log: media:
There’s “pro-democracy”… | 18.03.07
And there’s pro-democracy.
The Thai media is so rotten that when reading the “pro-democracy” description, one has to ask whether it means pro-coup or anti-coup, junta-hugging or junta-hating.
Anyway, here’s an anti-coup, junta-hating kind of pro-democracy protest:
Anti-coup groups staged a rally at Sanam Luang yesterday to renew their attacks against the Sept 19 coup and vowed to continue their protest today outside the residence of Privy Council president Prem Tinsulanonda. Statesman Gen Prem is among the key figures targeted by pro-democracy groups.
They allege he played an active role in opposing deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and was influential in securing the appointment of current Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont.
From Minitrue | 22.09.06
As a martial-law-abiding citizen, I am happy to propagate this important information from the officially-sanctioned organ: (translated from Thai by yours truly)
ICT adopts policies of the Council for Reforming Democracy with the King as Head of State.
As the Council for Reforming Democracy with the King as Head of State has issued an Order 5/2549 authorizing Mr. Kraisorn Pornsuthee, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) control and guide internet service providers (ISP), web masters, cellular phone networks of all types, and the mass media of all kinds in their delivery of news and information through their services, which may cause disorder and conflicts in the country. On September 21, Kraisorn Pornsuthee, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, has invited internet service providers (ISP), web masters, cellular phone networks of all types, and representatives from the mass media of all kinds to attend a brief about the control of news and information in order not to cause impact on the Reforms Democracy with the King as Head of State.
From the meeting, [we] have reached the conclusion that every kind of media including every web site must verify the information with the Army’s Channel 5 Television and Radio Station and the web site of the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology every time before broadcasting. As to the expression of opinions through websites or threads [forums], the web master should screen and administer the content of the web site using appropriate personal judgment. As for the expression of opinions through SMS, MMS, telephone calls on television and radio programs, let [all this] be suspended temporarily.
The Council for Reforming Democracy with the King as Head of State thereby designates the web site of the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology as the center for spreading news and information of the Council for Reforming Democracy with the King as Head of State, which the public can follow orders of The Council for Reforming Democracy with the King as Head of State, including the video clips that have been aired at www.mict.co.th.
For more info on Minitrue, see here.
Fun, new censorship | 21.09.06
From what I could make out, CNN’s Stan Grant could not have been more pro-coup than he was this morning. Thaksin was a “divisive figure”, he kept repeating, so the Thais were happy to see the back of him. He even cited local newspapers as the gauge of public sentiment.
That gave me an idea, abortion is a divisive issue in the States. Why not just have some M-1s roll over abortion clinics and be done with it? I can guarantee you that there will be some citizens among the 300 million who greet the troops with flowers!
Mind you, however, that I said “from what I could make out”. Unbeknownst to our hard-headed correspondent, his very live reporting was being censored by the fun, new coup stagers. The broadcast was blacked out twice when Thaksin’s name was mentioned and CNN ran a corresponding footage of him. I don’t know whether the censor needed a visual cue to know what Grant was talking about, or perhaps only Thaksin’s picture, and not his name, was verboten. But the effect was uncannily familiar. No, this sort of think never happened during Thaksin’s “Iron Fist” rule. I’m thinking rather of my two years in the People’s Republic of China.
Well, to be very precise, it wasn’t the same thing. As far as I know the Thai authorities have no capacity to block CNN’s satellite signal. That isn’t necessary, though. Most Thais who can get CNN do so through the cable company called UBC, me included. Since UBC is not supposed to contain commercials, the cable people needed to interrupt the signal during the commercial breaks of live shows. What comes on instead changes every now and then, but the most recent version is a red screen with a roster of American idols (think Britney and Christina) fading in and out one after another. UBC viewers will know exactly what I’m talking about, and it was precisely that screen that appeared in place of Stan Grant’s report about the toppled prime minister.
Sure, some people will say that’s an improvement over the evil “Square Face”. I mean, if a military coup is, why not censorship? Flowers for the Censors!
PS Yesterday, an ITV camera cheekily panned to not-for-viewing areas of the studio, which was crawling with the Men in Green. Cozy, the host said.
The Royal Card, part MMDCCCIX | 20.09.06
The New York Times:
Overnight, General Sondhi was shown on television in an audience with King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a clear indication that the revered constitutional monarch endorsed the move.
Funny, I was watching idolatrous television reports about the coup and its stagers all day yesterday — people giving them flowers, 80-percent-plus popular support for the putsch, fast-cut footages of troops movements accompanied by martial music. But I don’t see the reported audience with the king. A Mercedes motorcade carrying the coup cabal into the royal compound, yes, but not the actual meeting.
