• 
• 

Published on September 6, 2007

When the legislation comes into effect after His Majesty the King signs it into law and has it published in the Royal Gazette, journalists and publishers will have cast away the last hurdle to genuine media freedom. They will be free from control and manipulation by the state. The new printing law will annul three laws enacted between 1941 and 1945 and three Revolutionary Announcements that empower police to censor and control newspapers and other publications. After the new law is enacted, newspapers and other publications will be allowed to circulate without having to seek police permission.

Under the new law, newspaper publishers are only required to register mastheads and notify regulatory authorities under procedures no different from other businesses. They will no longer be required to seek a special licence to publish a newspaper. The law will open a new chapter in the dissemination of news and information in this country. It was drafted by members of the media who serve as NLA members and was passed unanimously by the interim legislative body.

Journalists and newspaper publishers had tried several times to persuade successive governments to scrap anti-media freedom laws but had always failed to do so. This time around, thanks to the extraordinary circumstances following the September 19, 2006 coup by the military against the Thaksin government, and with public support, they have succeeded in achieving what in theory should be unfettered media freedom.

But greater media freedom must be accompanied by greater responsibility. The Thai media must never forget the sad and shameful episode when many of their members allowed themselves to be manipulated by the Thaksin government at the height of its power between 2001 and 2005. Members of the media had been put to the ultimate test and they failed to pass it. They were conditioned or compelled by Thaksin to betray their ethics for survival or for profits.

Thaksin made it clear to media proprietors and editors that any attempt to maintain objectivity in news reporting and professional integrity would come with a high price. And many media outlets, in both print as well as broadcast, buckled and capitulated. What is interesting is that Thaksin hardly ever used the often-archaic anti-press laws, the ones that will be abolished in the coming days when the new printing law is enacted. Thaksin used economic pressure to wear down the independent media by, among other things, withholding the advertising budgets of state enterprises under its supervision.

Media outlets that toed the invisible line drawn by that government and withheld criticism against it were rewarded with huge advertisement revenues from state enterprises under government control. The electronic media, not quite an unwilling victim to begin with, received direct orders from the Thaksin government to swamp news programmes with favourable news about the prime minister and his government, leaving little or no room for dissenting voices.

Several media outlets abandoned Thaksin and began to exercise fair criticism only when it became obvious that the former PM had taken a severe beating. This happened around mid-2005 after a string of high-profile corruption scandals became public knowledge.

The imminent enforcement of the new printing law will leave news media professionals with no excuse not to perform their duty honestly as the eyes and ears of society. Independent media have an important role to play in a democracy. Media freedom and individual freedom of expression are so entwined as to be inseparable. If left to do their job professionally in an environment that guarantees the free flow of, and access to, information, independent media can help strengthen democracy, bolster the rule of law and ensure the good governance and public accountability of the government of the day.

In a pluralistic marketplace of ideas, members of the public can judge for themselves whether the mass media is doing a good job or not. But if the mass media can learn a valuable lesson from the dark days of press freedom under Thaksin it is this: doing a good job as independent media is not always profitable or convenient.