He was speaking in response to the row between the media and media reformers, saying he did not know that permanent secretaries had been added to the media professional council. He added that the authorities would have to look into the reasons behind this decision and judge whether it was appropriate or not.

He said the charter written by his panel had only set broad guidelines about the media abiding by a professional code of conduct.

“You have to think for yourselves about how to improve professional ethics effectively,” Meechai said. “If somebody does something wrong and just resigns to take responsibility, it doesn’t solve the problem. The media must be independent and ethical at the same time.”

The National Reform Steering Assembly’s media reform committee has proposed a new media regulation bill, under which a new council will be set up to oversee the media. At least four of the council members will be coming from state offices.

Media groups have been voicing their opposition to this idea, and were not satisfied when the committee agreed to cut the number of state representatives from four to two.