Disenchantment towards the sangha had reached a level where many monks were returning to their temples from their morning alms rounds with near empty bowls, a lecturer at Thammasat University's Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communications told a seminar yesterday.

This almost unheard of phenomenon becomes particularly noticeable when a monk gets embroiled in a scandal that gains widespread media coverage, Assoc Professor Kitima Surasonthi said. She was speaking based on research findings at a seminar held at a Bangkok hotel.

Her faculty in conjunction with the Culture Ministry jointly organised the event. "At some temples, monks now have to cook their own food because of diminishing faith in Buddhism among members of the public," she said.

Kitima was reporting on findings from a study of monks' views on news reports concerning Buddhism.

She said some monks had commented that they hoped newspapers and television stations would report less on scandals about bad monks because it rebounded on the good monks.

"The monks say people criticise them loudly when bad behaviour by other monks is reported in the media," Kitima said.

People often looked at them with angry expressions when such reports surfaced, she said. The monks quoted people as telling them, "Monks are like beggars. They use saffron robes to fill their hungry stomachs", she said.

Most of the adverse news reports centred on amulet sales, black magic, gambling, pornography, lottery predictions, brawling and sex.

According to a survey of 400 respondents in Bangkok, 51.5 per cent said their faith in Buddhism had dropped because of scandals about monks having sexual relations with women. Only 18 per cent of them said the negative news reports did not affect their faith.

Kitima said some monks wanted the media to report good news about monks as well as the bad news. In another survey on youths' TV viewing habits, some people said they considered rude language, racy love scenes, inappropriate clothing and violence in TV dramas as potential risks to society.

"They say the producers should be more cautious," Kitima said. She said the Culture Ministry should study the impact media has on society in order to develop measures to protect the country's culture.

Culture Ministry permanent secretary Dhipavadee Meksawan called on television executives to select good programmes for youth. She suggested scriptwriters develop leading characters with good manners and personalities.

"At the same time, the Culture Ministry will develop a rating system for TV programmes to help viewers identify programmes suitable for their age," Dhipavadee said.