reserve for our premium members only.You can subscribe to our premium member subscription, here.

Your comments

  • Discussion 12 : 19 Mar 2013 at 13.5412

    @Jimbly - There is and has been a law here in Thailand that those giving false accusations will be prosecuted. Although apparently not applied in 'certain' cases ...

  • Discussion 11 : 19 Mar 2013 at 13.0911

    I didn't see the show either, but every description of the show says it involved a debate on the lese majeste law. So you can't even question debate this law? I am sure it was no accident that the senators who objected to the law were all appointed. I guess they either don't understand how this looks, get embarrassed easily or care. Their appointed.

  • Discussion 10 : 19 Mar 2013 at 12.2310

    Saw the final part of the PBS discussion: Unfortunately the discussion was too fast for me to follow accurately.

    Having a transcript would be great.

  • Discussion 9 : 19 Mar 2013 at 11.439

    Re: D2, all parties have members that border on being extremists, For the PT it is the likes of a ranting Jataporn, and for the DP it is the likes of these 4.
    Surely in todays society there could be room for a constructive dialog about the role of a monarchy in leading a democratic country in a positive direction. It is quite possible, even very likely, that all sides want to arrive at the same destination, but have not yet agreed on the route to get there. Only an open dialog can confirm the destination and what the route will be.

  • Discussion 8 : 19 Mar 2013 at 11.008

    It takes another 2 weeks to discover if a station director had the authority to cancel a programme? Why not just read his job description?

  • Discussion 7 : 19 Mar 2013 at 09.027

    Fear is what drives these people to complain. Fear they'll be left behind by the advancement of society.

  • Discussion 6 : 19 Mar 2013 at 08.246

    Good thing I don't watch Thai channels. I've found that they're all nonsense.

  • Discussion 5 : 19 Mar 2013 at 08.115

    More Paranoia Thailand style

  • Discussion 4 : 19 Mar 2013 at 05.244

    When will Thailand have freedom of speech? Thinking of the whole lese majeste law, and the way it's used as a blunt political weapon, I wonder if the old Roman practice of giving the complainant the sentence for a false accusation, would slow things down a bit.

  • Discussion 3 : 19 Mar 2013 at 05.103

    Nothing assures an audience like censorship. Threats and statements by opponents only add to the natural curiosity of people to see just what it is the censors don't wish us to see.

Reply

Sign in once and access every part of the website at your convenience!

Please log in to our Bangkokpost.com community to post your comment.
You can sign in to the community by clicking here.

If you are not part of the community yet, please sign up here. By being part of this community you will get all these privileges.