Thailand's press freedom has been labeled as "not free" by the continued declining for the sixth years and now ranked 127 out of 194 countries surveyed, according to an international media index on press freedom.
New York-based Freedom House notes that the press freedom in Thailand has worsen followed the coup of September 2006 because the coup makers, which called themselves the Council For National Security, has largely treated the press as a potential threat to the new regime and restricted it as such.
The report was released on the eve of the World Press Freedom Day on Thursday.
This represents the worse assessment of Thai media ever done by a foreign organization. In 2000, Thailand ranked 29th as the country which had one of the freest press in the world. Under deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra, the overall media freedom deteriorated rapidly. Last year, Thailand ranked 107th and was listed "partly free."
After the coup, media restrictions have been concentrated on broadcasting and online media, most of them were dealt with criticism of the coup leaders as well as the monarchy.
Freedom House said in its report that the CNS took a very proactive and direct approach to securing media compliance, calling a meeting with senior media representatives to convey a host of coverage directives on September 21. Also included in the assessment was the events that followed after the coup when troops were positioned outside all broadcast stations, and broadcast executives were ordered not to air materials that might challenge the new regime.
It also added that restriction on media coverage during the coup itself were largely limited to disruptions of CNN and BBC broadcasts featuring background on Thaksin and a local broadcast airing a statement from Thaksin himself.
"Foreign and local journalists enjoyed relatively unfettered movement," it pointed.
According to the report, a number of significant restrictions were imposed in the coup's immediate aftermath. On September 20, the military's Administrative Reform Council empowered the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) to "control, block, and destroy" information detrimental to the new administration and issued military order No. 10, urging media cooperation in promoting "peace and national unity."
Source: The Nation
Thai press freedom sinks further
Thai press freedom sinks further
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
Thailand in Bottom 10 on press freedom
New York (dpa)
Thailand has been listed by the Committee to Protect Journalists as one of the world's worst backsliders in freedom of the media in the past five years - turning relative openness into repression and worsening press conditions.
NOTE:
The website of the Committee to Protect Journalists is at
http://www.cpj.org/
The report on Backsliders is at
http://www.cpj.org/backsliders/index.html
The report section on Thailand is at:
http://www.cpj.org/attacks06/asia06/thai06.html
Ethiopia, Gambia, Russia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cuba, Pakistan, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Morocco and Thailand were cited by CPJ for government censorship, judicial harassment, criminal libel prosecutions, imprisonment of journalists and threats against the press.
In Thailand, once leading in press freedom, the military junta under Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont nationalised the country's only private television station and ordered radio to broadcast only military-prepared news, the CPJ report says.
In Russia, 11 journalists were murdered in the five-year period, the study said.
The survey was published on the eve of the UN annual World Press Freedom Day on Thursday.
"The behaviour of all of these countries is deeply troubling, but the rapid retreats in nations where the media have thrived demonstrate just how easily the fundamental right to press freedom can be taken away," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon.
Simon said the three sub-Saharan countries are where press freedom has deteriorated the most over the past five years.
Ethiopia has launched a massive crackdown on the private press by closing newspapers and jailing editors. The survey said Ethiopia banned eight newspapers in 2006, expelled two foreign reporters and blocked critical Web sites. The imprisonment of journalists forced dozens of others to go into exile.
Gambia, Congo, Russia and Cuba have become the "worst backsliders," the survey says.
In Russia, the survey says all three national television channels are now under state control..
In Cuba, 29 journalists were imprisoned in a massive crackdown in 2003. Four foreign reporters were expelled for covering an opposition meeting in 2005 and another 10 were barred entry to cover Fidel Castro's illness in 2006.
Cuba and Ethiopia have become the world's leading jailers of journalists, the survey says.
Thailand and Morocco were once leading in press freedom, but the condition has sharply declined. Morocco is now tied with Tunisia "for the dubious distinction of sentencing the most journalists to prison in the Arab world."
In Egypt, government agents assaulted reporters covering demonstrations and some top editors disappeared. An Egyptian human rights group said 85 criminal cases were lodged against journalists between 2004 and 2006.
In Azerbaijan, an editor named Elmar Huseynov was slain in 2005 and criminal defamation cases rose from one to 14 in the past five years. Two top journalists were kidnapped last year while imprisonments increased from none to five.
Source: Bangkok Post, 3/4/07
New York (dpa)
Thailand has been listed by the Committee to Protect Journalists as one of the world's worst backsliders in freedom of the media in the past five years - turning relative openness into repression and worsening press conditions.
NOTE:
The website of the Committee to Protect Journalists is at
http://www.cpj.org/
The report on Backsliders is at
http://www.cpj.org/backsliders/index.html
The report section on Thailand is at:
http://www.cpj.org/attacks06/asia06/thai06.html
Ethiopia, Gambia, Russia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cuba, Pakistan, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Morocco and Thailand were cited by CPJ for government censorship, judicial harassment, criminal libel prosecutions, imprisonment of journalists and threats against the press.
In Thailand, once leading in press freedom, the military junta under Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont nationalised the country's only private television station and ordered radio to broadcast only military-prepared news, the CPJ report says.
In Russia, 11 journalists were murdered in the five-year period, the study said.
The survey was published on the eve of the UN annual World Press Freedom Day on Thursday.
"The behaviour of all of these countries is deeply troubling, but the rapid retreats in nations where the media have thrived demonstrate just how easily the fundamental right to press freedom can be taken away," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon.
Simon said the three sub-Saharan countries are where press freedom has deteriorated the most over the past five years.
Ethiopia has launched a massive crackdown on the private press by closing newspapers and jailing editors. The survey said Ethiopia banned eight newspapers in 2006, expelled two foreign reporters and blocked critical Web sites. The imprisonment of journalists forced dozens of others to go into exile.
Gambia, Congo, Russia and Cuba have become the "worst backsliders," the survey says.
In Russia, the survey says all three national television channels are now under state control..
In Cuba, 29 journalists were imprisoned in a massive crackdown in 2003. Four foreign reporters were expelled for covering an opposition meeting in 2005 and another 10 were barred entry to cover Fidel Castro's illness in 2006.
Cuba and Ethiopia have become the world's leading jailers of journalists, the survey says.
Thailand and Morocco were once leading in press freedom, but the condition has sharply declined. Morocco is now tied with Tunisia "for the dubious distinction of sentencing the most journalists to prison in the Arab world."
In Egypt, government agents assaulted reporters covering demonstrations and some top editors disappeared. An Egyptian human rights group said 85 criminal cases were lodged against journalists between 2004 and 2006.
In Azerbaijan, an editor named Elmar Huseynov was slain in 2005 and criminal defamation cases rose from one to 14 in the past five years. Two top journalists were kidnapped last year while imprisonments increased from none to five.
Source: Bangkok Post, 3/4/07
Only the crumbliest, flakiest Winkie....