Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai has stressed that it is time to stop being lenient on foreign journalists' visas, to end misleading reporting.
There were international standards on visa controls for foreign journalists and the proper scope of their work, but Thai authorities had not enforced them strictly and had been lenient on foreign reporters, the minister said at Government House on Tuesday morning.
Officials had now been ordered to follow the regulations, and the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand had been kept informed of the changes, Mr Don said.
"Many are not legally reporters," he said, and their misleading reports gave rise to misleading headlines.
"We have issued warnings, because they have caused misunderstanding and had an impact on the national interest," the foreign minister said.
He denied that strict enforcement of conditions for issuing m-visas was a restriction on media rights, claiming that reporters in Thailand actually enjoyed the most freedom in Asia.
There were about 500 foreign reporters in Thailand and only 10% of them were problematic, Mr Don said. If they were able to clearly show who they worked for, the Foreign Ministry would be ready to consider their visa applications.