The permanent secretaries on the council will come from just the Culture Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office. The two vacant seats will be filled by representatives from independent agencies – the National Human Rights Commission and the Consumer Protection Board.

Media outlets, however, remained unsatisfied with the changes.

Thepchai Yong, president of the Confederation of Thai Journalists, said yesterday that regardless of the number of state officials on the council, the intention remained clear – the new body was an attempt to control the media.

“These mechanisms are unprecedented,” the veteran journalist said. “Plus, once the council has such authority, interest groups will come about and intervene.”

The permanent secretaries that would sit on the panel were usually appointed by politicians, Thepchai noted. And not all “media representatives” could be trusted, because anyone could establish an organisation and send representatives to sit on the council, he said.

Thepchai said the law should be reviewed because it was not in line with the government’s promise to return the country to democracy. So, the media would continue to oppose the regulatory bill, he said.

“We will meet with the National Legislative Assembly and the government,” Thepchai said. “We will put more effort [to oppose this] because this could have great impact on society and public participation.”

The media committee chairman ACM Kanit Suwannet insisted on maintaining state representatives on the council to ensure balance.

The professional council, therefore, will have 13 members in total. Five will be representatives from the media, two from the state, two from the independent agencies, and the four others would be experts from related fields.

The reduction of state officials to two should be sufficient to show sincerity and prove that the state had no intention to interfere with media affairs, he said.

The media reform panel would also oversee media licences despite protests about this.

Kanit said the council’s authority to issue or revoke press licences would remain. After the law came into effect, all media professionals, including those operating on online platforms, must obtain a licence, he said.

The law would be finalised this month and be presented to the NRSA’s whip early next month, before proceeding to an NRSA meeting.