A warning has been given. Thailand is inching closer towards.becoming a new China when it comes to press freedom. The 2019 report by Reporters Without Borders indicates that the military regime has increasingly adopted the . Chinese style of total news control. It speaks volumes about the dire situation here.

On World Press Freedom Day today, the media and Thai people have no reason to celebrate. Along with democracy, press independence and freedom of expression in Thailand have been eroded over the past five years under National Council for Peace and Order’s (NCPO) rule. Intimidation of journalists, editorial interference, persecution of regime critics and the suspension of media outlets have become the new norm.

Since the 2014 coup, the NCPO’s Orders No.97/2014 and 103/2014 have remained the major obstruction for the media when it comes to news reporting. The orders seek “cooperation” from the media to publicise the regime’s propaganda and impose restrictions  on what they should refrain from reporting, such as airing “false information” attacking the NCPO.

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Of course, the orders have not resulted in sweeping media suppression.
Authorities have been selective by taking action against vocal media outlets such as Peace TV and Voice TV, which have connections with politicians from the anti-regime camp. The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission has punished Voice TV at least 24 times, including a broadcasting suspension just before the March 24 general election. . ……

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Other broadcasters are understood to have exerted a level of self-censorship. They would rather avoid problems than fix them. …

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Prominent broadcast journalists critical of the regime have also been either removed from their programmes or lost their jobs.

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At the same time, certain media outlets have also suffered internal pressure. Their newsrooms have been watched and warned over their content. .

And if intimidating the messengers is not bad enough, authorities have expanded their crackdown on freedom of expression to non-media people. Social media users, activists and politicians have become their new targets.

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Thanks to draconian legislation, namely the Computer Crime Act (CCA), the criminal defamation law, the lese majeste law and the anti-sedition law, the authorities under the watch of the regime…

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE:
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1671140/time-to-set-the-press-free

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SINGAPORE’S The Straits Times

The Straits Times says

A cooling phase in US-China tensions

After more than two years of sabre-rattling, mutual recriminations and tit-for-tat tariffs, China and the United States appear to be poised to reach an agreement on at least some trade issues. While this will not end the wide-ranging tensions between the two, it will, at least for now, prevent them from escalating.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin described the outcome of the latest round of high-level trade talks, which ended in Beijing on Wednesday, as “productive” – an encouraging assessment, but indicative of the fact that more remains to be done.

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE:
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/st-editorial/a-cooling-phase-in-us-china-tensions

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