APRIL 19-20, 2001 BANGKOK THAILAND CONTENTS 1 Thai journalists breathe air of reform and freedom, assume watchdog role Thai press improving by the day, former prime minister says 2 BOARD OF TRUSTEES 3 News media awarded good marks for coverage of milestone free election Charles L. Overby, chairman 4 Thai editors cheered by credibility gains and chief executive officer 4 Journalists association will get new Bangkok headquarters Peter S. Prichard, president 5 Deregulation of TV, radio hinges on public support Harry W. Brooks Jr. Executive shows latest in online news coverage Madelyn P. Jennings 6 Malcolm R. Kirschenbaum 7 Thais worry about their global image Bette Bao Lord Brian Mulroney 8 Forum in Bangkok spotlights emergence of a free press Jan Neuharth 9 Getting to know Cambodia Will Norton Jr. Josefina A. Salas-Porras John Seigenthaler Paul Simon Mark Trahant Flowering of Thai press coincides Judy Woodruff with emergence of democracy Allen H. Neuharth, founder EDITORIAL: Thailand is a country in transition. A bloody confrontation between Maurice R. Fliess soldiers and demonstrators in 1992 led to reforms that ended 60 years of Rod Sandeen DESIGN: military control of daily life, including access to information. Vibrant and Daniel Renero free print media have sprung up to meet the needs of a democratic Thai PHOTOS: society, but television and radio remain tightly regulated by the government. Judy G. Rolfe MAP: Against that background made “a lot of progress” in Grant Jerding The Freedom Forum spon- moving beyond being part of sored the first of four 2001 the problem (accepting gifts THE FREEDOM FORUM WORLD CENTER international forums on “The and favors) and toward being 1101 Wilson Blvd. Media and Political Change.” part of the solution (exposing Arlington, VA 22209 USA The two-day Asia Media corrupt practices). But inves- Tel: 703/528-0800 Forum attracted 100-175 tigative reporting of corrup- Fax: 703/284-3529 journalists and journalism tion often lacks follow- E-mail: [email protected] educators to venues in through, he said, and free and Internet: www.freedomforum.org Bangkok, the Thai capital city independent broadcast media THE FREEDOM FORUM ASIAN CENTER that serves as the Southeast are “an impossible dream for Offices 1501-03, 15th Floor Asian hub for international the moment.” Shui On Centre, 6-8 Harbour Road news organizations. Chris Wells, senior vice Other program segments Wanchai, Hong Kong In a briefing for a president/international of analyzed news-media cover- Phone: 852-2596-0018 Freedom Forum delegation The Freedom Forum age of Thailand’s landmark Fax: 852-2598-8818 just before the forum, U.S. election last Jan. 6, overall E-mail: [email protected] Embassy officials said the news media have quality of Thai journalism, the prospect for ORDER PUBLICATIONS BY PHONE: become more prominent in Thai life and are deregulation of the airwaves, advances in The Freedom Forum makes available being relied upon as the eyes and ears of online news, and Thailand’s image as pro- single copies of a wide range of the citizenry. But average pay of $200 a jected by international news organizations. conference reports, studies, speeches month for reporters and $400 a month for “The forum highlighted the issues facing and other publications related to the editors is an impediment to greater effective- the media reporting on political change in news media and the First Amendment. To request a publications list call ness. A major challenge, U.S. Ambassador Thailand,” said Chris Wells, senior vice pres- 800/830-3733. Richard E. Hecklinger said, is to uncover ident/international of The Freedom Forum. corruption that taints Thai society. “It’s a “Whenever societies face political change, ONLINE: daunting battle, and it has to be waged not from the mildest to the most controversial, The Freedom Forum’s online news only by the media but in the media,” he the media have a crucial role to play,” she service is on the Internet at www.freedomforum.org. This service said. said. is a timely source of information Anand Panyarachun, a reform-minded The other three 2001 forums are sched- about the Newseum, the First former prime minister, said in a keynote uled for Croatia in June, Nicaragua in Amendment, newsroom diversity address that Thailand’s print media have September and Zambia in October. and international media issues. Thai journalists breathe air of reform and freedom, assume watchdog role “We have freedom of Reporting politics remains a dangerous business for the news the press in Thailand, media in Thailand. but nobody in the news In a single decade, working conditions have evolved from dictatori- al suppression to conditions so free that Thailand now is associated media believes it yet.” with the Philippines and India as having the freest press in Asia. Yet — Sorajak Kasemsuvan, the rules of the game have not been defined. Mass