Thai media caught in red-or-yellow divide too

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. Thai society is very divided politically and I don't think the mass media are helping at all. Rather, they have become part of this political division, Pravit Rojanaphruk, a senior journalist at the English-language daily The Nation, said in an interview. He is referring to the rising political temperature in the country these days, as tension rises ahead of the rallies being organised in the coming days by the red-shirted supporters of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), whose patron is the exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The protesters plan to get hundreds of thousands up to a million red shirts to descend upon the capital to challenge the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. They say they are coming to protest injustice and their disenfranchisement by the Bangkok-based political elite that had reversed electoral mandates, including the election of pro-Thaksin politicians after the former premier was ousted in a 2006 coup.

The rallyists are coming in from Thailand's rural heartland in the north and north-east, many of whose people support Thaksin, who was also convicted in an earlier corruption case, and believe he has also been a victim of injustice. The rallies also come two weeks after the Supreme Court's ruling that found Thaksin guilty of abusing power when he was in power by introducing favourable policies that benefited his family-owned telecommunications empire News of the rallies and the government's warnings about trouble have prompted some offices to warn staff to stay away from some areas or ask them to work from home. Roads near rally sites will also be closed on Friday. Pravit explains that majority of the mainstream media have become polarised into the "yellow" — the colour of the supporters of the government and those against Thaksin — and "red" media. In a society so divided politically — as it has been since the 2006 military coup against Thaksin — there is only a small percentage of Thai media that try to fairly present both sides of the story, according to Chiranuch Premchaiporn, editor of the independent web newspaper Prachatai.com. I think only about 30 per cent are trying to present balanced stories about this current political situation. The rest all have taken sides, she said.

A big mess is how a journalist working for a leading Bangkok-based daily, who requested anonymity, calls the Thai media when it comes to covering the political tensions in the country. Bangkok Post seems to be leaning towards the "centre red", while The Nation is now extreme yellow. In that sense, you have a balance of views, quipped the journalist, referring to the two English-language dailies in Thailand. He added: "Bangkok Post seems to take sadistic glee in running reds-related stories to make the yellow feel downtrodden while The Nation runs yellow stories to make the reds feel rotten. I think both sides want to win."

It is unfortunate that some media institutions seem to want to sow panic and fear in the society (by the kind of stories they release), adds Chiranuch. Most of the stories we see now in relation to the rallies is a projection of how the violence will happen. We don't see them questioning the government side on how they're going to commit to using non-violent measures when trying to contain the crowd, for example, she said. Post Today journalist Cholticha Lermtong disagrees with the perception that the mainstream media have a pro-government stance. The reason why mainstream Thai media have a bad attitude toward the reds is because they have prior experience of violence from them in the past, she said, referring to the series of April 2009 demonstrations where journalists working for government-run media institutions were threatened with bodily harm and invectives.

At the same time, she said that there is only a small group from the red shirts that resort to violence. I still believe that a majority of reds do not want violence, she added. But in truth, the pro-Thaksin supporters' mistrust of the mainstream media has some basis, Pravit explains. After the September 2006 coup d'etat that ousted Thaksin, the editorials that came out in the mainstream media all declared the coup as justifiable and I think that was the genesis of the view that mainstream media are anti-red shirts, he said. Ahead of the weekend rallies, Pravit says he would be worried if the government prematurely and unjustifiably shuts down pro-red shirts media under the Internal Security Act, which the government is implementing until March 23. That would upset the crowd and precipitate violence, he said. Already, according to journalists who were interviewed, many mainstream media institutions carry an already visible anti-red shirts tone in their products. Adopting this tone in the stories will only create more anger among the protesters as they will feel they are being treated unfairly again, said Chiranuch. IPS