Government spokesman Maj-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said every day the Prime Minister’s Secretariat provides General Prayut with 10 daily papers, in both Thai and English, as well as three weekly news magazines for him to read.

He said Prayut often read the three papers viewed as “unfriendly” to the government and National Council for Peace and Order first. The publications were not named.

“General Prayut does not just scan through the pages. He often circles with his pen the reports and articles that interested him,” the spokesman told Nation TV’s Primetime programme.

The PM remembered the names of columnists who criticise him regularly, he said.

‘Angered by govt critics’

Despite his busy schedule, Sansern said the prime minister often found time to watch TV news programmes before going to work in the morning.

And he read newspapers while in his bullet-proof Mercedes limousine on his way to Government House.

Sansern said General Prayut often instructed the government spokesman’s team, through Line messages or phone calls, to immediately explain to the public media reports containing information he deemed inaccurate.

“Once during a Cabinet meeting, he showed other participants a pile of newspapers that he read. He told us to study the articles that he circled and explain the accurate information to the public,” the spokesman said.

He said the PM regularly watched TV channels known to be critical of his government, and often ended up getting angry.