Do people even care that they are being lied to?

A half-naked young woman triggering a controversy for being “un-Thai” is nothing new. That she was allowed to show off her breasts on a TV show that was still allowed to be broadcast – albeit with lacklustre blurring – is rarer. But it’s not the end of the world for Thai culture. That the whole thing was allegedly set up to boost the ratings of a franchised TV programme whose popularity seemed in decline is what Thais should really be shocked about, even if it sounds “normal” these days.

If the allegations are true that the woman was a nude model hired to go on “Thailand’s Got Talent”, the controversy takes on a new aspect entirely. An emboldened woman performing what many perceived to be an unacceptable act on a TV stage is one thing. That she might have been paid to do it by people who should have known better is another. 

The latter scenario isn’t about a “naughty girl”. It’s about the mindset of TV executives and producers who consider cheating viewers an acceptable way to push up ratings.

Workpoint Entertainment boss Panya Nirandkul surreptitiously denied knowledge of any “payment”. He said the show’s staff approached the woman was in the same way other contestants are recruited. Panya suggested that if she received money, it was just routine recruiting. On the one hand he’s saying that ambitious wannabe performers have been scrambling to get a slot on “Thailand’s Got Talent”. On the other hand he’s implying that everyone who’s selected to perform in front of the three judges is paid to be there.

The real issue, therefore, is whether the woman was hired or not. If she was, Workpoint was betraying its own viewers. If its staff knew in fact that she wasn’t an artist and still put her there onstage – where she was presented as a daring, new-age painter – there’s only one word to describe it: cheating.

This line in media ethics has been crossed before. Talk-show guests have told amazing stories that are hard to verify and have “lies for ratings” written all over them. A Thai thief who stole jewellery from a Saudi palace – wrecking diplomatic relations between our countries to this day – was offered money for exclusive TV interviews. Media outlets have even been accused of commercialising material derived from leaders of the genocidal Khmer Rouge.

Just because bad things have happened before, it doesn’t mean they should now be acceptable. And if paying a thief for a purportedly true story is bad, what does that say about paying someone to effectively “lie” to the whole country? Yet the current investigations and inquiries have revolved around why the “obscene” performance was allowed to go on air, not the apparent contrivance behind it.

The mixing of “drama” and reality show has become increasingly common, and viewers have always been lied to, more or less, one way or another. “Professional wrestling” is one sport that’s always scripted to amplify excitement or create controversy. The difference between it and “Thailand’s Got Talent” is that people who watch wrestling are prepared to be fooled, and even willing. Those who viewed “Thailand’s Got Talent” last weekend were made to believe the female “painter” was a real artist, however unorthodox.

This is a slippery slope. When a line is crossed often enough it will disappear, sooner rather than later. If the woman really was “hired” but this incident is allowed to pass because “TV always works this way”, then TV will keep cheating us. Its producers will use the same argument invoked to justify the abundance of ridiculous soap operas: That’s what the viewing public wants.