Communication Organization of Thailand “The legacy of decades of military and government con- trol, as well as the power of others in exchange for favors or gifts. big business groups and indi- As Thailand’s news media have moved vidual politicians, means that beyond this tradition over the past decade, the Thai media [are] still reform has become a powerful aroma in struggling to establish a new the Thai air. balance between the demands In March, the Thai Journalists of commercialism and the Association presented its annual story-of- responsibility of a free the-year award to The Prachachart Business, a [press],” Kavi Chongkittavorn, newspaper published by the Matichon managing editor of The Group, for its exposé last September of Nation in Bangkok, wrote in Arnold Zeitlin, director of Susan Bennett, director/Asian alleged attempts by then-candidate “Losing Control,” a book The Freedom Forum Asian and European programs of Thaksin to hide his wealth by assigning published last year in Center The Freedom Forum shares in his corporations to his domestic Australia. He also is president servants, drivers and security guards. of the Thai Journalists Association and director general of the Mass Communi- Thaksin now faces charges before chairman of the Southeast Asian Press cation Organization of Thailand, which Thailand’s Constitutional Court that could Alliance. controls television and radio stations as cost him his high office. As recently as Feb. 7 of this year, 23 well as a cable television network. “We Prasong Lertratanawisute, executive journalists and production staff of ITV — have freedom of the press in Thailand, but editor of The Prachachart Business, said the started in 1996 as the first and only inde- nobody in the news media believes it yet,” stories evolved from a routine public pendent television station in Thailand — he said. “They feel they still are victims.” statement by Thaksin notifying the were fired one day after they complained Press freedom is young and fragile — Securities Exchange Commission of a about the station’s news stance on political and old practices have deep roots. From change in his corporation’s shareholding coverage during the campaign leading up the mid-1970s through the 1980s, the structure. Prasong's editorial staff used the to the Jan. 6 national election. The over- military held over the heads of the news government’s Commerce Ministry Web site whelming winner in that election was the media a notorious Decree 42 that allowed to trace Thaksin’s shares. Thai Rak Thai Party of new Prime Minister arbitrary closing of the press and required Dangers to the media in Thailand are Thaksin Shinawatra. His Shin Corp. licensing of printers, publishers, editors exemplified by Amnat Jongyoting, editor bought a controlling interest in ITV last and newspaper owners. By 1990 the of Phaknua, a daily in Chiang Mai, May before the election campaign started, decree had been abolished. Thailand’s second-largest city. He was shot essentially ending Thailand’s experiment Journalists such as Suthichai Yoon, in April 2000 by soldiers allegedly in the with independent TV. All other television co-founder and former managing editor pay of a local politician who opposed the stations are controlled by either the mili- of The Nation, now consider journalists to editor’s reporting. Amnat spent a month in tary or the government or are operated pri- be watchdogs. He titled a collection of the hospital. vately under government concession. his Thai-language newspaper columns Amnat vows to stay on the job, or, as Management of ITV defended its “Ma Fao Ban,” which translates as his daughter Micky said, “He will go on action, saying some employees were fired Watchdog. fighting, even if his life is not safe. At because they showed a “hostile” attitude. The watchdog role represents a dra- present, he only stays in his office. He is a Others were said to have been fired for matic departure for the Thai press, which little bird in the cage, always demanding economic reasons. over the years has been associated with freedom. He hopes one day the ‘mafias’ No surprise, said Sorajak Kasemsuvan, playing favorites among politicians and will be gone from his lovely fatherland.” THE Media AND Political Change ASIA 1 Thai press improving by the day, former prime minister says Former prime minister Anand Panyarachun said the press in Thailand had made great strides over the past decade and is positioned for further improvements in the years ahead. Known in the region as a champion of he said, is in following through. “We need press freedom, Anand said Thai journalists investigative reporting that can be sustained “have made a lot of progress” in moving up to the point of conclusion, one way or beyond a history of accepting gifts from the other,” he said. news sources and other business acquain- Allowing an investigative project to fiz- tances.