And it's turning out to be more a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

To rally support for their fight against the junta and the military-appointed Surayud government, the pro-Thaksin advocates need to come up with something provocative to draw people to their weekly rallies. Their own credentials alone are far from sufficient to create excitement.

It can be seen as tit for tat. Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was brought down essentially because of the wads of charges of corruption and conflicts of interest against him. So his supporters apparently believe they can probably undermine the CNS generals' credibility and the legitimacy of their September 19 coup using the same tactics employed by the anti-Thaksin coalition.

General Saprang Kalayanamitr, an assistant Army chief and a key player in the power seizure last September, has become the lightning rod largely because of his high profile. The PTV executives who are spearheading the anti-CNS movement are zeroing in on the outspoken general, who has been accused of abusing his position as chairman of the board of directors of the Airports Organisation of Thailand (AOT) by taking family members along on a recent official trip overseas. Then, during their rally at Sanam Luang on Sunday, the TV station's executives unleashed another salvo against Saprang by accusing him of conflict of interest. They cast doubts over the recent awarding of a Bt12-million research and PR contract to a group of private analysts headed by Saprang's younger brother.

Of course, the PTV executives and other pro-Thaksin groups shouldn't be denied the right to air their views publicly, even though what they say may be unpalatable to the military. After all, even the all-powerful junta needs to be held accountable in the absence of constitutional mechanisms of checks and balances.

But while the pro-Thaksin groups deserve political space, one cannot help questioning the motive behind their ongoing campaign to discredit the military and the Surayud government. The PTV people have dropped all pretence that they are fighting for media freedom.

It's really pathetic for obvious reasons that these PTV executives are crying foul over what they claim to be an infringement on press freedom after their attempts to broadcast their programmes on a cable channel were scuttled. Since when have these people started to care about freedom of expression anyway? And since when did they transform themselves from politicians to "media people"?

It's laughable that people like Chakrapob Penkair, Veera Musigapong and Chatuporn Prompan, among the most ardent supporters of former prime minister Thaksin and now PTV executives, expect people to suddenly consider them media professionals the moment they take off their Thai Rak Thai label. And they want the world to believe that if they are singing Thaksin's praises today, they are doing it as journalists and not as his political stooges.

It doesn't require people of much intelligence to see through this political masquerade. Despite all the fanfare and initial media attention, PTV has proven itself to be nothing but a mouthpiece for the pro-Thaksin movement. In short, PTV was meant to be a propaganda machine and doesn't even deserve to be referred to as part of the mass media.

If Chakrapob, Veera and Chatuporn care so much about media freedom, where were they when their political master Thaksin started interfering with the media at the height of his political power. They didn't utter a word when TV and radio programmes critical of Thaksin were taken off the air one after another. They also pretended that all was going well when Thaksin used his political power and personal wealth to bear down on the print media.

And if they sincerely want to make an issue out of alleged abuse of power and conflicts of interest involving a CNS general, they certainly deserve applause from members of the public. But first, they need to answer questions about the skeletons hidden in their political master's closet.

The fact that Thaksin is the subject of a massive investigation for alleged corruption and conflicts of interest shouldn't be lost on the PTV executives. By ignoring the alleged misdeeds of the former prime minister, the PTV executives are turning their weekly protest into a charade. Or was it intended to be a political charade from the beginning?

Thepchai Yong