edited by Alastair Carthew and Simon Winkelmann
Thailand’s tough lèse majesté laws, its Computer Crimes Act, criticism of an investigation into the death of a Reuters cameraman during the 2010 Red Shirts riots and reporting of the 3 July election dominated Thai media in the first half of 2011.Two online reporters/editors and a magazine editor were either arrested on lèse majesté charges and the trial of another news website editor adjourned during the lead up to the election. Chiranuch Premchaiporn, editor of Prachatai, had her trial on lèse majesté charges for violating the Computer Crimes Act postponed from February to September.
In other arrests Thanthawut Taweewarodomkul, administrator of the Nor Por Chor USA website which supports the anti-government Red Shirt movement, was sentenced to 13 years in jail, 10 years under the lèse majesté law and three years under the Computer Crimes Act. The sentence is being appealed. Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, editor of the magazine Voice of Thaksin, was arrested in April on a charge of lèse majesté. Somyot was arrested trying to cross into Cambodia. Also in April, an academic, Somsak Jeamteerakul, was threatened with a lèse majesté prosecution in connection to a speech he had made.
The investigation into the death of Japanese cameraman Hiroyuki Muramoto during the Red Shirt riots in central Bangkok in 2010 came under fire from media watchdogs, who accused the Department of Special Investigation, which is investigating the death, of trying to offload responsibility for the investigation to Muramoto’s employer, Reuters news agency.
In January, two freelance photojournalists, John Sanlin, a Burmese passport holder, and Pascal Schatterman, a Belgian national were threatened with deportation after re-entering Thailand from Myanmar, after covering an escalating armed conflict between government soldiers and ethnic Karen insurgents.
In Thailand’s north broadcasting equipment by police at six community radio stations in Thailand’s northeastern Nakhon Ratchasima province were seized two days after the Democratic led government was ousted from power by the opposition Pheua Thai party on 3 July. Two of the stations were affiliated with the pro-Democrat government People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), the yellow shirts; and the other four with the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), the red shirts, who support former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, main backer of the successful Puea Thai party in the election.
The raids were criticised by the Committee to Protect Journalists, a media watch group, and interpreted locally as an attempt by authorities to win favour with the incoming government, which has committed itself to reconciliation of the political divide in Thailand.
In regard to Thailand’s media landscape, the first Asian Media Barometer (ANMB) report for Thailand was released in December, 2010 identified a culture of self-censorship amongst media toward criticising powerful institutions and the monarchy for fear of facing treason and lèse majesté laws. The report says media professionals are afraid of media owners; that a “witch hunt” has been conducted toward social media networks and that the mainstream print media heavily censored itself. Prasong Lertratanawisute, head of the Thai Journalists Association, said Thai media had been taught not to report anything critical of the monarchy.
Another survey found that Thai people spend up to nine hours a day on digital media—such as television and social media - while 23 million are regular Internet browsers. Mahidol University’s National Institute for Child and Family Development was assigned to study the master plan for safe and constructive media (2012-2016) highlighting young people’s understanding of media, to boost constructive media by 10 percent and promote the social sector’s participation in producing material.
Thailand had 17.8 million Internet users at June, 2010, 26% penetrate rate and 8.6 Facebook users in March, 2011, 13% penetration.
Thailand was 153rd on Reporters Without Borders press freedom index 2010.