The Criminal Court ruling on Monday against Sorrayuth Suthassanachinda, arguably the country’s most popular and controversial TV news anchor, for stealing 138 million baht in advertising revenue in 2005-2006 from state broadcaster MCOT, has spurred a tense debate over whether the veteran newscaster should take a break from his screen role.
Media profession bodies, academics and anti-graft advocates have been collectively urging the 49-year-old Sorrayuth to quit his job after the Court of First Instance slapped him with a 13-year-and-four-month jail term.
The News Broadcasting Council of Thailand (NBCT) and the Thai Broadcast Journalists Association (TBJA) have called on Channel 3 management to review the role of Sorrayuth to set ethical standards for the Thai media, saying the station’s decision to allow Sorrayuth to remain on air has affected not only the credibility and image of the channel, but that of the Thai media as a whole.
The Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand (ACT), which counts business associations such as the Board of Trade, the Federation of Thai Industries and the Thai Bankers’ Association as its members, has vowed to push for sanctions against the station and the anchor unless they heed growing calls to suspend him.
ACT chairman Pramon Suthivong said the anti-graft advocacy group would campaign to ask its network of private sector companies to stop sponsoring the channel and Sorrayuth’s Rai Som Company. Seeking a boycott from viewers is also on the cards.
Despite mounting pressure for him to quit his anchor role, Sorrayuth and Channel 3 have continued with his morning and evening news shows as they say he is proving his innocence in higher courts.
It is heartening to see a strong public awareness in the fight against corruption and of how a public figure must “demonstrate responsibility” after he or she is found guilty of cheating.
But, turning back the clock four years, when there was a similar lawsuit — the state versus a media mogul — the silence was deafening then as we heard no calls to show responsibility from the media guilds nor the graft fighters.
In September 2012, Sondhi Limthongkul, a leader of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and founder of Manager Media Group, was sentenced to 20 years in jail for falsifying loan documents and fraud.
The Criminal Court found Mr Sondhi guilty on 17 counts of criminal and securities law violations for a total sentence of 85 years in prison, later commuted to 20.
The media tycoon — who built Manager Media into one of the country’s largest media groups in the 1990s, but suffered huge losses in the wake of the 1997 economic crisis — and three other former Manager directors pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges and received reduced sentences from the Court of First Instance.
Mr Sondhi, who has been freed on a 10-million-baht bond, is awaiting a verdict from the Supreme Court after the Appeal Court in August 2014 upheld the ruling by the Court of First Instance.
In October 2000, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused the four of falsifying loan guarantee documents to help secure a 1.08-billion-baht loan by the company from Krungthai Bank (KTB). The loan was arranged by The M Group, a private company controlled by Mr Sondhi and a major shareholder in the listed Manager Media Group.
The Manager Media Group was listed as a guarantor of the loan by KTB to The M Group, with Mr Sondhi, Suradet Muyangkoon, Saowalak Thiranujanyong and Yupin Chantana, in their capacity as Manager directors, signing the guarantee document.
But the SEC said the Manager board was unaware of the transaction, which was also not disclosed in the firm’s financial statements. The M Group later defaulted on the KTB loan, resulting in Manager becoming liable for repayment and incurring damage worth 259 million baht, according to the SEC.
The four also falsified documents to mislead KTB into thinking that the guarantee by Manager was properly authorised by the company board, and later colluded to prevent disclosure of the guarantee by the company to the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
In 2005, Mr Sondhi used his ASTV satellite television channel to launch a political crusade against then-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and became a leader of the yellow-shirt PAD movement which mobilised tens of thousands of protesters against Thaksin in mid-2006.
The PAD dissolved after the September 2006 military coup which ousted Thaksin, and regrouped in 2008 to protest against the Thaksin-aligned People Power Party (PPP) and then-premier Samak Sundaravej.
PAD protesters in late November of that year seized Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports, with the protests ending on Dec 3 following the Constitutional Court ruling to dissolve three coalition parties, including the ruling PPP.
Mr Sondhi was sentenced to three years in jail in 2007 for defaming Thaksin, and has been indicted on terrorism charges related to the airport blockades.
Despite a series of court rulings, Mr Sondhi has never disappeared from the limelight, be it political rallies, public lectures or news shows either on television or YouTube. No individuals or media organisations have come out to demand that he suspend his role.
What I am questioning is why the ACT, NBCT and TBJA are selective in imposing “ethical standards”. The moral high ground should be adopted across the board, not just on one newscaster.
I could not agree more with TBJA president Thepchai Yong who says the Sorrayuth case serves as a lesson for members of the media to work transparently. He said if the media wants government officials, and politicians to maintain high standards, the media itself must hold itself to a high standard, too.
Establishing “high standards” in the industry, which faces a slew of challenges from shrinking circulation and falling advertising revenue in the print media and an overcrowded TV industry, must not stop at Sorrayuth but target other big fish who have tainted their editorial independence with business interests.
For instance, broadcasters and newspapers must state clearly if the content they are presenting is a genuine editorial or an advertorial item. Media outlets must be transparent and honest in what they present to their audiences.
Nopporn Wong-Anan is deputy editor, Bangkok Post.