The future of the mass media under Abhisit's reign

The summit, attended by representatives from five media organisations, was being held to discuss media reform under his administration.

"At certain times [of the day] shouldn't [TV] programmes be for children regardless of who owns the media?" Abhisit asked. "It's not that I want to enforce it ... but creative content should become the responsibility of all media in the country."

With regards to the freedom of press, he said, it was threatened by the power of the state and money. "In the past few years, the power of the state and capital have merged," he said, adding that this had led to a lot of problems because money and state authority had been used to make the media disseminate news in ways that best suited the powers that be.

Abhisit said he wanted to see a law that would protect the media, but added that he was aware that law is often abused and ends up defeating its purpose. He promised to speed up the broadcast and frequencies reform that has been stalled for years due to competition for monetary and political benefit. The PM stressed that the body overseeing these reforms would be "independent with no conflicts of interest".

With regards to the state-controlled NBT channel, Abhisit said he wanted to turn it into a public TV station, but reserve some time to connect with the public and explain the government's work. He also said that a true community radio station, one that was not a tool for political groups, was badly needed.

Abhisit also expressed concerns about some media that presented one-sided information to viewers and readers. "It's most difficult to unite the society ... [it's as if the deeply divided media] dwell in a different world."

However, he said he was ready for criticism in order to protect the principles of accountability and press freedom. He also made known his concerns over the growing popularity of "news" talk shows, instead of straightforward news reports. He said news talk shows tended to be biased, and while he had no problems with them per se, there was still a need for ordinary TV news reports.

When asked if he had any problems with his family being under the spotlight, Abhisit said he preferred it if they weren't, but added that the media had the right to pursue them if they were caught meddling in politics. Abhisit also urged the media not to dwell on abnormal news because it would only bring out the extreme side in people.

"Don't make the abnormal a normalcy," he advised. "Otherwise society will only consume things that are abnormal."

The premier was also asked about what should be done about the state-controlled radio stations, like the 200 controlled by the Defence Ministry. He responded by saying that though extreme measures, such as redistributing the radio waves, would end up failing, he would look into the details and see how many stations each state agency really needed.