No free press and no democratic govt
SURANAND VEJJAJIVA
Bangkok Post: May 9, 2008
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/09May2008_news25.php
Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States of America and considered one of the forefront thinkers of modern democracy, was quoted as saying: “The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object is to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them.”…Jefferson believed that an enlightened citizen, well-informed and educated through a free press, is essential in protecting liberty and democracy.The worrying point for me, however, is in the so-called new media. Today many websites present unedited points of view with hard-core fans posting their strong-worded opinions leading to polarisation on many issues. The anonymity of the writers lessens the accountability factor, and thus many of the articles appear to be a mixture of truths and lies…Of course, President Jefferson in the 18th century could not have anticipated all these technological advances, since there was then only the printing press; but to put it in his terms, when taking all the factors I have mentioned into consideration, today’s Thai public is not “well read”. An uninformed public, either through lack of attention or a reactive tendency to believe all that is reported, rightly or wrongly, can be easily manipulated.
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