Surayuth to media: Don’t be negative, think of society | 19.11.06
During Thaksin Shinawatra’s premiership, this sort of remark was trumpeted as “media intimidation”, even though it is in fact as common from a Thai prime minister as an unprofessional and irresponsible story from the media:
ถ้ามองเฉพาะเรื่องที่เป็นแง่ลบ ไม่เสนอสิ่งที่ดีงามให้แก่สังคมบ้าง สังคมก็คงจะลำบาก นพ.ประเวศ วะสีก็พูดกับตนว่า ถ้าเรื่องเลวลงในสื่อ ถ้าเรื่องดีต้องจ้างถึงจะลงได้ จึงเป็นเรื่องที่สื่อต้องมองตัวเองและควรคิดว่าจะทำอะไรเพื่อช่วยเหลือสังคมบ้าง
If [the press] looks only at negative things [and] doesn’t present good things to the society, the society will be in trouble. Dr. Prawese Wasi told me that if the story is negative, [it] appears in the press, if it’s positive, [the press] must be paid to cover it. So the press should look at itself and think of what it can do to help the society.
The difference this time is that, unlike his predecessors (most notably the Satanic Thaksin himself), the only unprofessional and irresponsible coverage that the coup-installed, martial-law-wielding PM Surayuth Chulanont is subjected to is the kind that is positive to point of idolatry. If the Thai press were follow his — Wise! Kind! Democratic! — suggestion and “help the society” any more than this, then it has a shot of becoming more, er, civic-minded than the KCNA of the “great prosperous powerful” North Korea.
Farfetched? See how Thai Rath, Thailand’s most popular daily newspaper, put the quote under the header “Surayuth welcomes criticism with a bow” (“‘สุรยุทธ์’ น้อมรับเสียงวิจารณ์”) and tell me we’re not approaching in the “War is Peace” territory right there.
Yes, Gen. Surayuth did say something, a bit shorter, about accepting criticism prior to his own criticism of the media. But then, North Korea is quite powerful and perhaps even “great” these days as far as nukes and news cycle are concerned. The characterization is still worthy of Minitrue, is it not?
21:00 ▪ politics
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