(SEAPA/IFEX) – In a rare show of unity, the Thai media will call on the Council for Democratic Reform (previously called Council for Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy) on 29 September 2006 to obtain the Council’s assurance that people’s right to free expression and press freedom will be clearly stated and adequately protected in the […]
(SEAPA/IFEX) – In a rare show of unity, the Thai media will call on the Council for Democratic Reform (previously called Council for Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy) on 29 September 2006 to obtain the Council’s assurance that people’s right to free expression and press freedom will be clearly stated and adequately protected in the interim Constitution.
The resolution came following a meeting of about 30 chief editors and senior editors of the mainstream press and broadcast media, and representatives of cable television and provincial journalist networks.
The editors expressed concern that article 3 – which touches on civil liberties – of the 39-chapter interim charter was too vague, although it affirmed Thailand’s commitment to the international laws and treaties, including the guarantee of basic rights.
The editors want the Council to spell out clearly the protection of civil liberties and media freedom and independence, which must be no less than what was offered under the previous Constitution.
They say there should be a clear commitment to press freedom because, even under the 1997 Constitution, which had fully guaranteed press freedom, unprecedented violations and threats against the media took place under ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The 1997 Constitution, which was abrogated by the military Council following the 19 September bloodless coup against Thaksin, clearly stated the people’s right to free expression and media freedom in articles 39 and 41.
The editors also expressed specific concern over the military’s interference in the broadcast media, especially in the absence of the National Telecommunication Commission and the National Broadcasting Commission, which have been made defunct by the Council. The editors want assurance that the state and army-controlled radio and television stations will be protected from non-media interference under the interim Constitution.
Under article 40 of the previous charter, the two commissions functioned as independent regulators of the airwaves, ensuring fair and transparent distribution of frequencies, effectively ending the state and army’s monopoly of the airwaves.
The international human rights and media rights community has denounced the Council for suppressing the media. Although the mainstream press and foreign media have been allowed to operate as usual, the broadcast media are under total military control, anti-coup protesters have been arrested, political gatherings banned and community radios and websites deemed a threat to the present administration shut down.
In a related development, the board of the company that controls the television channel that aired Thaksin’s last-minute attempt to announce a state of emergency shortly before the coup, resigned on 27 September.
According to local reports, the board of the Mass Communications Organisation of Thailand and its director-general Mingkwan Saengsuwan are taking responsibility for allowing Thaksin to appear on its Modernine TV, or Channel 9. Earlier, Mingkwan was detained for questioning over this matter.
No other television channel broadcast Thaksin’s final words as the caretaker prime minister of Thailand.
