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EDITORIAL: A day of reflection for the media

Published on May 3, 2004

The Thai press has a choice to make - push for freedom or toe the govt line

Today is World Press Freedom Day, an occasion the media should use to reflect upon themselves and the state of their freedom. A recently released survey by Freedom House, a New York-based non-profit organisation monitoring press freedom, shows that globally, media freedom has declined by 5 per cent, while the countries in the Asia Pacific are suffering from more restrictions than ever before. These results are significant. In its 2003 study of 39 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, Freedom House rated 17 of them, or 44 per cent, as "free", eight, or 20 per cent, as "partly free", and 14, or 36 per cent, as "not free". When these results were translated into the percentage of the population in the region with access to free media, it was a dismal 7 per cent. On a global scale, only 17 per cent of the world's population has access to a free press. The rest have partial or no access to information.

Within Southeast Asia, the Philippines, which has previously been hailed as having the region's freest and most dynamic press, saw its rating drop to "partly free" for the first time since the former president Ferdinand Marcos was ejected from power in 1986. As a result, the entire Asean region is for the first time without a free national media. One reason for this was the high number of casualties among journalists. More than 56 journalist were killed in 2003 in the Philippines, which has been plagued by guerrilla uprisings. Indonesia and Cambodia were ranked as partly free.

Thailand, like in previous years, has been rated as partly free. Since Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra came to power in early 2001, Thailand's media freedom has taken some serious blows. Both print and electronic media have been targeted for acquisition by Thaksin's business empire and by his cronies.

Publishers, editors and reporters have been systematically co-opted by these figures. Using advertising money and access to information as incentives to lure the media into the government camp, a large portion of the Thai media have jumped on the bandwagon, abandoning their professionalism for commercial gain. A study commissioned by the Thai Journalists' Association released today shows various ways the Thaksin government has been muzzling the media and undermining their ability to operate independently.

An alarming trend has surfaced. The Thai media have started to accept self-censorship as a norm in their reporting. Reports on the carnage in southern Thailand last week serve as a case in point. Many media outlets reported one-sidedly, faithfully regurgitating the information coming from the authorities.

Certain media have even stirred up resentment among the communities in the South with off-colour comments. This style of hate media is a new phenomenon in Thailand and seems to be catching on.
The reason is quite simple. The rhetoric used by the authorities, especially by the top leaders and security forces, have been echoed by the media in their reporting on the South. Their commentary may actually have deepened the crisis there. It must be pointed out on this important occasion that Thaksin has never made a concrete commitment to the media freedom guaranteed by the Constitution.

The Nation