THE recent funeral of TV heartthrob Tridsadee “Por” Sahawong moved the public in many ways. Not only did his death result in a flood of tears, it also saw public anger being directed at the media for what many deemed was inappropriate news coverage, starting from the day Tridsadee was admitted to Ramathibodi Hospital suffering a rare form of dengue haemorrhagic fever to the day his ashes were scattered at sea.

Images of photographers flocking around his coffin went viral on social media, triggering criticism that the media showed a sheer lack of respect to Tridsadee’s family.

One of photographers at the scene, who wanted to be known only as “T”, said entertainment photographers and reporters told one another to “behave properly” while covering the Tridsadee story when he was in hospital.

“We told each other to dress properly and not to take any inappropriate photos,” T said. “My office insisted that I must not take photos of the ailing actor, otherwise I could infringe on his rights and that would be problematic.”

But during the funeral, he said, it was hard to take precautions because “everyone basically flocked together and it was hard to tell who was who”.

T believes that the most effective bodies to implement measures that would stop this kind of situation from occurring should be the media companies themselves, since the problems are rooted in competitiveness in the profession to obtain the best news to satisfy employers.

“After all, people will listen to who pays them the most,” he said, “[But] to me, media organisations can actually manage little to nothing on the issue.”

The coverage of Por’s death has become a challenge for the media industry in terms of ethics. Remarks such as T’s were raised in a recent meeting of five media organisations – the Thai Journalists Association (TJA), the Thai Broadcast Journalists Association (TBJA), the National Press Council of Thailand, the News Broadcasting Council of Thailand (NBCT) and the Society Online News Providers.

The meeting was convened to try and find a solution to these types of incidents.

Banyong Suwanpong, a TJA and TBJA ethics committee member, attended the meeting and said the five organisations agreed to gather and implement recommendations to prevent the public from having a crisis of faith regarding the media.

The organisations are expected to issue a code of conduct on Thai Journalists Day on March 5, Banyong said, in a bid to standardise guidelines for all registered media companies.

However, Banyong admitted that journalists in the entertainment and tabloid fields were not members of Thailand’s media organisations. Still, the media veteran remained positive.

“We cannot order anyone to join us, but we can publicise codes of conduct and society will be aware of them,” he said, explaining that the move will enable the public to better gauge how moral media organisations really are.

“To achieve successful media self-regulation, we need pressure from the social side also,” he said. “This is vice-versa. If the social mindset is more strengthened, maybe we could see better production from the media industry.”

In a bid to enhance media regulations, Banyong believes that self-regulation can be backed by the enactment of a law so there is a legal definition of what constitutes being a member of the media. He said the law would not be designed to punish anyone but instead would be a promotional tool as the media needs room to develop.

Banyong believes that media members must not only act responsibly by adhering to their professional pledges. He said one of the steps to achieve the ideal outcome was to create official courses managed by media organisations to certify editors so they were better placed to approve content ethically.

In relation to such a certification becoming mandatory for all registered editors, Banyong admitted that it was merely an idea at this stage and that there was a lack of funds to conduct nationwide research on the matter.

Mana Treelayapewat, dean of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce’s School of Communication Arts, agreed with the concept of media self-regulation. He believes that each media organisation should be monitored by an ombudsman, consisting of media insiders and observers, that sets rules especially regarding ethics.

Like Banyong, Mana agreed that civil society played a big part in regulating media, for example by preventing the media from infringing on the rights of others. There should also be government support to improve media ethics in the form of a broadly-written law, he said.

To strengthen society’s capability as a media watchdog, he stressed that media literacy should be included in course syllabuses to provide a solid foundation for social awareness on the matter. He said he was pushing that agenda in terms of education.

Pirongrong Ramasoota, a Chulalongkorn University lecturer in communication arts, believes that the government still needs to regulate media content on sensitive issues such as those that refer to young people or possible threats to national security. The media should then regulate themselves regarding the rest of their content, she said. Pirongrong has observed that only the traditional media, namely newspapers and radio and television stations, have shown progress building regulations governing ethics.

But regarding alternative media, she said that some online-based tabloids and local radio and TV stations appeared to group together, mainly to increase their bargaining power particularly when dealing with the NBTC.

Concerning popular figures in social media like Jar Pichit of “Drama Addict”, the academic sees a rosier picture.

“The younger generation on social media tends to be aware or responsible when dealing with content,” she said, implying this is a case of effective self-regulation.

Uajit Virojtrairatt, chairwoman of watchdog Media Monitor, doubts that self-regulation can ever be effective in light of past lessons. Uajit said the most effective way to improve media standards would be joint regulation by the media and government authorities, such as a cooperative effort by the NBTC and media consumer groups.

She said that while the authorities can provide strict guidelines for the media to follow, consumer groups should supply feedback including suggestions about how to improve the situation. If they work effectively together, co-regulation should standardise responsible behaviour within the media arena, she added.

Uajit however admitted that this was merely a proposal at this point. And she conceded that implementation was a long way off given what she described as media consumer groups’ lack of activity along with the NBTC’s passive approach regarding media ethics regulations.

“We are also challenged by the fact that many media organisations compete against each other based on quantitative measurements. For instance, how fast they can deliver news,” she said. “And I understand that everyone wants to survive.”

Wasan Paileeklee, a former member of the now-defunct National Reform Council (NRC)’s media reform committee, agreed that a balance was needed to achieve successful self-regulation, and a degree of legislation was essential.