Doubtlessly the meeting did take place — late into the night, and after tanks have taken strategic positions and assets all over Bangkok, not before. Nobody knows what the conversation was like, and not even the Times claims to do. Does the king have any choices but to “endorse” a successful coup d’etat? There have been more successful military coups in Thailand than I care to count, not least during the current reign. Which ones did the king not endorse?
Yesterday evening, the king appointed General Sonthi as the head of the Ka-na-pa-ti-roop-karn-pok-krong-nai-ra-bob-pra-cha-thip-pa-tai-un-mee-pra-ma-ha-ka-sat-song-pen-pra-mook. That happens what the putsch pushers euphemistically if laboriously call themselves. So the king anointed the coup leader as the coup leader, a position that he had officially held throughout the day since his own formal declaration in the morning. Some endorsement.
Seriously, according to CNN’s Stan Grant, it is precisely that. Needless to say, this hard-headed newsman takes at face value the tortuously named “council” and the little yellow rags soldiers tie to their arms, rifles, and tank cannons.
But anyway, who am I not to defer to the judgment of the international media on Thailand’s royal matters? They have spotted many a “clear indication” that escaped me before.
Coup, the media angle | 20.09.06
Last night, Army-run Channel 5 was the first to interrupt normal programming and put on hymns glorifying the king.
Between 10 and 11 pm, government-run Modern 9 TV broadcast Prime Minister Thaksin’s declaration of the state of emergency. Reporting real-time from Bangkok like a resourceful international correspondent that he was, CNN’s Dan Rivers referred to that as “some sort of address”.
At this point, the other channels ran neither the hymns nor the PM’s declaration.
By midnight, however, all of the free channels, including Modern 9, were gone. Monarch TV music videos looped over and over, interrupted only by the coup stagers’ brief text and video declaration. In the video, an army general in civilian clothing read a statement proclaiming the coup successful.
Shortly afterwards, UBC, the country’s most extensive cable operator, announced a “technical problem” and a blackout ensued.
Tellingly, during this near-total media shutdown, the coup stagers allowed two news channels, Nation Channel and Sondhi’s ASTV to broadcast as normal.
Our coup stagers were friends of the press after all, eh? Or is it the other way round?
Around 9:30 am, the Army Chief, flanked by the two other military chiefs, the police chief, and a dorky token representing civil servants, issued the first formal declaration. The putsch pushers went by the tortuous name of Ka-na-pa-ti-roop-karn-pok-krong-nai-ra-bob-pra-cha-thip-pa-tai-un-mee-pra-ma-ha-ka-sat-song-pen-pra-pra-mook (Commision for Reforming Democracy with the Monarch as Head of State.)
(A side note: the Army Chief is the biggest cheese in the Thai military, far bigger than the “Supreme Commander” or any putative civilian master. The Police force is modeled after the military, complete with “police generals”.)
The shutdown ended shortly after. All the television channels began with news of the coup, which everybody approves of and which everybody thinks will bring peace and prosperity.
Cable television resumed, but news channels such as CNN and the BBC are still blocked.
At 11 o’clock, the old suited general returned with an order for the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology basically to crack down on… what’s the wording… unhelpful activities? harmful propagation? Anyway, it has to do with the internet, and we all know precisely what it is.
And we now also know why media interference, which was one of the most oft-heard charges against the Thaksin government, was not cited among a litany of reasons for the coup. Nor will there be a whimper from our intrepid media, which, like all bullies, only pick on those who cannot fight back. Four legs good, two legs better, the putsch-over will say.
Through all of this, a clueless-expat-turned-CNN-iReporter blamed the government’s censorship.
Thanks for allowing me to follow the news because every channel is now blocked! It is incredible how the government wants to hide what is going on to Thai people! I just saw a tank on Rama IV where I live a few minutes ago … I hope everything will be alright in a few days … and I hope that the Internet will not be blocked too. [Emphasis added.]
Julien Guilbert, Bangkok, Thailand
Where on earth do they find these people? Thailand, of course. Mostly around Patpong and Nana.
update CNN and the BBC are now back on. It’s not clear why they bothered to block CNN in the first place. Aneesh Raman couldn’t have been more pro-coup, and more wrong, than he was last night. The BBC reporter, on the other hand, called the coup a step backward Thailand, which was more obviously true than I thought the international media was capable of reporting. Also to its credit, the Beeb last night realized quickly its mistake of interviewing Pasuk Phongpaichit live, and cut her off after maybe fifteen halting, laborious and substanceless words.