A recent survey by National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll, reveals that a majority of people believe Thai media have strong journalistic ethics but still require urgent reform.
The poll was conducted on Feb 19-20 on 1,259 people aged 18 and over of various levels of education and occupations throughout the country to compile their opinions on journalistic ethics of the Thai media.
Regarding the levels of morality and ethics of the Thai media in their news gathering and reporting, a majority, or 59.09%,said they have the required ethics -- with 11.91% saying they are highly ethical and 47.18% moderately ethical.
On the other side, 39.60% thought they lack journalistic ethics -- with 33.60% saying that they are not ethical enough and 6.36% that they are totally unethical.
The rest, 0.95%, had no comment or were not interested.
Asked whether the existing organisations governing news media are effective in controlling their professional ethics, 13.03% said they are very effective; 42.02% quite effective; 32.46% not effective; 9.61% not effective at all; and 2.70% were uncertain or had no comment.
Asked about the degree of urgency for the Thai media to be reformed, 50.20% said it is very urgent; 30.82% moderately urgent; 12.23% not particularly urgent; 4.92% not urgent at all; and 1.83% were uncertain or had no comment.