Taming Thailand's press
By Samantha Brown Posted Sun, Apr 1 2001
It was a test of Thailand’s free press, and the free press prevailed. One of its most powerful politicians, Sanan Kachornprasart, was on trial. Independent Television (iTV), the country’s first and only independent free-to-air channel, broadcast the proceedings live and in full on August 10, 2000. Sanan was found guilty and barred from holding public office for five years.
Now there is a bigger trial. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, head of ruling party Thai Rak Thai and founder of Shin Corporation, answers allegations that he failed to fully disclose his assets while deputy premier in 1997. The case could go either way. What’s been proved already is that iTV has changed. It suspended its broadcast of the proceedings after one week.
It was a predictable development, following the Feb. 7 sacking of 23 iTV journalists who alleged editorial interference by their newest shareholder, telecommunications giant Shin Corporation.
The apparent collapse of iTV’s independence raises questions about political and business influence on the media in Thailand. “If you look back to when the army controlled the country, the issue was black and white. Now there are a lot of blurry lines,” said Jira Hongsamrerng, the channel’s former managing editor.
President of the Thai Journalists Association (TJA) and managing editor of The Nation newspaper, Kavi Chongkittavorn, says those lines started becoming blurred during the 1997 economic crisis. “The new money has led to changes in some editorial positions,” Kavi says. “It’s more pluralistic, but this isn’t necessarily a good thing.” He believes that over the past three years there’s been a shift in ownership from journalists toward ownership by businesses and politicians.
“There’s a new pattern of owners with vested interests,” Kavi says. “The Thai press used to get mad; they don’t get mad anymore.”
iTV stood out for its ability to “get mad” on issues. It was born in the aftermath of the May 1992 anti-government protests, when the five government-controlled channels didn’t accurately report on violence that saw scores of Thais killed. Its hard-hitting investigative reports, in which social issues were given unprecedented prominence, were something never before seen on Thai TV.
When the company founded by the man about to become the next prime minister took an interest in the channel in early 2000, the staff got edgy. Then when Shin Corporation took a 39- percent stake in the company, they protested.
iTV news director Thepchai Yong was removed for his part in the protest. Next to go ‘voluntarily’ was managing editor Hongsamrerng. “There was so much pressure to do this, to not do that,” says Jira of the lead up to the election. He adds that management said he “had to learn to compromise.”
Then on Feb. 7, seven dissident journalists were sacked and 16 were laid off, after alleging editorial interference in political reporting.
UK Leeds University academic and Thai media expert Duncan McCargo says that iTV now suffers from exactly the same problem it was designed to avoid: the image of a TV network controlled by a powerful interest group. “The iTV sackings are definitely a step backward for Thailand, which is now reverting to the 1992 position when television could not be relied on for objective information,” McCargo says. “They illustrate a long-standing problem with Thailand’s media: that people buy and own media as a fairly crude means of exerting political power and influence.”
Still, Thailand has one of the freest presses in Southeast Asia. The 1997 constitution comprehensively protects media freedom, freedom of expression and access to information; press monitor Freedom House upgraded Thailand’s press from “partly free” to “free” in its 1998-99 report.
Thailand’s journalists take the lead when it comes to promoting freedom in the region. In Singapore last October, the TJA walked out at an assembly held by the Confederation of ASEAN Journalists, an organization that had linked journalists in the region for 25 years. “They don’t want to fight for anything,” said TJA president Kavi. “Our walking out was a big shock to them; they told me I was behaving like a Westerner.”
Kavi says that Thai journalists will instead work to strengthen the South East Asian Press Alliance, formed in 1998 by Thai, Indonesian and Filipino journalists. Such an organization has plenty of work to do. “Definitely Thailand has more freedom than in other parts of the world where journalists are physically threatened,” says sacked iTV anchor and reporter Karuna Buakumsri. “But here there are psychological threats. Sometimes there is self-censorship. These days there is a lot.”
Amnat Khunyosying, journalist and publisher of Phak Nua Raiwan (Northern Daily), in the northern city of Chiang Mai, says he paid the price for refusing to self-censor his reports on local corruption. On April 18 last year, he narrowly escaped death when shot by four soldiers, who are now in jail awaiting trial. “A group of influential men in Chiang Mai are pressuring me to accept Bt500,000 (US $11,000) and drop the case,” Amnat said.
His paper is now published three times a week instead of daily and has been cut from 16 to 12 pages. Still, Amnat is determined to continue publishing. “I want to publish a real newspaper. Other newspapers don’t dare to review corruption.”
As Amnat says, the law in Thailand is good. “It’s the people who use the law – the public prosecutors, the police, the lawyers – who are not good. There are black influences hanging over Thailand.”
The sacked iTV journalists will test that law. Article 41 of the constitution guarantees the rights of journalists in media organizations to be independent of influences from their owners, so long as the journalists behave ethically. The journalists will petition the Labor Court, from where their case is likely to be referred to the Constitution Court. Whatever happens, it’s unlikely to be broadcast on iTV.