Thai Internet Reporters Association

 

RSF : Thailand - Annual report 2007

February 5th, 2007

from Reporters without Borders’ Annual report 2007

 

Area: 514,000 sq. km.

Population: 64,233,000.

Language: Thai.

Head of government: General Surayud Chulanont.

Thailand - Annual report 2007

Before he was overthrown in a military coup in September, Thaksin Shinawatra had continued to weaken the independence of the media and to harass dissidents. The government set up by the junta has not lifted pressure or censorship, particularly online.

 

The year 2006 turned into a nightmare for Prime Minister and media magnate Thaksin Shinawatra. At the start of the year, the Thaksin clan suffered a stinging defeat in the courts with the victory of press freedom activist Supinya Klangnarong whom it had tried to gag. She had in particular condemned the head of state’s conflict of interests. Under growing pressure from street demonstrations, Thaksin Shinawatra mobilised his supporters against media hostile to the government. At least six journalists were physically attacked or threatened in April by some of his supporters. Despite his promises, the prime minister continued to bring “defamation” suits against media who criticised him, demanding grossly inflated damages. In 2006, at least five journalists were sacked as a result of government pressure.

 

The leading newspapers decided to make a stand against the interventionism of the Thaksin government and in May carried a collective editorial in which they stressed their commitment to public service journalism. The Thai Journalists’ Association (TJA) also campaigned for defamation to be decriminalised.

 

During the 19 September coup, troops were deployed around TV stations and the junta, which proclaimed itself the National Security Council, threatened to bring back censorship. The national terrestrial channels along with CNN and the BBC broadcast on cable were blacked out for several hours, apart from the independent Nation TV. A few hours after the coup, the new information minister instructed the media to be “co-operative” and “to limit, control, stop or destroy news which could damage the constitutional monarchy”. In the days following the coup, around 300 community radios suspected of supporting Thaksin Shinawatra, were shut down in the northern provinces. General Surayud Chulanont, who was named as interim prime minister on 1st October, promised to guarantee press freedom and to draw up a new constitution, to “cleanse the country of corruption” and to pacify the Muslim south. It was only on 11 December that the government lifted martial law in 40 of the country’s 76 provinces. A thousand people took advantage of the situation to urge Bangkok to restore the 1997 constitution, of which Articles 39, 40 and 41 guaranteed press freedom.

 

The press, which was mostly favourable to the departure of Thaksin, did not get much more freedom from the military government. Journalists questioned by Reporters Without Borders confirmed that they were still under pressure. When in December the administration presented a budget in which military spending was hiked by 34%, the press did not dare publish critical editorials. Likewise, the Thai Journalists’ Broadcast Association (TJBA) said in October that the television was no freer after the end of the Thaksin regime. “In the past, we suffered from self-censorship. Today, we cannot even investigate the activities of the junta (…) we are being stifled”, said one of the organisers of the TBJA, three weeks after the coup.

 

Under the threat of the crime of “lese majesty”, punishable by 15 years in prison, the press is very limited in talking about King Bhumibol Adulyadej and his family, who quickly gave their support to the military government. During anti-government demonstrations, Thaksin Shinawatra and his opponents mutually accused each other of such an offence, putting several media magnates, including his fierce opponent Sondhi Limthongkul, at risk of being sentenced to heavy prison terms.

 

The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology acknowledges that it blocks thousands of website, most of them pornographic. A few sites criticising the king or condemning corruption are also filtered. In the days after the coup, there was an increase in cases of political censorship online. Some pages of the BBC and CNN, along with Thai online publications hostile to the army takeover, were made inaccessible. By the end of 2006, filtering of the Internet had returned to its usual level.

Professional and ethical standards

Since the development of professional journalism at the beginning of the 20th Century, journalists have been expected to follow a stringent code of journalistic conduct that requires them to, among other things:

• Use original sources of information, including interviews with people directly involved in a story, original documents and other direct sources of information, whenever possible, and cite the sources of this information in reports;
  • For more information on using sources, see Journalism sourcing.
• Fully attribute information gathered from other published sources, should original sources not be available (to not do so is considered plagiarism; some newspapers also note when an article uses information from previous reports);
• Use multiple original sources of information, especially if the subject of the report is controversial;
• Check every fact reported;
• Find and report every side of a story possible;
• Report without bias, illustrating many aspects of a conflict rather than siding with one;
• Approach researching and reporting a story with a balance between objectivity and skepticism.
• Use careful judgment when organizing and reporting information.
• Be careful about granting confidentiality to sources (news organizations usually have specific rules that journalists must follow concerning grants of confidentiality);
• Decline gifts or favors from any subject of a report, and avoid even the appearance of being influenced;
• Abstain from reporting or otherwise participating in the research and writing about a subject in which the journalist has a personal stake or bias that cannot be set aside.

This was in stark contrast to the media climate prior to the 20th Century, where the media market was dominated by smaller newspapers and pamphleteers who usually had an overt and often radical agenda, with no presumpton of balance or objectivity. E.g., see (1).

