Survey: TV programmes commercially motivated, not socially

The survey covered all programming round the clock from February 1-7.

"In an age of political reform, TV stations should adjust their programming to encourage political participation and instil a sense of citizenship among audiences. Programme content should be meant to strengthen social development," Uajit said.

In terms of content, only at Modernine TV and Channel 11 do the ratio of social programmes exceed that of programmes that target audiences as consumers. The ratio at Channel 11 is 86.8 to 13.2, while Modernine TV's is 51.3 to 48.7.

The survey also showed that Channel 5, even though owned by the state, was also geared towards more commercial programming.

"Even at iTV or TITV, which started as a news channel, the ratio of commercial programming is as high as 64.9 per cent, which shows the tendency of the channel to produce programmes to satisfy interest groups," Uajit said.

Channels 7 and 3 are, unsurprisingly, the channels with the highest ratio of commercial programmes, and they enjoy the highest ratings.

"This shows that in Thai society, audiences are being encouraged to buy and sell products rather than to become good citizens who take part in social development. Audiences are being moulded to care only for their personal interests," she said.

The survey came amid sentiment from academics that it was time for Thailand to have a public television station that presented content-based programmes, not commercial programmes to please advertisers.

Saree Aongsomwang, manager of a consumer foundation, said Thais were not yet ready to be good citizens, because they were more inclined to be consumers.

"Thais today are not in the mood to learn," said Chulalongkorn University economics lecturer Nuannoi Trirat. "They expressed in the survey that they favoured entertainment programmes. Even though state channels are pampering them with good content, they simply stay away from those channels."