Media bill a foolish dance on a perilous cliff

The Nation yesterday carried a story naming the 141 members of the National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA) who voted to endorse the “media reform bill” aimed at regulating the way the news is reported in Thailand. We published these names because the public deserves to know which people in positions of authority believe that press freedom, a benchmark of democracy, should be curtailed in the interest of the vaguely defined but often cited concept known as national security.
To call supporters of this appalling infringement on freedom of expression “backwards” would be an understatement. The vote on Monday suggests that some of our fellow-citizens lack the ability to think critically and see past the immediate needs of a military junta that seems bent on maintaining political control. The junta and its rubber-stamp pseudo-parliament seem to be of the view that public opinion itself can be controlled and regulated by the state.
It’s to be hoped that most NRSA members share our shock at the statement made by their colleague General Thawatchai Samutsakorn. He suggested that journalists who criticise the government should face the firing squad. It’s not entirely clear whether the general was in earnest or merely being provocative, but such statements have no place in the public discourse of people appointed to serve the people. And, if the deplorable practice of capital punishment is to be sanctioned anew, surely politicians, bureaucrats and corporate executives who are found guilty of corruption are more deserving of it than are journalists who expose government shortcomings.
In spite of serious concerns raised by media professionals and overseas watchdogs on rights and democracy, the NRSA voted to endorse the so-called media reform bill aimed at regulating news outlets and reporters. The authoritarian law, it’s been stressed, takes Thailand back decades, depriving citizens of the right to information guaranteed them by legislation enacted in 1997.
The NRSA has proposed setting up a “media professional council” to regulate the industry, comprised of both industry professionals and government representatives, and initially wanted reporters to carry licences issued by the council. A huge public outcry both from the industry and online halted some of that intent. An hour before the NRSA was due to consider the draft bill on Monday, the steering committee chaired by Air Chief Marshal Kanit Suwannet swapped the licensing idea for a requirement that media companies issue their employees with “certificates”. A delegation of media reps then confronted Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha on Tuesday about the still-problematic law, prompting him to order government lawyers to find ways to appease their concerns.
For a society to be free and open, it needs a free and open press. It’s acknowledged that the news media in Thailand are far from perfect and that there is much room for improvement, particularly in terms of ethics, with far too many reporters ready to accept corporate gifts in return for good coverage. But for government to attempt to regulate the press is an approach worthy of, say, North Korea. Perhaps if Thailand were North Korea, General Thawatchai would be in the top echelon of the country’s leadership.
For him to be in the position he now occupies is an embarrassment to the nation and the process of governing itself. If he and his colleagues could only step back and see the big picture – and ask themselves how they got to their current positions in the first place – we expect they would wonder at their own audacity in accepting legislation as foul as this. If, by comparison, many of our elected politicians have also been fools, well, at least they’d earned the mandate of the people.