HEADS of professional media organisations will be prohibited from sitting on a controversial council to be set up under a new law aimed at regulating the mass media.

The media reform committee will instead place the media-group heads in a working committee, which will be responsible for nominating members of the council.

WORKING COMMITTEE 

The 11 members of the ad hoc working committee charged with setting up the Media Professional Council will be:

• Prime Minister’s Office permanent secretary (acting as chairman)
• Ministry of Culture permanent secretary
• National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission secretary general
• National Press Council president
• News Broadcasting Council president
• Professionals of Broadcasting Council president
• Online News Providers Association president
• Thai Media Fund manager
• Foundation for Consumers president
• Thailand Development Research Institute president
• Regional Press Council of Thailand president

A revised clause in the bill stipulates that those on the working committee prior to establishment of the professional council shall not sit in the council. This was aimed at avoiding any conflict of interest, said ACM Kanit Suwannet, chairman of the media reform committee, which is part of the National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA).

Kanit suggested that anyone who aspired to sit on the professional council should resign from their current post before the new law comes into effect, to avoid disqualification.

According to the latest revision of the draft legislation, the ad hoc working committee is required to set up a permanent media professional council within two years. It will be responsible for registration of media companies in the first two years after the law becomes effective and until the Media Professional Council is set up.

If the bill becomes law, journalists and media businesses will be required to have licences. Failure to obtain a licence could result being jailed for up to three years or a fine of up to Bt60,000. Any media business hiring a journalist without licence would risk these penalties.

Besides the media bosses, the 11-member working committee would also include state representatives such as the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Culture and the secretary-general of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission. It would be chaired by the permanent secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office.

A representative from the PM’s Office would sit as the working committee’s secretary. He or she would not be entitled to vote, however.

In principle, the ad hoc committee would neither be authorised to deal with complaints regarding the work of the media nor issue and revoke media licences. This function would be reserved solely for the professional council.

Regardless, it remains a matter of concern that registration of a media company, under authorisation of the working committee, might also be a form of media regulation. Without proper registration, a media business would lose its entitlement to operate.

Since taking shape earlier this year, the draft bill has provoked considerable controversy.

Professional media organisations across the country opposed the draft ball, as well as its provisions to include state representatives in the professional council and license the media.

They said the bill seemed designed more to control the media than protect it.

Despite strong opposition from media professionals that led to the bill’s revision, the media reform committee remained firm in its imposition of the licensing system and inclusion of state representatives.

Professional press organisations have issued regular statements opposing the committee’s move, stressing that they would continue their fight and discuss their concerns with the National Legislative Assembly once the draft bill goes to the chamber.