[edit] Recognition of excellence in journalism

There are several professional organizations, universities and foundations that recognize excellence in journalism. The Pulitzer Prize, administered by Columbia University in New York City, is awarded to newspapers, magazines and broadcast media for excellence in various kinds of journalism. The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism gives the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards for excellence in radio and television journalism, and the Scripps Howard Foundation gives the National Journalism Awards in 17 categories. The Society of Professional Journalists gives the Sigma Delta Chi Award for journalism excellence. In the television industry, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences gives awards for excellence in television journalism

[edit] Failing to uphold standards

Such a code of conduct can, in the real world, be difficult to uphold consistently. Journalists who believe they are being fair or objective may give biased accounts -- by reporting selectively, trusting too much to anecdote, or giving a partial explanation of actions. (See Media bias.) Even in routine reporting, bias can creep into a story through a reporter's choice of facts to summarize, or through failure to check enough sources, hear and report dissenting voices, or seek fresh perspectives.

As much as reporters try to set aside their prejudices, they may simply be unaware of them. Young reporters may be blind to issues affecting the elderly. A 20-year veteran of the "police beat" may be deaf to rumors of departmental corruption. Publications marketed to affluent suburbanites may ignore urban problems. And, of course, naive or unwary reporters and editors alike may fall prey to public relations, propaganda or disinformation.

News organizations provide editors, producers or news directors whose job is to check reporters' work at various stages. But editors can get tired, lazy, complacent or biased. An editor may be blind to a favorite reporter's omissions, prejudices or fabrications. (See Jayson Blair.) Provincial editors also may be ill-equipped to weigh the perspective (or check the facts of) a correspondent reporting from a distant city or foreign country. (See News management.)

A news organization's budget inevitably reflects decision-making about what news to cover, for what audience, and in what depth. Those decisions may reflect conscious or unconscious bias. When budgets are cut, editors may sacrifice reporters in distant news bureaus, reduce the number of staff assigned to low-income areas, or wipe entire communities from the publication's zone of interest.

Publishers, owners and other corporate executives, especially advertising sales executives, can try to use their powers over journalists to influence how news is reported and published. Journalists usually rely on top management to create and maintain a "firewall" between the news and other departments in a news organization to prevent undue influence on the news department. One journalism magazine, Columbia Journalism Review, has made it a practice to reveal examples of executives who try to influence news coverage, of executives who do not abuse their powers over journalists, and of journalists who resist such pressures.

[edit] Reporting versus editorializing

Generally, publishers and consumers of journalism draw a distinction between reporting — "just the facts" — and opinion writing, often by restricting opinion columns to the editorial page and its facing or "op-ed" (opposite the editorials) page. Unsigned editorials are traditionally the official opinions of the paper's editorial board, while op-ed pages may be a mixture of syndicated columns and other contributions, frequently with some attempt to balance the voices across some political or social spectrum.

The distinction between reporting and opinion can break down. Complex stories often require summarizing and interpretation of facts, especially if there is limited time or space for a story. Stories involving great amounts of interpretation are often labelled "news analysis," but still run in a paper's news columns. The limited time for each story in a broadcast report rarely allows for such distinctions.

[edit] Ambush journalism

Ambush journalism refers to aggressive tactics practiced by journalists to suddenly confront with questions people who otherwise do not wish to speak to a journalist. The practice has particularly been applied by television journalists, such as those on the CBS-TV news show 60 Minutes and by Geraldo Rivera, currently on the Fox News cable channel, and by hundreds of American local television reporters conducting investigations.

The practice has been sharply criticized by journalists and others as being highly unethical and sensational, while others defend it as the only way to attempt to provide those subject to it an opportunity to comment for a report. Ambush journalism has not been ruled illegal in the United States, although doing it on private property could open a journalist to being charged with trespassing.

[edit] Gotcha journalism

• For more information, see Gotcha journalism.

Gotcha journalism refers to the deliberate manipulation of the presentation of facts in a report in order to portray a person or organization in a particular way that varies from an accurate portrayal based on balanced review of the facts available. In particular it is applied to broadcast journalism, where the story, images and interviews are tailored to create a particular impression of the subject matter.

It is considered highly unethical to engage in gotcha journalism. Many subjects of reporting have claimed to have been subjected to it, and some media outlets are guilty of deliberately biased reporting.

Journalism is a discipline of gathering, writing and reporting news, and more broadly it includes the process of editing and presenting the news articles. Journalism applies to various media, including newspapers, magazines, radio, and television.

While under pressure to be the first to publish their stories, news media organizations—each adhering to its own standards of accuracy, quality, and style—usually edit and proofread their reports prior to publication. Many news organizations claim proud traditions of holding government officials and institutions accountable to the public,^{[citation needed]} while media critics have raised questions about holding the press itself accountable.

The digitalization of news production and the diffusion capabilities of the internet are challenging the traditional journalistic professional culture.^{[citation needed]} The concept of participatory or citizen journalism proposes that amateur reporters can actually produce their own stories either inside or outside professional media outlets, and thus end the monopoly the press holds over information production.

News-oriented journalism was described by former Washington Post editor, Phil Graham, as "a first rough draft of history", because journalists often record important historical events as they are happening, but just the same, they must produce their news articles on short deadlines