Media Freedom and the Bangkok Post…the pot calling the kettle black?
In a case of the pot calling the kettle black, the Bangkok Post editorial today (September 2009) attacks a Thai government minister Sathit Wongnongtoey for applying pressure on MCOT radio anchor Chom Phetpradab to resign after he broadcast an interview with ex-prime minister Thaksin on MCOT radio station FM100.5 last Sunday afternoon.
According to the Post’s editorial writer
The minister’s attack on the programme reveals a two-faced policy on freedom of the press by this government…
and
…Mr Chom deserves better than losing his job to a vindictive politician answering his party (Democrats) instead of his public accountability.
…MCOT is a company accountable to the public, not an arm of the government propaganda machine..
…Mr Chom may have broken station rules in airing the interview…but this is an internal matter, and not for Mr Sathit to get involved with….Mr Sathit would serve the government and Thailand better than to place criticism and censure on the actual interview, rather than seek to punish one interviewer.
The editorial writer claims that MCOT is a company “accountable to the public.” Anyone with knowledge of business should understand that a company’s prime accountability is to its shareholders, and not to the public. Seventy-seven percent of MCOT’s shares are in the hands of the Thai government’s Ministry of Finance, so it would seem proper that the government should have a major say in what the company broadcasts. If in fact the radio anchor also did not have company permission to broadcast the story, his credibility should be subject to scrutiny.
The Bangkok Post itself, not a government media outlet, a few years back bowed to intimidation from then prime minister Thaksin and actually sacked a senior editor Sermsuk Kasitipradit and forced the resignation of editor Chadin Tephaval because Thaksin objected to the Post’s criticism of the standard of work at the then soon to be opened Suvarnabhumi airport.
Sermsuk was reinstated in July 2007 after a court found he had been unfairly dismissed by the Post. So just how free was the country’s press under Thaksin?
In this current case, the media organization concerned is controlled by the government. Minister Sathit is not just “a vindicative politician, but a government minister in the Prime Minister’s Office. He is responsible to the government, which whether the Post agrees or not, is the way the political system operates.
The Bangkok Post continues to give publicity to former prime minister Thaksin, including recent front-page coverage of his Twitter ramblings. And what is significant is that, under the present government, it has the freedom to do this. I really don’t think we can argue that MCOT has the same level of freedom, being as it is a largely government-owned entity.
