FRIDAY BUG
Financial reporters to the rescue
Last week, financial reporters came together to rescue Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula from political reporters who were subjecting him to a barrage of aggressive questions about whether or not he would resign to take responsibility for the aftermath of Black Tuesday.
While these reporters - whose beat includes keeping a close watch on political movements - were asking about his resignation, financial reporters tried to shoot questions about crucial financial issues and drag Pridiyathorn away from the siege by the political mob.Reporters who regularly cover the Finance Ministry expressed their sympathy for Pridiyathorn, because they understood that the Finance Minister was forced to react quickly in response to the stock-market crash. They also understood that the Finance Ministry and the BOT were forced to act to protect the national currency after exporters began screaming from the rooftops about how the baht appreciation against the US dollar was reducing them to wrack and ruin. Ever since Black Tuesday, a mighty mental tussle has erupted among the reporters covering the SET, the Finance Ministry and the BOT: three different visions of the Thai economy that meld into an infinite methodological argument. As reporters on each of these three beats have long been familiar with the stories of their particular patch, so their theories are deeply built upon what they have absorbed. Given this intense personal background, whenever a dilemma arises over a big issue like Black Thursday, at the end of the day there will never be an anonymous resolution.
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