Media need protection more than ever

Burin Kantabutra wrote that he has no problem with “charging Abhisit Vejjajiva and Suthep Thaugsuban for authorising the killing of anti-government protesters during the 2010 unrest”, but he also wants top people from the Thaksin regime charged with murder, presumably including Thaksin himself.
Getting lost in this tug-of-war between two former PMs are the Thai news media. Many journalists still feel the pain of Thaksin’s draconian control of the news media, and even US Senator Jesse Helms issued a very public and scathing message to Thaksin concerning that in 2002.
Abhisit was no better while in office. The US government sent him a letter criticising the control over the news media that he exerted, which included insane levels of censorship. In other words, it looks very much like Thai news media lose no matter which former PM comes out on top.
Let’s be honest: all governments are getting away with murder – even the US government – and the only way to really deal with that is to maintain robust news media as watchdogs.
That, of course, won’t stop the murdering governments, but it could bring the numbers of victims down. I say this with hope, if not with complete confidence.
Guy Baker
Bangkok