REPORTING
2008 'a nightmare' for Thai journalists
- Published: 6/01/2009 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: News
The Thai Journalists Association (TJA) says the year 2008 was the most challenging year for mass media professionals as they faced various forms of intimidation from different interest groups.
In its 2008 media situation report made public yesterday, the TJA panel on rights, liberties and media reform dug into the 10 most serious media intimidation cases that occurred last year. They are:
1) The murder of two Matichon reporters. Athiwat Chainuwat, a Nakhon Si Thammarat-based reporter who was gunned down on Aug 1, while Jaruk Rangcharoen, another Matichon reporter based in Suphan Buri province, was shot dead on Sept 27.
2) Unkind words against political reporters from Samak Sundaravej were a daily dose for those hounding him for news when he was the prime minister and leader of the dissolved People Power Party (PPP). For most newsmen covering political issues, Mr Samak was viewed as a prime minister who did not recognise the value and integrity of media professionals in a democratic way.
3) A call from Mr Samak urging journalists to side with the then PPP-led government after anti-government protesters, led by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), on Aug 26 laid siege to the state-run NBT television station and later stormed and occupied the Government House.
The call prompted the four media organisations to issue a joint statement urging media professionals to report their news in a straightforward manner without showing any prejudice.
4) Intimidation and physical assaults against journalists covering protest rallies of rival political groups.
5) Renaming of the state-owned Channel 11 to NBT by the Samak government in a bid to make the station look more independent, but in fact serving as a propaganda tool for the government.
6) Street protesters' browbeating of television stations on various occasions. Threats to the NBT, a station that was briefly seized by PAD, the surrounding of the TPBS by the pro-PPP Rak Chiang Mai 51 group, and the ASTV station that was attacked by war weapons.
7) Lawsuits demanding 100 million baht compensation from two columnists of Krungthepturakij newspaper filed by Ek-Chai Distribution System, operator of Tesco Lotus in Thailand. The two columnists facing the 100-million-baht lawsuits are Kamol Kamoltrakul and Nongnart Harnvilai, the newspaper's marketing news editor.
8) Thai Rath newspaper's tragic loss of six staff members in Narathiwat. Chalee Bunsawat, a Narathiwat-based reporter for the newspaper was killed in an insurgent bomb attack. Then, a van carrying 10 members of its newspaper's deep South bureau and heading for Chalee's funeral in Sungai Kolok district crashed and caught fire, killing five of them at the crash scene and seriously injuring five others.
9) Removals of several broadcast programmes. Such removals have become a common practice by political groups taking control of state-owned TV and radio stations. Programmes with content critical of the previous governments were replaced again and again.
10) The banning of the TJA shirts by Government House media officers. Journalists entering the compound were requested not to wear shirts bearing the message "Intimidating Media, Intimidating the People" distributed by the TJA on World Press Freedom day on May 3.
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