FACT - Freedom Against Censorship Thailand

Watch the new video on Southern Thailand:

Takbai Massacre

ดูวิดีโอใหม่เรื่องตากใบ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seSIT8nfPg0

and

Stop Lese Majeste <http://www.youtube.com/user/StopLeseMajeste>

[FACT found this accessible today via CAT but seems to have been blocked. You may need to proxy.]

เรียน ผู้ประกอบวิชาชีพและองค์กรของสื่อมวลชนที่เคารพ
5 พฤษภาคม 2551

อุบลรัตน์ ศิริยุวศักดิ์
คณะนิเทศศาสตร์ จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย

ขณะนี้มีร่องรอยว่า ระบอบประชาธิปไตยของไทยกำลังเคลื่อนเข้าสู่อันตรายจากความขัดแย้งทางการเมืองที่อาจทรุดลงเป็นความรุนแรง ปัจจัยหนึ่งที่ปฏิเสธความรับผิดชอบไม่ได้คือ สื่อมวลชน

ความแตกต่างทางความคิดเป็นเรื่องปกติในสังคมประชาธิปไตย แม้ต่างกันคนละขั้วก็ยังเป็นเรื่องปกติที่เกิดขึ้นได้  แต่ตัวความแตกต่างนั้นเองมิได้เป็นเหตุให้เกิดความรุนแรง ตราบเท่าที่ความแตกต่างสามารถปะทะขัดแย้งกันได้อย่างสันติตามกระบวนการทางการเมือง กระบวนการทางศาล และกระบวนการทางปัญญาผ่านสื่อและเวทีวิชาการ

หากเมื่อใดที่กระบวนการเหล่านั้นไม่ทำงาน หรือกลายเป็นปัจจัยยุยงส่งเสริมความเกลียดชังเสียเอง ความแตกต่างก็จะกลายเป็นความรุนแรง

คนซึ่งมีหน้าที่รับผิดชอบสื่อและสื่อที่ไม่รับผิดชอบกำลังส่งผลกร่อนทำลายประชาธิปไตยสังคมไทยใน 3 ทางดังนี้

1.   สร้างความโกรธแค้นเกลียดชัง ปลุกปั่นสถานการณ์เสียเอง

2.   โฆษณาชวนเชื่อ เป็นกระบอกเสียงของฝักฝ่ายทางการเมืองอย่างสุดหัวใจ ให้ร้ายใส่ความคู่ต่อสู้ด้วยเล่ห์เพทุบายสารพัด

3.   ทั้งหมดนี้ดำเนินไปขณะที่ ผู้ประกอบวิชาชีพและองค์กรของสื่อมวลชนเฉยเมยต่อการละเมิดจรรยาบรรณสองประการข้างต้น หรือทำตัวลู่ตามลม เลือกปฏิบัติปกป้องเฉพาะพวก ลงโทษเฉพาะฝ่าย

สิ่งที่ดูจะหายไปในแวดวงสื่ อมวลชนไทยที่ทำการทั้ง 3 ประการข้างต้น คือ มาตรฐานและจรรยาบรรณทางวิชาชีพ ที่ต้องเคร่งครัดกับหลักการ ความเที่ยงธรรม และความรับผิดชอบที่สูงกว่าประชาชนทั่วไปที่ไม่มีอำนาจสื่ออยู่ในมือ และสูงกว่ากระบอกเสียงโฆษณาชวนเชื่อของฝ่ายต่างๆ Read the rest of this entry »

EDITORIAL: Rein in media instigators
Bangkok Post: May 14, 2008

http://www.bangkokpost.net/News/14May2008_news21.php

The political divide is of itself not as threatening as the attempts by people who have control over media, and some media professionals themselves, to use it to instigate animosity…A petition signed by more than 100 academics and activists condemning the radio programme and website produced by Manager Group, is the latest attempt to bring this serious matter to attention. One of the hosts of the media group’s “Metro Life” community radio programme not only urged listeners to physically harm people with different political opinions, but also gave the identity and address of a private citizen so that others could assault him. That particular radio host has “shown responsibility” by quitting the radio show. The problem, however, does not stop there. The Manager Group’s website, and some others, are littered with extreme opinions and bigotry. Some of its columns have done away with not only factual accuracy but human decency as well…The onus may be on media organisations - the Thai Journalists Association, the Broadcast Journalists Association and the National Press Council of Thailand - to exert influence and do their best to instil a sense of responsibility in their peers.

[FACT comments: We may not much like Jakrapob's bedfellows. But the Democrat leader's play for more lese majeste is hardly conducive to a free society. We find it ironic that such a harsh proponent of censorship is himself censored.]

Jakrapob shrugs off move to seek his ouster from cabinet
MANOP THIP-OSOD
Bangkok Post: May 14, 2008

http://www.bangkokpost.net/News/14May2008_news12.php

Mr Jakrapob issued the order after speculation in the press about another possible coup by the armed forces. It was denied by military leaders…The Democrat petition seeking his removal, along with a copy of the minister’s order, would probably be handed to the Senate Speaker tomorrow…The party will also write to Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej expressing concern about Mr Jakrapob’s attitude towards the monarchy…Democrat party and opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said he wanted to give the prime minister information on the issue so Mr Samak could decide if Mr Jakrapob should be entrusted with the job of presenting news to the public…This was a reference to Mr Jakrapob’s remarks at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand on Aug 29 last year…In March, Pol Maj Watanasak Mungkitkandi, of Bang Mod station, lodged a complaint against Mr Jakrapob, accusing him of lese majeste in his talk there…Mr Jakrapob denied the accusation, saying his remarks, originally in English, were wrongly translated into Thai by others trying to ruin his reputation…He would have a correct Thai translation made and give it to the police.

