The unusual criticism of the rice pledging scheme in <i>Thai Rath</i> over the last week came as a surprise, sparking speculation the newspaper senses a political change in the air.
Thai Rath is the top-selling newspaper in the country with a daily circulation of between 800,000 and one million copies most days and 1.2 million copies on lottery-drawing days. The actual readership is several times larger than the circulation, because each copy is invariably passed on and read by several people.
It is regarded as the giant of the Thai Press and the most influential. Even government leaders cannot afford to ignore it when it makes critical comments. But the mass-circulation newspaper most often toes a government-friendly line, and only occasionally becomes critical. Critics generally brand it pro-government.
Thai Rath has never been regarded as a political newspaper. Political news rarely dominates its front page, which more often splashes stories about crime and movie stars. Its trademark is sensational news.
Political and economic news is usually buried in the inside pages. The paper does devote its entire page three and more space in other pages inside to political comment and news.
The tone of most of the political comment is favourable to the government. Only the Sunday political analyses are more critical and straightforward.
Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom inspects rice at a government warehouse in Ratchaburi. (Photo by Tawatchai Kemgumnerd)
But since Moody’s Investment Service issued its warning that Thailand’s credit rating may be downgraded due to the massive losses from the government’s rice pledging scheme, Thai Rath has suddenly become more outspoken and critical of the government and the rice scheme, in a fashion very untypical of a pro-government newspaper.
Some political observers suggest the paper might have sensed a looming political wind of change.
While most dailies have covered the rice pledging scheme on a regular basis, Thai Rath broke its traditional norm by headlining the issue on its frontpage. First, reporting last Saturday on Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom’s farcical press conference on the rice scheme, and against today, June 11, on the government’s decision to splurge other 500 billion baht to fund the high-loss populist rice scheme for another year.
On top of that, several commentators lined up to criticise the failed rice scheme, and especially Commerce Minister Boonsong, in a manner that could hardly be described as spontaneous. For two days in a row, Mae Look Chan, a page one columnist, called for the removal of Mr Boonsong, likening him to an "expired product".
Even page five columnist Zoom, who normally shies from criticising the government, joined the fray in blasting away at the flaws in the rice pledging scheme and urging the government to heed the Moody’s warning.
The page three political comments, which are normally pro-government, have also changed their tone regarding the rice pledging scheme. And Sai Lor Fah wrote that the mess eminating from the scheme could not be covered up with lotus leaves.
A source inside Thai Rath maintained that there was nothing unusual about the sudden criticism of the government and the rice scheme, and that the paper's journalists were merely doing their duty.
But veteran observers thought otherwise. "When the giant coughs, the ground shakes" so it is said. It appears that the giant of the Thai Press has just woken up and coughed. Will the ground shake?