Govt must exit the media business
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Re: "MCOT chairman insists he will see out his term", October 26.
In the midst of the government’s and Froc’s poor PR performance during the floods, your story says that the MCOT chairman received a letter last month from the finance minister urging him to step down or face pressure to resign at the next shareholders’ meeting.
If the Finance Ministry, which owns 65.8 per cent of MCOT’s shares, wishes to remove any members of the board, it should call an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to do so. The MCOT chairman is in the middle of his term and is not up for re-election until his rotation ends.
As a former SEC secretary-general, the finance minister is well aware it is very unusual for a listed company to call a shareholders’ meeting to remove a chairman. What is the urgency and reason for doing this?
However, with all the problems the country is having with the floods and economy, one has to ask why is this a priority for the finance minister? It certainly seems to have the bad smell of the big boss’s pushy meddling.
The MCOT owns Channel 9 television and radio stations, and is supposed to be a source of information to the public, such as concerning the floods. If its reporting has not been accurate in this regard, it is due to the government’s counter-factual PR.
Channels 9 and 11 are owned by the government, Channel 7 by the Army, and Channel 3 by a private company with strong government connections. These channels should all be privately owned and the government should exit this business so that there can be an independent check on its activities.
The whole point of privatising the MCOT on the SET in the first place was to get the government out of this business. But due to its ongoing interference, it is clear that this was just a way to raise money through an IPO.
No Thai news channel provides an independent or critical perspective, but from the standpoint of the government even this is not enough; it has to be their total yes-man. Former PM Thaksin’s minister admired the Chinese government’s control of the media, so this is hardly surprising.
Time to exit the Third World of television and let people think for themselves without saying “shh” about the flooding.
Pattaya Mike
Chonburi
