Concern over rapid passage of media control bill

Concern is growing among Thai media professionals that the government is rushing through a media control bill under the guise of “ethics.”

Supan Rakchuea, president of the News Broadcast Council of Thailand, told Thai PBS on Friday that the government appears unusually keen to pass the bill.

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan wrote to Parliament President Chuan Leekpai on September 6 last year, asking him to put the media control bill forward for emergency deliberation. Supan said that the bill is part of a media reform as mandated by the Constitution which itself is only a few years old.

The News Broadcast Council of Thailand opposes the bill, claiming that it erodes Section 35 of the Constitution, which guarantees the rights, liberty and free expression of media professionals.

One of the highlights of the bill is that members of state media have the right to defy the…