New rating system for all media
The Culture minister has invited 5,000 people from all walks of society to join a voluntary committee to rate television programmes on the Internet.
The ministry yesterday launched the Media Evaluation (ME) System Project, following a Cabinet resolution last October requiring it to develop, on a budget of Bt15 million, a ratings method for the media, including television, radio, films, the Internet and computer games. Culture Ministry secretary-general Khunying Dhipavadee Meksawan said at a press conference yesterday, the ministry had identified initial ways of assessing media. Now it wants 5,000 people to register at www.me.in.th or www.me.or.th to join the committee. "We want to finish rating TV programmes by September," she said, adding "there will be a six-plus-one system of gauges". Programmes will be judged on how they set people thinking, whether they widen academic knowledge, teach morality, detail skills for living, encourage social awareness with an emphasis on cultural differences, and whether they promote good family values. The "final" gauge will rate sexual, linguistic and violence-related content. John Rattanaveroj, who leads the effort to create the online ratings system, said his team had used Internet technology to make it possible for people to join the project. Those registering would be checked to ensure they had not been hired by any business group, he said. After the checks, approved members would receive passwords to log in to the evaluation system. Video clips of several television programmes, plays, cartoons and game shows will be provided, with members free to pick any shows for rating. The system will calculate the results and detail audience preferences, John said. The team will undertake field studies enabling parents, teachers and the media to join the evaluation enterprise. The results will determine how the government supports each programme and what time it is broadcast. Programmes with a Level 3 rating should be aired after 10pm, so people less than 18-years-old are not exposed to them, John said. "This is the first time Thailand has given itself a quality-rating system for television programmes," said John.
Chatrarat Kaewmorakot The Nation
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