Published on June 27, 2005

Until five years ago, Thailand’s media ranked among the region’s most liberal and lively. It seemed assured of maintaining that status with the help of the Constitution introduced in 1997 that provided for the creation of an independent National Broadcasting Commission to act as a media regulator.

But a report in International Herald Tribune, quoting media analysts, says that Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has little tolerance of criticism aired in a free press. His concentrated political power and the considerable resources of his family’s commercial empire have been combined to muzzle critics in both the broadcast and print media, the paper says.

“It's like Moscow before the fall of the Berlin Wall,” says Chris Baker, an author and newspaper columnist here.

“There is absolutely nothing but the government view on electronic media. The talk shows are all ministers and officials. There is no discussion. It’s really bleak.”

The ownership of Thailand’s broadcast media has made the government’s task easier. The government, directly or indirectly, controls two of the four national television channels; the Army controls the other two. The Army is also the biggest presence in radio, owning about 200 of more than 520 commercial radio stations. About 200 more belong to different government entities, media analysts say.

The Herald Tribune says that resistance to reform has not been limited to Thaksin’s government. The Democrat Party-led government that preceded it showed similarly little interest in pushing change, says Ubonrat Siriyuvasak, a professor of mass communications at Chulalongkorn University.

“You’re dealing with very well entrenched interests like the Army,” she adds.

But the Democrats, with only a fragile coalition majority, never sought – or dared – to take on the media, the Herald Tribune said. By contrast, Thaksin, with a strong mass base unprecedented in Thai politics and a vast network of commercial interests, has set out systematically to stifle critical voices, media analysts say.

Several television announcers and radio talk-show hosts found their programmes suspended and editors of at least two national newspapers lost their jobs as a result of behind-the-scenes pressures, says Ubolnrat.

Thaksin has other resources at his disposal. Control of some of Thailand biggest corporate advertising budgets – including those of government-owned enterprises, his family's extensive businesses and those of political allies and supporters – have given media a strong commercial incentive to fall into line, the Herald Tribune said, quoting analysts.

Until recently, community radio had proved a small, unlikely but effective exception to the rule.

Under the 1997 constitution, 20 per cent of broadcasting frequencies are reserved for community radio.

Although the National Broadcasting Commission is supposed to assign frequencies, operators of such stations do not have to obtain a government license to go on the air, only fulfill certain criteria – for example restricting the power of their transmitters and broadcasting range.

More than 2,000 operators took advantage of this opening to start broadcasting.

But only about 200 are genuine community stations, says Senator Nirun Phitakwatchara, who runs one of these community stations in the Northeast.

The paper said that some operate in the interests of local politicians, while many are owned by big companies and are mainly commercial in character, although stations are forbidden from carrying any advertising.

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