Democrats accuse government of media interference

Democrat assistant secretary-general Thepthai Senpong said the format and contents of "Today's Truth" was similar to PTV's programme whose hosts are the same group.

While the hosts of the show are defendants in the case of violence at the residence of Privy Council Prem Tinsulanonda, letting them go on television would not be proper, he said.

Meanwhile, the government was suspected of media interference in the changing of company contracts at NBT in just one day, he said.

The Samak Sundaravej government could have broken the Article 46 of the Constitution for media interference, he added.

Democrat executive Satit Pitutecha called on the government to comply with the law and be responsible.

He said yesterday that the government must have been behind allowing former leaders of the pro-government Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship, including Veera Musigapong, to host television programmes on NBT.

Satit said there are linkages among the government, pro-government protesters at Sanam Luang and the television programme hosts.

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said on Sunday the government would host a television programme daily in prime time to counteract allegations made by the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy. Then deputy government spokesman Natthawut Sai-kua said the government could not host such a programme because of the validity of a contract between the television station and a private company. However, Veera's programme on Monday replaced the old programme while Natthawut and People Power Party MP Jatuporn Promphan co-hosted but claimed that they were appearing on the show for free as guest speakers.