Public has a right to know, 'Fah Diew Kan' says
fah diew kan has urged the three main media associations to make clear their stance on the public's right to information, following the shutdown of pro-Thaksin websites by the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Ministry.
The political magazine issued a statement condemning the ministry and called on the Thai Journalists Association, the Press Council of Thailand and the Thai Broadcast Journalists Association to clarify their positions. "We condemn the use of power that bars people from accessing information. Though the information might not be what we believe, communication is a basic right in a democratic society that should not be violated," the statement read. Fah Diew Kan went on to say that some websites, especially www.hi-thaksin.org, played a greater role than some newspapers in providing information related to conflicts of interest among the coup-makers. The shutdown of the pro-Thaksin websites was a political tool that prevented people from getting that information. The statement demanded that professional media organisations and media scholars take a clear stance to protect people's right to information - in the same vein as the strong criticism against government censorship during Thaksin's administration. The magazine demanded that the three main media organisations take action against the ICT's shutdown of the websites. Thai Journalists Association (TJA) president Nattaya Chetchotiros said the TJA did not agree with closing any website and that the ICT did not have the legal power to do so. Nattaya said the TJA would not issue a statement against the ICT's action but would keep following the progress of the debate on Internet law. She said this that would be the best way to deal with controversial issues on Internet. "However, we would like the online media to be responsible for their reports, as well. The country isn't in a normal situation," she said. Nattaya admitted that some professional media outlets avoided reporting about Thaksin Shinawatra because they didn't want to become political tools for the ousted PM. "No one ordered us to do so. We knew that he [Thaksin] always had a hidden agenda to get his news leaked to the media. We all made our own judgement on this because we didn't want to used [politically]," the TJA president said. More than 300 community radio stations and many pro-Thaksin websites, as well as anti-coup websites, have been shut down by the Council for National Security since its members staged a coup last September. Subhatra Bhumiprabhas The Nation
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