Govt ‘curbs press freedom’
 The Nation
November 25 , 2005 - The House committee on justice and human rights condemned the government yesterday for curtailing press freedom.
“The committee calls on Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and PM’s Office Minister Suranand Vejjajiva to stop undermining the people’s right of free expression,” committee chairman MP Suthas Ngernmuen said.
Suthas, a Democrat, was speaking after his committee conducted a hearing on the ban against an anti-government talk show hosted by Sondhi Limthongkul and Sorocha Pornudomsak.
The show was broadcast via the Internet and satellite channel ASTV.
At the hearing, Nakhon Chompoochat, a member of the Law Society of Thailand, said the ban violated press freedom as stipulated in Article 39 of the Constitution.
National Human Rights Commission member Jaran Ditapichai agreed that the government had exercised its power without due respect for freedom of expression.
In defending the ban, Pachoen Khampho, deputy director-general of the Public Relations Department, said he was obliged to warn cable television operators to check the content of their programmes before broadcasts.
“The authorities received many complaints that the talk show contained comments deemed offensive to the monarchy and socially divisive,” he said.
Bumrung Wasantakorn, chairman of the Cable Television Operators Association, said some local operators had taken the programme off the air in order to avoid a possible confrontation between proponents and opponents of the talk show. |
