Amidst the political polarization that has created deep-rooted divisions in Thai society, the mass media is one factor that has difficulty in denying any responsibility and has been asked serious questions about its role and how it has performed its duty by people who have chosen political sides. At the same time, new media has appeared and individuals’ preferences in following the news change according to their political stance and access to technology.  Pravit Rojanaphruk, senior journalist at The Nation, is one mainstream journalist who has long asked questions about his own professional conduct and criticized the media culture.  Prachatai talked to him on the day when every single branch of the media gave space to expressing the importance of the profession, especially the duty of the media in the run-up to an eye-catching day in Thai politics, the day of the red shirt rally on 12 March.

BANGKOK, Mar 11 — Anyone who is still trying to look for neutrality or balance in the Thai media in these days of political ferment, ahead of large anti-government protests expected in the capital, has a pretty tough job.

A Radio Free Asia (RFA) reporter was charged with disinformation for broadcasting a report on a dispute between a Cham Muslim community leader and members of his mosque, media reports said.

A blog is a New Media tool that started many years ago.  It may be a diary expressing a person’s thoughts or a communications space for a social movement, depending on what the user wants it to be.  In some countries they have been very effective.

‘Thai E-News: News about Thailand that you may not have read in the news’ is the slogan of one of Thailand’s leading political websites.  It has only content and no web board.  It is unabashedly ‘red’, but red with a strange smell.  It posts critical points of view from all circles.

As a fan of Kdrama, indelibly touched like so many others in 2002 who would stop in at some public place or restaurant in South Korea hooked on catching episodes of Winter Sonata while it was being broadcast, I turn to readers and fellow fans to help make sense of what is going on in South Korea.

Press freedom in 2009

    76    journalists killed (60 in 2008)

    33    journalists kidnapped

  573    journalists arrested

1456    physically assaulted

  570    media censored 

  157    journalists fled their countries

      1    blogger died in prison  

  151    bloggers and cyber-dissidents arrested 

    61    physically assaulted

    60    countries affected by online censorship

CMFR/PHILIPPINES -The media are demanding justice for the victims of the November 23 Maguindanao massacre in which 31 of the 57 killed were journalists. But in the celebrated Marlene Esperat case, an appellate court in the Philippines granted last 3 December 2009 the motion for issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction filed by the alleged masterminds in the killing of this Sultan Kudarat journalist. Sultan Kudarat is a province approximately 968 kms south of Manila.

A media watchdog has urged the Thai-language Thai Post daily to explain to the public its decision to remove the column of Bai Tong Hang, who eventually resigned from the paper.

The clock is ticking fast, and the Senators are now facing judgment: Are they champions of the people's right to know?

Amidst the current political climate where the ideological dividing lines within political parties take form, there is an obvious phenomenon that is occurring.  This comes in the form of politically motivated media organization. What has gone down over the past several years is quite interesting from the perspective of those who study how influential media outlets can become.

Latest rankings for press freedom leave Thailand and all other Asean countries with nothing to shout about.

Thai media, freedom of speech, and freedom to information are under threat in Thailand by a government that is robbing the people of their rights and freedoms. 

Despite its wrong caption, Thai Rath’s photo of a former PAD guard grabbing the hair of a red-shirt woman and dragging her along the road during the military crackdown in April has won the Best Photo of the Year Award from the Mass Media Photographers Association of Thailand (MPA). The MPA President explained it won because it is so vividly emotional that no description is necessary. Abhisit will preside over the ceremony on June 18.