Thailand has again fallen in the world press freedom rankings. But the story this time is different from past days, when government actions and censorship largely decided freedom of the press. Remarkably, two important groups have reached an identical conclusion that recent losses of freedom are not connected to censorship laws or abusive prosecutions. Freedom House of America and the Thai Journalists Association (TJA) both point to divisive political groups for intimidating, pressuring and ultimately bringing down freedom of the press.
Freedom House last week cut Thailand's ranking to a shocking 141st place on the world list. The nation is only ranked 28th out of 40 Asian countries, appallingly tied with Malaysia and Pakistan.
The country's status of a media that is "not free" earned Thailand scores barely above Afghanistan, Singapore and Myanmar. Countries with a more free press than Thailand on the Freedom House list include East Timor, Nepal and Bhutan.
The country has deteriorated to this state almost entirely because of divisive politics. Thailand's continued slip down the ranks of media freedom, said Freedom House, is "due to increased physical harassment and attacks on journalists and media outlets by political activists, often in the context of political unrest and demonstrations, as well as partisanship and biased content at a number of media outlets''.
Just as the Freedom House report came out, the TJA hosted a seminar to mark the UN-sponsored World Press Freedom Day. The title of the seminar was, "Freedom comes with responsibility. Stop hate speech". It was more introspective than the US group's report.
It covered a wide range of dehumanising and factious coverage by both the mainstream press and social media. The TJA urged members to raise public awareness about hate speech.
Neither the TJA nor Freedom House named names. That is just as well. But every major group involved in rallies and pressure groups has not only tried to intimidate the press, but has physically attacked and harmed reporters and photographers — foreign and Thai alike.
The United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) and its red-shirt mobs, particularly in 2010 but right up to today, have attacked media and individual media workers they somehow deem to be hostile. The yellow shirts of the past decade launched this policy of attacking "unfriendly" media members. The People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) of Suthep Thaugsuban has attacked both foreign and Thai members of the media.
The aim of these groups was never to present a political display that would show them in a good light when reported by honest media workers, publishers and broadcasters. From the start of all these movements — and their offshoots have usually been even more violent and intimidating — the aim has been to try to eliminate reporting the group feels is hostile.
As the TJA put it in remarks for World Press Freedom Day, "Media organisations during the past year have been targets, besieged and pressured by mobs." The worst part is that some political leaders have actually justified physical attacks on reporters, writers, photographers, cameramen. It is despicable to claim that an assaulted reporter "brought it on himself" because he or she once wrote or broadcast a story seen by emotional hotheads as unfriendly.
The credible threat of violence cannot be over-estimated. It can, and does, cause self-censorship and restrained comment. In the current political atmosphere, threats and the dehumanisation of media workers and organisations are eroding press freedoms, and thus, the public's right and ability to know what is happening.