BANGKOK POST RAID: Suthikiati seeks Kuok’s help

Published on September 21, 2005 - Besieged publisher heads to HK for talks with SCMP owner to fend off Paiboon

Suthikiati Chirathivat, the chief executive of Post Publishing Plc, is to fly to Hong Kong today to hold talks with Robert Kuok, owner of the South China Morning Post, over how to fend off a take-over threat from GMM Media Plc.

In an exclusive interview with The Nation, Suthikiati said he would not sell any shares to Paiboon Damrongchaitham’s GMM Media, which has built up stakes of 23.6 per cent in Post Publishing and 32 per cent in Matichon Plc.

Entertainment tycoon Paiboon has also expressed his intention to take part in the management of the publisher of Bangkok Post and Post Today.

Suthikiati now holds 11 per cent in Post Publishing while the South China Morning Post holds 20.28 per cent. The Hong Kong publisher, formerly Post Publishing’s single largest shareholder, has not yet commented on Paiboon’s rather hostile arrival on the company’s share register.

Suthikiati said the South China Morning Post was still stunned by GMM Media’s move.

Upon returning to Bangkok on Monday, Suthikiati said he would have a clear strategy on how to deal with the raider firm after speaking with Kuok.

“I definitely won’t sell a single share,” Suthikiati declared. “Or else, I wouldn’t have sent my son overseas to obtain a journalism degree.”

Suthikiati has just returned from a three-week trip, accompanying his son to the US.

Suthikiati spoke to The Nation after releasing a statement saying the Bangkok Post and Post Today would continue their tradition of reporting and analysing news accurately and honestly.

“I support this tradition and the principles of editorial independence and freedom of expression,” he said.

He reaffirmed his commitment to the company and said he would hold talks with relevant parties about how to deal with the change in the ownership structure.

Last week Paiboon stunned the media industry by announcing a B3-billion bid for both Post Publishing and Matichon Plc, the publisher of Matichon, Khao Sod and Prachachart Thurakij newspapers.

Yet social and civic pressure, alarmed by an atmosphere of press control, forced Paiboon to reduce GMM Media’s stake in Matichon from about 32 per cent to 20 per cent.

Paiboon has said he would sell the 12-per-cent stake back to Khanchai Boonpan, the founder of Matichon, and indicated that GMM would be happy to hold 20 per cent in the publishing house.

So far Paiboon has faced little resistance, unlike the Matichon deal, in his acquisition of the Post Publishing shares.

Some members of the Chirathivat family and Italian-Thai Development sold their stakes in Post Publishing to Paiboon.

As now the single largest shareholder, GMM Media is in a position to send representatives to sit on the board. The move may challenge Suthikiati’s control of the Post.

Suthikiati admitted yesterday that some members of his family had sold a combined 15 per cent stake to GMM Media, a subsidiary of GMM Grammy, which is the country’s largest entertainment group.

But his three sisters still hold stakes and have promised to stand by him, he said.

“I’d feel comfortable if I was backed by shareholders whose holding exceeded 30 per cent,” he said. “We [between Suthikiat and GMM Media] would then have to fight.”

The editorial staff and management of Post Publishing also vowed yesterday to uphold the press freedom and fight interference in editorial content.

About 20 members of the company’s editorial staff held a rally at Government House opposing Paiboon’s raid on the company’s shares, which they see as an attempt to dominate the media.

The protesters carried banners reading: “Bangkok Post, Post Today, Not for Sale”.

They also issued a statement calling for capitalists and businessmen to stop interfering with editorial content of news media.

The opposition’s chief whip, Sathit Wongnongtoey, said the opposition would organise a public forum at Parliament to solicit views on a draft bill banning the cross holding of media outlets. Details will be announced soon.

Sathit said the opposition was also drafting a petition for a judicial review of Channel 9’s decision to discontinue the talk show “Muang Thai Rai Sapda”. The review will seek to determine whether the action was constitutional.

The petition will be delivered to the Constitution Court via the Office of the Ombudsman. The judicial review is expected also to cover the closure of community radio stations and websites critical of the government.

But Sermsuk Kasitipradit, a former Bangkok Post news editor who was sacked recently, said he personally would support GMM Media’s take-over of Post Publishing if it agreed to safeguard editorial independence, not to intervene in editorial work and allow editorial staff to participate in selecting the editor.

“The post editorial staff faces a dilemma over the ownership issue,” he said. “Their situation is different from that of Matichon.

“The current administration under Suthikiati gives them trouble. With Grammy, it could either be better or worse,” he said.

Pradit Ruangdit, a Post reporter who joined yesterday’s rally at Government House, said the newspaper’s editorial staff had agreed to speak out in public over the raid to show where they stood.

“We cannot avoid a business role in our company. We cannot say who we are going to be with, or who we are not going to be with.

“What we want is to draw a clear line between editorial and the investors’ interest in the paper. Editorial must remain independent,” Pradit said.

“We want to thank the public for their sympathy and concern about us. More or less, the Bangkok Post and Post Today are public property.

“We want to tell the public - academics, activists, and civic organisations - that we, the editorial staff of Post Publishing, are here and ready to stand up for a free press.”