Thai "journalism"

The ex-pat community of Thailand has, by and large, a perspective shaped by the English language mass-media, specifically the Bangkok Post or The Nation. I guess they don't have much else to go on, and assume that Thailand works the same way as back home, with a free and fearless press and Pulitzer-prize-winning journalists

Someone who recently worked for The Bangkok Post has now told his story. As with everything else in Thailand, nothing is as it seems. The effect is the same on the ex-pats as a foreigner, knowing little about America, settles there and has as his only source of "information" Fox News

http://www.cjr.org/criticism/thailand_bangkok_post.php

Spoiler alert (especially for catawampuscat): the word "gay" appears nowhere in the story

[fountainhall]

Fascinating article, but not entirely surprising to those who have lived here for some time and who know writers and the occasional journalist. With rare exceptions investigative journalism just does not exist, and certainly nowhere can it be found in the English media. The powers-that-be just do not see the duty of the media in the same light as in many western societies.

Despite the writerтАЩs brief comment on journalistic ethics in Myanmar and Cambodia, Thailand is far from unique in Asia in what appears in the media versus what actually happens. I have seen here how newspapers donтАЩt bother employing journalists with knowledge in a specific area of expertise. In the field in which I work around the region тАУ no, not the one with those dead pigs! тАУ I have seen how media releases are merely printed verbatim but only because editors know the originating organization will have crafted them with self-censorship very much in mind.

This has for some years been the subject of an on-going discussion in Hong Kong where once the freest press in the region has become less free, partly due to sensitivities over how Beijing might react. And if Hong Kong is regressing, SingaporeтАЩs media is virtually an organ of the state. As even wikipedia states, тАЬthere are close ties between the directors of Singapore Press Holdings and the Singapore Government.тАЭ SPH publishes 18 newspapers in 4 languages in the city-state, including all the main English and Chinese publications.

I have seen in Japan how the countryтАЩs political structure puts officialdom above the law. Despite freedom of the press being enshrined in law thanks to MacArthur and his occupying forces, each branch of government has its own corps of dedicated reporters. Only if you belong to that cosy little club are you are invited to the official media functions of that branch. Step out of line and you are out in the cold: your invitations are withdrawn, your newspaper cannot report and your job is in jeopardy. As one highly experienced author puts it, тАЬJournalists beware тАУ reporting in Japan is like walking on quicksand.тАЭ

And as the 2014 World Press Freedom Index states, "Discrimination against freelance and foreign reporters resulting from JapanтАЩs unique system of Kisha clubs, whose members are the only journalists to be granted government accreditation, has increased since Fukushima . . . Now that Prime Minister Shinzo AbeтАЩs government has tightened the legislation on 'state secrets,' their fight will get even more dangerous."

Worse, Japan has a special term for television news reports and documentaries which have been cooked up. тАЬYaraseтАЭ often pay those who appear in them to lie and perform acting gigs. They are entirely fake. About 15 years ago it was discovered that one Police Department had an official manual titled тАЭGuidelines for Measures to Handle Disgraceful and Other Events.тАЭ Being interpreted, that was to educate officers on how to keep information from the public, shield colleagues who had strayed and protect them from exposure. Come to think of it, that's hardly any different to police practices in the certain parts of the land of the free, if recent news reports are to be believed! Yet these are freely exposed when discovered. Not so in Japan.

So Thailand is far from unique. The Bangkok Post is fine for reading agency reports and doing cryptic crossword puzzles. For hard news, with luck you might find it on the internet.

Perhaps you're forgetting fountainhall that most ex-pats find reading Thaivisa an intellectual challenge

[Oliver]

I'd be interested to know how large the circulations of Thai newspapers are. I don't recall seeing them being read on buses and in restaurants to any extent. Am I right to assume that most Thais rely on TV and (in the case of the younger generation) the internet? And what is the level of literacy, particularly among the over 50s?

It surprises me that Thailand boasts (if that's the word) two relatively articulate English language dailies, both of which are clearly aimed at the well-educated. They are certainly not Red-tops like the ones that befoul UK society....even if their politics are anathema to me. How did this come about? how many are sold? and to whom? ex-pats and tourists only?

