Junta leader Prayut Chan-o-cha’s relationship with the media, never warm even in his days as army chief, seemed to reach new lows last week. In successive press conferences, which some outlets openly referred to as rants, he showed anger and contempt for the professionals who cover national politics. The relationship is unlikely to improve this week when the military regime calls in 200 journalists in an attempt to teach them how to ask questions in an appropriate manner, as though it is somehow their job to help Gen Prayut control himself.
Exactly what Gen Prayut thinks the media’s role should be is a little difficult to ascertain from his statements, but he has been consistently intolerant of criticism.
On Wednesday, he started by saying he was not the media’s enemy but bemoaned the fact that “you still write and attack me every day”.
“I have done so much, but no one writes about what I have done. Or when they do, they write so little. But they pay so much attention to the conflicts.” He suggested Thailand was the only country that focused on conflict and the only media that wanted to keep bringing it up. A glance at any international news outlet, other than state media from authoritarian regimes, would show this to be false. He also denied putting pressure on the media.
On Thursday, he continued with his theme. His anger flared when several reporters left to cover another event, and admitted losing his temper. “I have never insulted any of you. I only ask, when you ask me questions, to please consider my mood. When I answer, I look at my mood, and I look at your mood. I am not the enemy of any media agencies. Why are you so vengeful of me? I don't get it.”
Gen Prayut wants the media to be obedient and uncritical. But let us be clear, since it apparently needs spelling out: it is not the media’s role to cheer on this or any other government. While the media can be guilty of dealing too much in trivia when reporting politics, from lottery numbers on prime ministerial number plates to Gen Prayut’s predilection for black magic, it should serve a vital public service holding people in positions of power to account. With a return to democratic rule still a distant prospect, this role becomes even more essential.
How well journalists do their job is a valid question, and it could be argued the media too quickly and unthinkingly swallows the government line, but there can be no doubt that news organisations are operating in difficult circumstances. Gen Prayut’s two press conferences last week were full of bluster and anger: it is intimidating and, whether intentional or not, will result in fewer questions and less transparency.
A more blatant restriction came on Friday morning, when the National Council for Peace and Order forced Human Rights Watch to cancel a planned press conference. The event had been scheduled for the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, and was the second to be shut down there recently. HRW’s press conference had nothing to do with Thailand, and was meant to be about a report into the Montagnards in Vietnam. In a statement, HRW said: “By stepping in to defend a neighbouring state’s human rights violations against a group of its people and interrupting a scheduled press conference, Thailand’s military junta is violating freedom of assembly and demonstrating its contempt for freedom of the press.”
The same day, the US State Department issued its annual human rights report and singled out Thailand for severely restricting civil liberties, freedom of speech, assembly and the media. As if to prove the point, a joint military-police task force arrested 14 students for doing little more than assembling and voicing their disapproval of the coup. They are unlikely to be the last.
Gen Prayut is behaving as if he has enemies on all sides. He has accused the arrested students of being beholden to politicians, rather patronisingly implying young people could not come to the conclusion military rule is a bad thing by themselves. He has purged 70 state officials under Section 44, although this pales compared to the shake-up in the immediate aftermath of the coup. One woman accused of spreading rumours of a counter-coup has been arrested and charged with lese majeste.
Gen Prayut’s problem is not the media but the message. This is a government that has been accused by human rights groups of being harsh in its treatment of dissidents. Putting a good spin on that is difficult enough, but the junta is not helped when its frontman is so short-tempered. Only through being more open, patient and willing to listen will he be able to build the cooperation he claims to want. But it is not the media’s job to help. It is the media’s role to ask uncomfortable questions and tell unfortunate truths. It is to be hoped they will not be cowed.