Thai Media groups urge state TV to report fairly

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POLITICS
Media groups urge state TV to report fairly
Chanon Wongsatayanont,
Kornchanok Raksaseri
The Nation



BANGKOK: -- Media professional organisations have called on the public to understand the work done by the media in times like the present political demonstrations.

They have also asked executives of state television channels to review their work to check whether their reporting was biased.

The Thai Broadcast Journalists Association and the Thai Journalists Association yesterday issued a statement opposing the political rallies at media offices. They urged the Thai press to report the situation without bias and the government to resolve the situation peacefully and lawfully.

Pradit Ruangdit, president of the Thai Journalists Association, said the size of rally crowds might risk being interpreted by some as pressuring or intimidation of the media.

However, he said he learnt from television journalists that their stations' executives had told them directly or indirectly to what extent they could report on the rallies, reminding them of the restraints of business and station ownership.

Pradit asked media outlet executives not to ignore allegations by protesters that they had presented news stories with bias.

On Sunday, protesters' surrounded the broadcast vehicles of Channel 3 and Channel 7, an action prohibited by the protest leaders. Otherwise the media were allowed to cover the political rallies freely, Pradit said.

It was difficult for the media to give an accurate estimate of the number of protesters on which all would agree. A solution could be for the media to describe the areas the rallies covered.

Anti-government protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, while announcing the protesters would rally to 13 government offices including TV stations, said the state media had not allocated appropriate time to presenting news stories about the protest.

Channel 3 media personality Sorrayuth Suthassanachinda yesterday came out of the Maleenont Tower to meet the anti-government protester group as requested. They arrived at the venue at 10.40am.

He said Channel 3 would do its best to inform the people accurately and amused the rally by blowing a whistle.

In a related development, the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand has voiced concern following an attack on a German photojournalist, allegedly after he was identified as a "red-shirt" at a rally yesterday.

Nick Nostitz was allegedly punched after being singled out by a speaker. "The FCCT deplores this in the strongest possible terms, and calls upon protest leaders to unequivocally and publicly state that the rights of journalists, foreign or Thai, should be respected," the agency said.

Meanwhile, foreign media outlets have reported on the huge anti-government protests that have paralysed Bangkok streets. Major international and local media groups, including ones from China, Singapore, the US, the UK and Russia, have called this the biggest protest since the bloody red-shirt demonstrations in 2010.

The BBC and Reuters reported that an about 100,000 anti-government protesters gathered on Sunday at Democracy Monument and 40,000 government supporters held a separate rally in another part of the city. Some noted that anti-government protesters marched along 12 routes yesterday to state offices, military headquarters and TV stations to pressure the Yingluck Shinawatra regime and urge state workers to join the protest.

American media such as CNN, Bloomberg, Businessweek and ABC News offered similar coverage, reporting that tens of thousands of protesters planned to march in locations all over Bangkok, causing widespread disruption with the goal of toppling Yingluck's government, which they consider to be a part of the "Thaksin regime".

Bloomberg quoted Suthep as saying, "We will not stop even if [Yingluck] dissolves Parliament or resigns. We will create a real democracy with the King as the head of state."

Other outlets that covered the protests included Xinhua News, Taiwan's The China Post, Singapore's The Straits Times and Channel NewsAsia etc.


-- The Nation 2013-11-26

[Robby nz]

Looks like plenty of international attention.

Moodys will be watching also.

[ChrisY1]

Must be a bit of a conundrum for media agencies here with so many influentials involved in the industry in Thailand.

[waza]

The Thai Broadcast Journalists Association and the Thai Journalists Association yesterday issued a statement opposing the political rallies at media offices. They urged the Thai press to report the situation without bias and the government to resolve the situation peacefully and lawfully.

Seems its not just the protestors that are concerned about bias reporting.

[tragickingdom]

And with fairly they mean that they have to report that the democrat party actually got an outright majority in the last elections. They are a sort of Ministry of Truth as it existed under Prem.

[bangon04]

"Channel 3 media personality Sorrayuth Suthassanachinda yesterday came out of the Maleenont Tower to meet the anti-government protester group as requested. They arrived at the venue at 10.40am.

He said Channel 3 would do its best to inform the people accurately and amused the rally by blowing a whistle."

Then he spent 2 hours selling his own special brand of Channel 3 T shirts and jackets to anyone who would buy them... Completely unbiased.

When his Channel 3 morning copresenter was asked for a comment, she took hold of the microphone and said loudly "KA"