In general, the political events of the last decade have disturbed me to such an extent that, were it not for a certain person living in Kamphaeng Phaet, Thailand would be on my "boycott" list. In this respect, the revelations above don't shock me. What does appal is the easy ride that the mainstream UK media- with the exception of The Guardian- gives to the obnoxious junta now in power.

[Smiles]

" ... Spoiler alert (especially for catawampuscat): the word "gay" appears nowhere in the story ... "
Doesn't matter as long as you can somehow slide the word 'Thai' in ... which you did. So I guess this thread will not end up in 'Everything Else'.
You could have 100% ensured that (insurance?) if you had just added the phrase " ... and a lucky Thai guy sat on my face".

[arsenal]

A free press and genuinely democratic political system is the preserve of actually very few countries.

[fountainhall]

Perhaps you're forgetting fountainhall that most ex-pats find reading Thaivisa an intellectual challenge
Never look at it, but expect you are not far from the truth.


A free press and genuinely democratic political system is the preserve of actually very few countries.
Agreed. Interesting to get your views on which countries these might be. It certainly cannot include the USA where money elects candidates.


What does appal is the easy ride that the mainstream UK media- with the exception of The Guardian- gives to the obnoxious junta now in power.
Do you really believe more than a few handfuls of people in the UK (apart from those of Thai origin) care how Thailand is ruled? And do these same people talk about the obnoxious government in Singapore? Singapore is no democracy yet it is lauded the world over as a model example of how to develop a first world country from a muddy swamp. Sure it has a voting system тАУ a rigged one тАУ and it thinks nothing of using the law courts to help ensure one party stays in power and to muzzle press freedom. To all intents and purposes, it is far more a dictatorship than a democracy.

How about Malaysia where, like Singapore, one party has been in power for its entire existence and where racial policies give preference to the Bumi Malay population and the press is far from free?

" ... Spoiler alert (especially for catawampuscat): the word "gay" appears nowhere in the story ... "
Doesn't matter as long as you can somehow slide the word 'Thai' in ... which you did. So I guess this thread will not end up in 'Everything Else'.
You could have 100% ensured that (insurance?) if you had just added the phrase " ... and a lucky Thai guy sat on my face".Noblesse oblige

The BP has decided to respond (http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/530563/bangkok-post-editor-statement-on-cjr-justin-heifetz-article), giving the whole thing much more credibility than if they had failed to give it oxygen (perhaps a447 is advising them). I was gratified to read that the BP is a champion for farang employees everywhere in Thailand giving their Thai employer the finger (http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/give+the+finger) as they march purposefully out of the building, rather than slink away in some face-saving cowardly way. Thank goodness that takes pretty much half their response, otherwise we'd never have known.

[arsenal]

Fountainhall: A good question and certainly one to which I don't have the answer. I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that only a few countries can make democracy work. And it requires the almost total consent of the people in order to do so. The acceptance that when your chosen party loses it lost a mostly free and fair election and the reasonable expectations that because the election was mostly free and fair next time you'll win.
I also certainly do include the US in that. Since the start of the 20th century, unless I've miscounted The Republicans and The Democrats have a tie on 14 Presidential terms each with the next one completely up for grabs. How much more democratic can it get?

[Oliver]

Perhaps US could outlaw the funding of ambitious politicians by ultra-right, ultra-wealthy crazies like Adelson, thereby eliminating the stranglehold of the rich over the democratic process? Or perhaps ensure that Afro-Americans aren't denied their voting rights by pettifogging racist state politicians?

I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that only a few countries can make democracy work. I also certainly do include the US in that ... How much more democratic can it get?
There's a body of research which suggests that equality of income (as measured by the Gini Coefficient (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient)) and democracy (as measured by, say, the Democracy Index (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index) (an index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit)) are positively correlated.

Thailand scores a lowly 5.39 in the Democracy Index (93rd out of 167) so definitely in the bottom half, and 89th (of 187) of the UN Development Reports (around the middle). Thailand therefore probably lacks the preconditions for a robust democracy, whatever the aspirations of the majority of the population.

