On Thursday his explanation to the press corps of how he planned to change Channel 9 from an "edutainment" to an "education" channel was dripping with watery metaphors.

For instance, asked about his plan for the realignment, he took roughly half an hour to explain the workings of tap water.

Here's an excerpt from the press conference: "At present you have both clean and dirty water in the pipes. You don't know what's good and what's bad, but you know you can't shower in it or drink it."

By that time, the press was wondering if he had mistaken MCOT for the waterworks authority. but Pongsak finally made his point.

"It's the same thing with the information we consume every day. There's good, and there's bad. You shouldn't drink it, but you don't know, and you end up drinking dirty water by mistake.

I want to make Channel 9 a supplier of clean water that everyone can drink, that they trust to be all clean water, in other words valuable information."

The press was curious how long it would take to do all this clean-up, and they asked for specifics. This sent him straight back to the river.

"I can't say, because it's like water. You don't see the differences until it changes form; you can't detect them until it changes from liquid to ice or steam."

The press was perplexed, and they pressed him on how they would know there had really been a change at MCOT.

"If you really want to know," Pongsak said, "use your finger. Dip it in and see if the temperature's changed. That's what consumers'll have to do, take the time to watch the programmes and see if the format has changed."

On this note Pongsak concluded the press conference and left the press corps scratching their heads in the room for another 20 minutes to figure out just what he had said.

kwanchai@nationgroup.com