Media organisations object to possible political interference
Six media organisations yesterday asked for a review of a draft bill on regulating the industry drafted by the National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA)’s media reform committee.
The media bodies include the Thai Journalists Association (TJA), the Thai Broadcast Journalists Association (TBJA), the National Press Council of Thailand (NPCT), the News Broadcasting Council of Thailand (NBCT), the Society for Online News Providers and the Thailand Cable TV Association.
The move was led by Thepchai Yong, president of TBJA, who submitted a letter of opposition to the draft bill to the media reform panel’s chairman ACM Kanit Suwannate.
Thepchai said the media organisations agreed with a mechanism to boost the codes of conduct applicable to the media, but were concerned about the proposed National Media Profession Council, which would open the door to political intervention in media coverage.
Kanit said he would take the concerns to his committee and would consider the bill carefully, adding that he promised not to put any “bad issues” in the bill.
However, he said the draft bill was still under consideration by a sub-panel tasked with print media reform.
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