Fukuyama makes essentially the same point in his recently published second volume of Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalisation of Democracy. He is particularly pessimistic about the capacity of the USA to remain a functional democracy. He argues that the political institutions that allowed the United States to become a successful modern democracy are beginning to decay. The division of powers has always created a potential for gridlock. But two big changes have turned potential into reality: political parties are polarised along ideological lines and powerful interest groups exercise a veto over policies they dislike. America has degenerated into a тАЬvetocracyтАЭ. It is almost incapable of addressing many of its serious problems, from illegal immigration to stagnating living standards; it may even be degenerating into what Fukuyama calls a тАЬneopatrimonialтАЭ society in which dynasties control blocks of votes and political insiders trade power for favours. (This paragraph is, by the way, from a review of his book. I don't claim it as my own).

[arsenal]

Kommentariat: A really interesting point. The US is in decline as a global power and the decline of empires does tend to bring internal strife. The US also has the problem that as they decline another empire (China) rises virtually unchallenged.
The vetocracy mentioned could become a particular problem. This is pretty much what happened to Britain during the 60s and 70s when unelected unions wielded considerable power over all aspects of life. It required a conviction politician with the strength of character that Thatcher had to drive through policies to unblock the logjam that was basically paralysing the country.

Perhaps you're forgetting fountainhall that most ex-pats find reading Thaivisa an intellectual challenge
Never look at it, but expect you are not far from the truth.
Those who read Thaivisa may find this column on Thaivisa (http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/StickmanWeeklyColumn2015/George-Thai-Visa.htm) and its mysterious owner "George" to be of interest

[Oliver]

Arsenal's comments on the despised Thatcher suggests that it's along time since he's been in the UK. No one did more to bring stagnation, poverty and despair to vast parts of the UK than that Poujardiste....and it would be hard to find anyone with a good word for her outside the ranks of homophobes, racist little-Englanders, banksters and wealthy Conservatives. The best that could be said for her is that, in retrospect, she is as much a figure of fun as one of hatred.
I appreciate that the right wing crazies of the US Republican Party admire her but then they would, wouldn't they?

[Rogie]

Those who read Thaivisa may find its mysterious owner "George" to be of interest

I like Thai Visa more than I dislike it, and subscribe to their daily digest. Not that I read everything that's listed - that would be an intellectual challenge for sure - so I just pick out a few that look interesting. Even then I seldom wade through every single post; with over 100 replies far from unusual, it gets really tedious with so many posters repeating essentially the same thing. But there are occasionally some good threads, such as those dealing with all things Thai, sometimes called Thainess, similar to what some people refer to as their 'I don't get it list'. And who can resist (well I know you can really) subject matter with titles such as Stinking toilet paper in the bin - why?
. That little beaut was posted on Monday and is well on its way to a ton of replies - needless to say most of them are a waste of space.

I read the Stickman piece and, as I've often enjoyed reading Andrew Drummond-style articles, I lapped it up. But, as for all those awful mods, his comments go too far IMO. If you've been banned or had your post edited no doubt you will feel victimised but it's not so hard to abide by the rules (although there are certainly some that can be annoying) but as for getting banned surely you've got to be a rather naughty little chap to face the chop. True, some mods love to flaunt their knowledge, but surely they're quite within their rights to do that, especially as often they are genuinely most helpful.

Curiosity: For some reason Thai Visa doesn't allow links to the Bangkok Post, although The Nation is allowed.

[arsenal]

Oliver: I was particularly careful to neither support nor criticise Thatcher. I was merely making the point that it took someone of her strength of character to take Britain out of the hands of a virtual oligarchy.

[Up2U]

The Erika Fry story - Escape from Thailand.

http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/fry_ ... p?page=all (http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/fry_in_thailand.php?page=all)

[Up2U]

CJR admits "errors of fact" in journalist article.

http://asiancorrespondent.com/132326/cj ... um=twitter (http://asiancorrespondent.com/132326/cjr-admits-errors-of-fact-in-us-journalists-bangkok-post-takedown/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter)