Six media organisations on Thursday petitioned the National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA) to review a draft bill for the protection and promotion of rights and liberties and ethics of the media.
They said the bill is intended more to control and interfere in the work of the media than to protect them, adding that the main intention of the bill is to establish a council to regulate the conduct of media practitioners.
The petition was submitted to ACM Khanit Suwannetr, chairman of the NRSA's media reform committee, which is considering the bill, by Wanchai Wongmeechai, president of the Thai Journalists Association, who was accompanied by representatives of the Thai Broadcast Journalists Association, the National Press Council of Thailand, the News Broadcasting Council of Thailand, the Online News Providers Association and the Thailand Cable TV Association.
Mr Wanchai said the draft is not in line with the draft constitution, which had been endorsed in a public referendum. The draft constitution wants the media to control and supervise each other without interference from the state.
The draft media reform bill being considered by the NRSA committee requires media professionals to apply for a work permit from a committee whose members include the permanent secretaries of four ministries. This is tantamount to allowing the state power to interfere in the media, he said
Moreover, this committee is empowered to issue or revoke media work permits. This is against the rights and liberties of the media.
The six media organisations submitted their own draft bill for the protection and promotion of the rights and liberties and ethics of the media to the NRSA, through ACM Khanit, for consideration.