The Reporters Without Borders Annual World Press Freedom Index has been released, and Thailand's ranking has risen to 124th from last year's 135th.
Iceland, Norway and Luxembourg are ranked top of the list with the most free media whereas Eritrea is ranked bottom of the pile. The United Kingdom is ranked in joint 23rd place and the United States in joint 36th place.
In 2002 Thailand was listed in 65th place although the report now includes more countries. The blocking of news websites has been cited in previous reports as just one reason for Thailand's comparative low global ranking, which is behind countries such as Algeria, Angola, Venezuela and Indonesia.
BP: The 2008 report is here and the Asia specific section is here although Thailand isn't mentioned. I blogged on the 2007 index here. Personally, I previously think Thailand's rating during the late 90s early 2000s was previously overrated. The censoring of material about the monarchy has always existed and previoiusly could be done very privately, but with the internet censorship is open to see (i.e if a website is blocked people know about).
However, the censorship of online material (i.e the blocking of certain Wikipedia pages) is more pervasive than we realised as the Bangkok Postreports:
Never has the institution of the monarchy been referred to in political rivalry so explicitly as in the military coup which toppled the administration of Thaksin Shinawatra on Sept 19, 2006.
Coup-makers, led by then army chief Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, cited a threat against the monarchy by the so-called Thaksin regime as one of the four reasons justifying its ordering the tanks onto the streets. ... The appearance of Privy Council President, General Prem Tinsulanonda, during an audience granted to the coup-makers by Their Majesties following the coup, aroused suspicions that Gen Prem might have had a hand in the putsch.
Gen Prem became the inadvertent target of criticism from anti-coup elements, who considered him an intermediary between the institution of the monarchy, the military and the masses.
Mr Thaksin himself was said to have been referring to Gen Prem when he accused a mysterious "extra-constitutional, charismatic figure" of plotting to overthrow his government. Former prime minister Samak Sundaravej's remark about "an invisible hand" causing trouble for his administration was also interpreted to refer to Gen Prem.
The putsch of Sept 19, 2006 appears to have opened the floodgates to anti-Prem and anti-monarchy movements, especially on the internet. More than a thousand websites have spawned, which run public webboards carrying remarks deemed impugning the royal institution which the country holds sacred.
Security authorities have found that most of these websites were developed and and maintained by anti-coup groups loyal to Mr Thaksin.
As the interim government of Gen Surayud Chulanont was nearing the end of its term it formed a group known as Taskforce 6080, to combat websites that took on the institution of the monarchy.
The main focus of Taskforce 6080 has been to dig for information about politicians who harbour ideas that expose a threat to the constitutional monarchy, for use in prosecuting them.
The taskforce operates under the National Security Act and comes under supervision of the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc).
When first set up, Taskforce 6080 was headed by army Commander-in-Chief Gen Anupong Paojinda and then by the chief of Army Region 1, Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha, who continues to head the taskforce. Gen Prayuth is now the army's chief-of-staff and secretary-general of the restructured Isoc.
Gen Anupong and Gen Prayuth, who are from the 21st Infantry Regiment of the Royal Guards, are said to be doing their best to protect the royal institution.
Thanks to the operations of Taskforce 6080, about 400 websites have been shut down as a threat to national security and constitutional monarchy, and another 800 are being investigated.
Most of these websites have webboards which contain inappropriate comments.
Despite being shut down, many of these websites have exploited legal loopholes and sprung back to life under new names.
However, what seems to bother the taskforce most are not the webboard items but the articles which are published in foreign magazines. Much of the content is based on information allegedly supplied by elements in the Thaksin regime.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry reportedly allocated a budget of 600 million baht to shore up the country's image following the coup d'etat and the political turmoil that has followed.
Taskforce 6080 was supposed to be classified; its operation was believed leaked after the People Power party came to office following the Dec 23 general election.
Its targets are said to have become more careful, especially about being eavesdropped upon. Telephone numbers and codenames of key figures are changed more often to avoid them being tracked down easily.
Chances are the taskforce may find it more difficult to operate, now that its secrecy has been compromised.
BP: Elements of the Thaksin regime? Another way to phrase this is the elected government's press office. It is as if only the PAD and others don't speak to the press.* Where does Wassana get her information from? If not sources then it would have to be invented out of thin air. I have blogged on the government's press unit previously (yes, there are government spin doctors). So the junta set up a special operations division to spy on the elected government under the auspices of protecting the monarchy. Any convictions so far? Do they provide a report to Parliament? Who are they accountable to?
There is this conspiratorial nature with the idea that the foreign media are all cronies of Thaksin. Sondhi L has on many times accussed the foreign media on being paid by Thaksin. For example, over the statements by HRH:
Thaksin has employed/paid foreign journalists who intend to distort news.
Jonathan Head, spokesman of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT), told Thepchai Yong on the "Siam Today" TV programme yesterday that Thaksin was a legitimate newsmaker and it was the job of journalists to hear his views.
"Now Thailand has a new government in power who seized power. It is very natural for the foreign media to question why they did it. It is also very natural that we would interview Thaksin. He is a legitimate newsmaker. Everybody wants to hear his views," Head said.
He also dismissed the repeated allegation that Thaksin paid the foreign press to give him publicity.
"I have never heard of a major media organisation accepting money. It is a great shock to me and distressing that the charges have been repeated day after day," said Head, who is the BBC's bureau chief in Bangkok.
BP: Would Yong be insulted if someone was to ask whether Thai journalists and him in particular were just paid pawns?
The Nation takes the line of the foreign press knowingly being pawns of Thaksin:
Thaksin Shinawatra's best chance is to make all that is happening to him look like deja vu all over again. And we can see it happening already, in some foreign media editorials, in political blogs, through his legal representatives and through his own emotional statements. Here, according to the mammoth public-relations efforts joined knowingly or unknowingly by journalists abroad with a stereotypical concept of "democracy", is a politically persecuted man driven out of his home country simply because he was too popular.
BP: The odd thing is not that the foreign media coverage is fawning of Thaksin, but it is critical the PAD and the coup. All the foreign media need to do is quote what PAD say at their speeches. Hmm, didn't they do the same thing to Thaksin particularly during 2003-2006.
Now, what is behind this idea of Thaksin paying the foreign media? It is hard to know precisely, but this is interesting from Chang Noi (as blogged about here) on the junta document leaked last year (for more on the authenticity see here):
The document released last week is a detailed plan for using state media in this crucial period before nominations close. Among the specific proposals are: "create news to attack the old power… spread rumours about the connections between Thai Rak Thai, Singapore, the People Power Party, and the trend towards presidential rule… spread rumours that Thaksin paid foreign media to run articles attacking the institution"
BP: Perhaps, some elements of the Thai media particularly those who live in glasshouses should be careful before throwing stones.
btw, don't you love the fact that the taxpayer is paying a special military unit set up by the junta to investigate stories which is based on a propoaganda campaign that the junta started? There is a good movie plot!
*Actually, Thaksin thought that Prasong was the source of some of the critical foreign media stories against him during the earlier days of his rule and speculation in the more pro-Thaksin elements of the Thai press that the foreign media were then acting as pawns against Thaksin - see McCargo.
