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Today is World Press Freedom Day. It is a day to reflect on the importance of press freedom around the world. Unfortunately, the state of press freedom in Thailand today is a disgrace. There is not much to discuss these days that would make the Thai people proud of our traditionally free press system.

This is because the elected politicians who are currently in the government, headed by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, do not respect the duty of the media to monitor his government's performance and report to the public directly. In addition, they constantly try to destroy the credibility of the press and continuously belittle the Thai media. The top Cabinet leaders are control freaks when it comes to the media. Samak and his lieutenant, PM's Office Minister Jakrapob Penkair, who is responsible for the media, are the most vivid examples of this. They have foul mouths and together and separately are capable of the most obnoxious diatribes against the media and anybody else who disagrees with them.

The prime minister has been at war with the media since his government first took power. That is nothing new. Throughout his political career, he has thrived on adversarial relations with the press. From time to time, he would brag that he also was a journalist, as he was a columnist in his younger days. That experience has not helped him to understand the role of the media in modern society today. That much is clear. If anything, apart from his surrogate boss, Thaksin, Samak must be considered one of the most unpleasant Thai leaders ever to refuse to give a straight answer to the media. Thaksin had similar habits, but he was not as bad as Samak when it comes to mocking and belittling journalists. Both leaders use young and inexperienced journalists to advance their political agenda and interests. Thaksin was subtler, but equally abusive.

The Thai Journalists Association today will release a report containing the findings of a study of Samak's political discourse. The report examines the comments, interviews - including radio and TV talk-show appearances - made by the prime minister since he took up the premiership earlier this year. The report concludes that Samak is a non-responsive leader who uses every trick of the trade to evade, lie and stonewall rather than provide facts and give an accurate picture of what is going on in the country on a day-to-day basis. He also is rude, impolite and uses abusive language, both during interviews and in the commentaries on his programmes. He also has made sarcastic remarks against journalists. He is extremely insensitive to gender and has no respect for female journalists.

During the weekend, he rules the airwaves; his Saturday talk show is stuffed with cheap anecdotes and nostalgic assessments of yesteryear Thailand. His Sunday TV monologue has similar content, but adds his stoic visage. Using common language and street colloquialisms, he is proud that he can speak the common language and be frank during his public broadcasts. Certainly being frank should be encouraged, but not when a leader pretends to be frank and down to earth knowing full well that his discourse is not what those listening think it is.

Thailand has paid a very high toll for democracy this time round. Having won a parliamentary majority seems to give the current government the mandate of the heavens to do anything at any time, even to introduce self-destructive policies.

Working in tandem with Samak, Jakrapob has dramatically turned and spun all news related to the government to an incredible degree.

Jakrapob's vision of public broadcasting is comical and unprofessional. Together with his cohorts in the party, he has used all of the superficial means available to him to promote individuals in his party, disguising it as being in the national interest. It is a sad situation at the moment: the media's space has been contaminated by the government's unhealthy attitude and leadership gaffes.

In the next day or two, worldwide media monitoring organisations, as part of the celebration of World Press Freedom Day, will release their annual assessments concerning the state of the world's press. These assessments are independent and pivotal to gauge the condition of the Thai press. This year, as in the previous seven, the condition of the Thai press remains unsatisfactory.