Vietnam Media Decry Reporters’ Arrests
By Ben Stocking
Associated Press: May 14, 2008

http://freepress.net/node/3984

The arrests of two Vietnamese reporters for their coverage of a bribery, gambling and corruption scandal have led to a highly unusual confrontation between Vietnam’s Communist government and the country’s state-controlled newspapers…”Honest journalists must be freed,” blared a bold headline in Wednesday’s Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper, where one of the reporters worked until he was jailed Monday.

[FACT comments: Honestly ask yourself, can this happen here in Thailand?]

Syria: Three-Year Sentence for Blogger Tariq Baiasi
by Razan
Global Voices: May 14, 2008

http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2008/05/14/syria-three-year-sentence-for-blogger-tariq-baiasi/

Free Tariq (English): <http://freetariq.org/en/>
Free Tariq (Arabic): <http://freetariq.org/>

On May 11, the State Security Court in Damascus stated its verdict on the Syrian blogger Tariq Baiasi who was held in detention since July 7, 2007. Tariq was detained for leaving a comment on websites disfavored by the Syrian government. Free Tariq Campaign condemned the State’s verdict and asks for freedom to the Syrian blogger:..The State Security Court in Damascus has sentenced Tariq to three years after lessening it from six years to three years (originally, Tariq received three years for each of the following charges):

1- Dwindling the national feeling.

2-Weakening the national ethos.

The militarily security arrested Tariq for leaving a comment on websites considered “suspicious” by the Syrian government.

Chinese journalist sentenced to four years
Committee to Protect Journalists: May 13, 2008

http://www.cpj.org/news/2008/asia/china13may08na.html

Qi Chonghuai, a journalist in China’s Shandong province who had written critically about local officials, was sentenced today to four years in prison for fraud and extortion in a trial that lasted 12 hours.

The Princess and the Facebook Girl
By Lawrence Pintak
Arab Media & Society: May 2008

http://www.arabmediasociety.com/topics/index.php?t_article=199

The relationship between media and state in the Middle East and North Africa is no fairy tale. Not a single Arab country has a press classified as “free.” For every step forward, there is at least one step back. For every official committed to loosening the reins, there is a lawyer wielding a lawsuit or a police thug with a blood-spattered baton. The rack may be history, but electric probes are today’s torture implement of choice…The contrast between Princess Rym Ali, sister-in-law of Jordan’s king, and the plight of 27-year old Esraa Abdelfattah, Egypt’s so-called “Facebook Girl,” succinctly sums up the contradictions inherent in government-media relations in the Arab world…Princess Rym, a former CNN correspondent, is on a quest to build the region’s first Arabic language graduate school of journalism. Facebook Girl, meanwhile, found herself being hustled off by Egyptian state security after creating a group on the popular social networking site that attracted 75,000 members and served as the spark for the country’s recent anti-Mubarak strikes.
…The Egyptian regime’s contempt for – and fear of – the media can be seen in the recent seizure of satellite uplink equipment used by Al-Jazeera’s Cairo bureau and prosecution of the equipment’s owner; in what news execs tell us is pressure on Egypt-based satellite channels like Dream, Orbit, O-TV and El-Mehwar to sanitize their coverage of the recent riots in the delta town of Mahalla.

[FACT comments: The entire campaign by corporate interests against copying and piracy is based solely on protecting their profits. Now we see how low they will stoop to deceive the public.]

The True Story of a Bogus Blog
Adweek: May 5, 2008

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/agency/e3i26f1bfd408799a20a6278840774a1176?pn=1

The “International AntiCounterfeiting Campaign” (IACC) sought to discourage people from buying knockoff handbags. As part of the campaign, Coach persuaded Hunter College in New York to offer a public relations class which invented a fictional student named “Heidi Cee.” They created blog postings, a YouTube video and MySpace pages in which Heidi Cee complained that she had been ripped off when she bought a fake Coach handbag. The campaign also claimed that counterfeit products are linked to criminal activity, child labor and terrorism…”If there was anybody who could have stopped it, it would have been Coach.”

Rich people and bad laws mean tough times for free speech
The Economist: May 8, 2008

http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11333006

WHEN writing about litigious issues, big British newspapers favour phrases such as “he strenuously denies all wrong-doing” (possible translation: has no convincing explanation of his behaviour); “has failed to dispel speculation that…” (was scandalously involved in), as well as words like “controversial” (outrageous) and “murky” (corrupt)…Such expensively lawyered prose helps present a semblance of balance that usually protects editors against the severity of English libel law…Perhaps. But for those used to the defence of free speech entrenched in America’s First Amendment, English law seems anything but fair. It is not just that defending a libel action costs the equivalent of $200,000-plus up front, and much more if you lose. The plaintiff has to prove only that a statement was defamatory; it is up to the defendant to justify it, usually on grounds of truth or fairness…Courts further afield may be even harsher and less predictable. Time magazine is appealing against a recent Indonesian Supreme Court judgment that ordered it to pay one trillion rupiah ($100m-plus) to the family of the late President Suharto, whom it accused of corruption in 1999. (This newspaper is one of a score of amici curiae petitioning for review of the verdict.) In English law, dead men can’t sue. But (to be safe): Mr Suharto vehemently protested his innocence.