Academics slam curbs on website's content
Media critics accused the government of trying to stifle dissenting views after a court order yesterday barred the website of Phujadkarn (Manager) newspaper and other media associated with Sondhi Limthongkul from further disseminating his criticisms of Prime Minister Thasksin Shinawatra.
 Budsarakham Sinlapalavan
November 18, 2005 - Vilasini Phiphitkul, an academic at Chulalongkorn University, said circumstances indicated the government had been behind the move.
"It's a proxy war," she said. "When the government cannot stop [government critic] Sondhi, the founder of Phujadkarn, from saying what's on his mind, officials move to destroy the mediums for expressing his views."
Vilasini said the heavy-handed tactics only served to further alienate critics and drive people to Sondhi's camp. Apparently, more and more people are tuning in to his weekly political talk show, the academic added.
"The government would have done better not to make the situation even worse," she said.
Pirongrong Ramasoota Rananand, another Chulalongkorn University lecturer, said the Thaksin government had fallen back on time-honoured traditions of clampdowns on press freedom, emulating the military junta that ordered printing houses and newspapers shut down during the October 1973 student uprisings.
By launching libel suits against Sondhi, she said, Thaksin had violated constitutional rules designed to guarantee freedom of speech.
"The head of the government is abusing people's power," Pirongrong said. "He uses [libel] laws to cow outspoken journalists into silence."
The Thai Rak Thai government has initiated numerous libel suits against its media critics.
Supinya Klangnarong, secretary-general of the Campaign for Popular Media Reform, said the government's persistent efforts to impose uniformity in expression and opinion on the media would serve only as a prelude to complete domination of media outlets.
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