Study finds few investigative reports on TV

Of TV stations assessed in a study from August 22-September 22 last year, Spring News had six investigative reports, Nation TV four stories, Bright TV two, TNN one, while NewTV and ThaiTV showed no investigative reports during the study period.

The favourite topic for investigative reports on television news was corruption and abuse of power, followed by conflict over resource utilisation, human rights and ethics violation, according to project director Uajit Wirojtrairat. There was also a story on cultural conflict in a television investigation report, she said.

But the pattern of “investigative reports” was mostly just narrative or simply explanations, she said. 

Four stories were found making deep analysis to see the root causes of problem, he said. Only two stories were reported in disclosure style, she said. Only one story in the study could lead to the wrongdoer in the controversy, she added.

The Media Monitor did the study in collaboration with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission to review media freedom, ethics and quality of media reports.

Factors which determine the quality of investigative reports in television were political restriction, business success and a lack of resources, she said.

“The one-month study may not be able to judge the quality of Thai media reports but it could spark discussion among media producers to have more investigative reports in the industry,” Uajit said.

Nation Group Editor Thepchai Yong commented that the report was a good initiative but there were many factors that could determine the success of investigative reports. Investigative reports in Thai media mostly depend on the experience of the journalists involved.

Investigative reports should not only focus on political stories but also social aspects. The challenge was how to build social awareness to encourage quality investigative reports in the country, he said.

Media organisations might need to some mechanism to support investigative reports, he said.

“Investigative reports require teamwork so media organisations should give importance to making good human resources for this kind of work,” said Thepchai, who is also chairman of the Thai Broadcasting Journalists Association.

Supaporn Phokaew, from Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Communication Arts, said the quantity of investigative reports was as important as quality. Sometimes one story could have great impact on a society and lead to social change, she said.

Thailand Information Centre for Civil Rights and Investigative journalism director Suchada Jakpisut said the study was done after the coup, so it was understandable to see few investigative reports as all media was censored or asked to self-censor, she said.