Media biased so they must be regulated, Prayut vows
The much-opposed media regulation bill will need to be enforced to set moral standards in media practices and to ensure less biased contents produced by media, Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha insisted Tuesday.
“In this country, all professions will need to be standardised and trained. No one can be indulgent.” Prayut said at his weekly news briefing.
“It appears that [media] organisations can’t really regulate themselves,” the premier went on “We don’t want to obstruct anything. We just want to make sure that media will adhere to codes on conducts and people will receive rounded news, not biased like how it is now,”
“The current reporting doesn’t let the government and civil servants work smoothly and that’s’ a problem,” he added.
Prayut’s remarks countered to concerns raised by 30 media organizations that the bill, currently drafted by the National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA) media reform panel, has potential to restrict press freedom rather than protecting it despite claims.
