Thai media want old law gone

One of the cited justifications for the 19 September 2006 coup d’etat in Thailand was for the return of true democracy following years of backslide under deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

“So,” writes Thepchai Yong, group editor of The Nation Multimedia Group, “as we are working on political reforms in conjunction with the drafting of a new constitution, abrogating the 1941 Printing Act should be at the top of the agenda.”

The antiquated law gives the police licence to curb the media, so much so that these police staff are actually termed ”press officers”. They may censor and halt publication and revoke licences of newspapers over content that are deemed to ”disturb peace and good morals”.

The government should pay heed to the urging of the Thai Journalists Association and other media groups for the antiquated law to be replaced with a media-friendly bill drafted by members of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), argues Yong. Find out more here.

Mizzima News wins IPI’s Free Media Pioneer; a third for SEAPA network

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, has announced its decision to honour the Mizzima News Agency with its 2007 Free Media Pioneer Award. Mizzima joins two others in the SEAPA network to have been so honoured in the past – a SEAPA founding member, the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), Indonesia (1997), and the independent online newspaper Malaysiakini.com (2001).

Managing Editor Sein Win will receive the prize on behalf of Mizzima News at an award ceremony on 15 May 2007, during the IPI World Congress in Istanbul, Turkey (12-15 May).

Bad press for media freedom in Thailand

May 3 is an occasion for media all over the world to take stock of how they have fared over the year in being able to do their job unfettered. Kavi Chongkittavorn, assitant group editor of Nation Multimedia Group and SEAPA chair, comments on Thailand’s fallen ranking according to two international media rights group, noting that for all the junta’s good intentions since toppling former premier Thaksin Shinawatra in September 2006, the results have yet to speak for themselves.

“Thai officials have yet to learn how to respond to negative news, or website postings, without tarnishing the country’s generally good record for press freedom. The blocking of CNN, the BBC, YouTube and other websites, even briefly, has backfired and done terrible damage to the country’s international standing,” he writes. Read Kavi’s full comment here.

Malaysia to set up unit to counter online ‘lies’

The unfettered online accusations of government corruption over the past weeks in the run-up to two hotly-contested by-elections in Malaysia have prompted the government to enter the cyber battlefield by setting up a unit to monitor and counter the “lies”.

Deputy Information Minister Chia Kwang Chye said the unit will not have enforcement power, but will use as ‘weapons’ the written word to “disseminate information, explain correct information, and counter the misinformation on government policies,” reports the New Straits Times.

Government censorship of Net tends to be self-defeating, says SEAPA executive director

“For all their best intentions, those who seek to control content in cyberspace have a tendency to breed self-fulfilling fears,” says SEAPA Executive Director Roby Alampay, in an opinion piece published on IHT on 12 April 2007, following the Thai government’s blocking of YouTube. Read it in full.

Also, hear his interview with Voice of America, explaining the precarious situation in Thailand as regards freedom of expression under the current military regime.

Is it time to rein in the lese majeste law in Thailand?

David Streckfuss, a scholar who has studied the sensitive issue of lese majeste in Thailand, dares to ask this in the Bangkok Post. Streckfuss argues that the law is easily – and has been repeatedly – abused. He points out that for a law that is meant to protect the monarchy, its application has hardly done that – quite the reverse, in fact – and cites what the wise King Bhumibho Adulyadej himself has said on the matter. More here.

Thailand’s Internet law “overbroad”, says ARTICLE 19

ARTICLE 19, an international NGO working to protect and promote free expression, has analysed Thailand’s draft of the Computer-Related Offences Commission Act and found it detrimental, especially in the following aspects:

• It establishes unduly broad prohibitions on accessing information over computer systems.
• The penalties, which extend to capital punishment, are far too heavy for the offences.
• Unduly broad limits on the sale of computer software are established, along with liability for anyone who sells the software, regardless of any complicity in a crime.
• Liability is extended to service providers, regardless of whether or not the material in question has been identified as illegal by a court.
• A crime of defamation for altering pictures of third parties is established.
• Broad enforcement powers are given to ‘competent officials’ to enforce these rules, largely without any judicial scrutiny.

‘Playboy Indonesia’ editor acquitted

Playboy Indonesia editor-in-chief Erwin Arnada has been cleared of distributing indecent pictures and profiting from them. Chief Judge Erfan Basyuning ruled that pictures of scantily dressed women, under criminal laws, was not pornography. 

Erwin had faced nearly three years in prison in a case closely watched by conservative Muslims in the country, who had tried to disrupt the trial and intimidate those involved, according to SEAPA founding member, The Alliance of Indenpendent Journalists (AJI). Islamic hardliners vandalised Playboy’s offices in south Jakarta after the magazine was launched. Playboy Indonesia now operates from the Hindu island of Bali. More here.

Malaysian minister urges media to refrain from quoting blogs ‘of no authority’

Malaysia’s news agency Bernama reports Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin as urging the press not to use blogs as their sources of information as they may not be valid.

Zainuddin said some blogs are not updated and contain inaccurate information, which could discomfit and confuse surfers.

He claimed that many blogs are run by “individuals of no authority” and therefore depend on newspapers for credibility.

“Why should you, a journalist, cite that source and then publish it in a newspaper of authority?” he said in the 20 March 2007 report.

Let’s hear it from women journalists

One of the topics seldom broached by the restricted media in Malaysia is the very story of restricted media itself. On the occasion of International Women’s Day on 8 March 2007, Jacqueline Ann Surin, assistant news editor for The Sun newspaper, tells ARTICLE 19 what it is like working as a journalist – and a woman journalist – in Malaysia, the progress that women have made in terms of asserting their political rights, how the media can play a role toward that end and what needs to be done to free the media. Read more.