People no longer happy with PM’s weekly TV show

The programme, which airs in an 8pm prime-time slot on Friday, catapulted Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha further into the spotlight with his unique tone of voice and authoritative speaking style. He became a “phenomenon” TV personality thanks to his ability to communicate to his broad fan base with his simple language and dry sense of humour.

“Primetime”, a new programme on Nation TV, last night scrutinised why the programme’s popularity had waned and how does Prayut feels about its decline?

“Returning Happiness to the People” and “Move Thailand Forward”, which airs at 6pm every Friday, are key tools in the PM’s arsenal to try and win the hearts and minds of the |people as part of the government’s proactive “information warfare”.

“Returning Happiness to the People” had used the same monologue format for two years before being revamped.

Along with the programme’s fading popularity, the government faces compounding problems that are yet to be resolved. It is believed the government’s sagging job-approval rating has adversely affected the ratings of the two programmes.

Even after Prayut’s monologue-style format for “Returning Happiness to the People” was changed to him being interview by three female hosts, the ratings have not greatly improved. 

Prayut even changed his look, including his hairstyle and clothes, – going from a military uniform to a western-style suit with tie. 

The “Move Thailand Forward” format has also been revamped – going from interviews with ministers into special reports co-produced by Channel 3, 5, 7, 9 and the NBT and Thai PBS. The programme now highlights the life of ordinary people around the country.

 

Struggling for popularity

The ratings of these programmes hovered around the high nine mark but have since plummeted to less than one.

The government’s websites are also struggling to attract people.

Prayut expressed his frustration about the sagging popularity of the websites during a meeting of officials last month, saying the websites have only 20,000 likes while “Ne Waddaom”, a Facebook page showing suicide attempts using guns, has more than a million likes.

The National Council for Peace and Order source analysed why the two programmes had suffered falling ratings and found that Prayut’s fans had become tired of his talk. They prefer to watch prime-time soap dramas, as they are more entertaining and relieve stress, the source found.

The source said the government also faced adverse publicity over its crackdown against charter draft opponents and corruption allegations involving the construction of the Rajabhakti Park.

When asked by the “Prime Time” programme how he felt about the sagging ratings of “Returning Happiness to the People”, Prayut tersely said: “Nothing.’’ “Prime Time” asked Prayut’s aide to elaborate on the answer and was told the PM was more interested in how to disseminate state information to the public more effectively rather than boosting his programme’s ratings.

Academic Assoc Prof Uajit Wirojtrairat said many factors had contributed to the shows’ waning popularity including their formats, unsuitable airtimes, long length and boring content.

She said to boost public interest in the shows, the government should stop forcing almost all TV channels to broadcast them, change the airtimes to when most people were relaxing and provide content the public was interested in. 

“The PM must also adjust his personality and his team must be bold to tell him that,’’ she said.