Having written a draft on media regulations during his term on the NRC, Wasan said the law was not designed to give orders to media organisations but to support self-regulation.

He believes that a central body featuring key media figures is essential to successfully regulate the industry. The NRC law would support self-regulation and increase responsible media practices, he said.

The draft of the law was approved by a NRC vote before being proposed to the Cabinet, he said, adding that no more progress had been made on the matter.

 

The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

Pongpanu said the budget set aside for preparing the venue passed the scrutiny of a mean-price-determination committee and followed negotiations with a private firm.

He was responding to criticism that too much was spent on preparations for the meeting. He said the event drew nearly 600 participants after 250 had initially been expected.

A fact-finding team was probing the controversy and if the ministry found any wrongdoers they would face penalties, he said.

Thailand received a score of 38 out of 100 in TI’s 2015 transparency index rating 168 countries around the world. Among 10 Asean countries, Thailand came third after Singapore and Malaysia and was 76th from the 168 countries.

Sansern said Thailand’s global rating for transparency is in line with the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce’s latest survey on corruption, which showed the graft problem had significantly reduced over the past six years.

He said this was the result of the Prayut Chan-o-cha government’s policy to make fighting graft a national priority and enforce the policy effectively with cooperation from all sectors of society.

He said the new charter draft included special mechanisms to combat graft.

The event will be held at the Sunnylands estate in Rancho Mirage, California from February 14-18 on the invitation of US President Barack Obama.

The president visited Kuala Lumpur in November and called for the summit to held in a bid to push economic partnerships, form new security collaborations and confront key international challenges.

Sek said the invitation showed that in the eyes of the US, Thailand still played an important role in the US-Asean collaboration and saw the Kingdom as the hub of the region, which could lead to more key cooperation.

The summit follows the official launch of the Asean Economic Community on December 31.

Sek said the meeting aimed to enhance relationships and advance strategic partnerships among attending countries.

He said the prime minister would focus on economic partnerships, sustainable development, and security collaboration including for international issues at the summit.

As part of the justice campaign, social-media users have been sharing Dolrudee’s photos, her home address, her office address as well as her colleagues’ contact information. They have also set up a petition calling on Harvard to stop supporting her, saying she had taken advantage of taxpayers and the country for the sake of furthering her education. Many lashed out at her using rude language, while others gave her a poor rating and expressed their disappointment on Harvard University’sFacebook page calling for the university to take action against her.

After more than a thousand users began posting comments since last Friday at her post on Olsen Symposium, which contained her picture dating back to April 2011, the post was pulled off on Thursday.

Fuadi Pitsuwan, however, wrote: “On the dentist breaching the scholarship contract, I don’t think we should see it in terms of patriotism or gratitude for the country. Everybody with that level of education knows that being a researcher at such a university will be a better contribution to humanity and Thailand [than at a university in Thailand] … The problem is that she left her guarantors to pay the debt for her without any concrete plans to repay. These are different issues.”

In an e-mail response to |questions from Nation TV on Wednesday, Dolrudee wrote that she always intended to repay the scholarship she got from Mahidol University, and had asked for flexibility in paying it back.

She wrote that she had sent US$50,000 to the co-signers last April and asked Mahidol University to extend the deadline so she had enough time to find more cash. She also promised the co-signers that their loans would be paid off with interest once she could obtain the necessary funds in the near future.

“I hope this case will result in a major change in the scholarship awarding and repaying system in Thailand – a system that would allow reasonable and beneficial alternatives for the awardees to repay the loan,” she wrote.

Commenting on Nation TV22’s post of her letter, ScubaDiver Tau wrote: “Before you sign a scholarship contract, you should know all the conditions as to when you would have to repay or what penalties you would face in case you breach the contract. It is not right to complain later that the contract was not fair after breaching it.”

Nats Nathee Sup wrote: “Your behaviour so far has not signalled that you intend to repay. This is just a one-sided claim of one person.”

Natthawut Paisanwipatch-pong wrote: “Actually guarantors should not have paid [the debt for Dolreudee], but should have let Mahidol seek it from her on its own. It has been negligent for 10 years and just before the statute of limitations kicked in, it forced this from the guarantors. Mahidol will just do this again.”

Other than taking on Dolrudee’s case, Thai social-media users also pushed for two juvenile suspects in a murder and gang-rape case in Phattalung to be tried as adults. Many have also been campaigning for people accused of rape and murder to be given the death penalty instead of being considered for amnesty.

They have called for the adoption of a two-ballot system, plus a system in which senators are selected.

They also believe there should be a chapter on reform agenda items in the constitution, not just a small clause in the transitory provisions.

They spoke during an NLA session in Parliament yesterday in which suggestions on the draft were offered – before formal |recommendations are made.

Many legislators believe the proposed mixed-member apportionment ballot system, or single-ballot system, would favour big parties capable of fielding more constituency candidates and that it would make the vote-buying problem worse.

Under the system in the draft, the number of MP seats a party gets would depend on the votes gained in each constituency and that would disadvantage small parties, they said.

Legislators said another pitfall of the MMA system was that it did not reflect voter intentions. Legislators agreed that the two-ballot system was preferable in this respect.

They said that often voters favoured constituency candidates, but not their parties. With two ballots, they could choose more freely.

They also said having a list of candidates to be prime minister would make the process more confusing.

Klanarong Chantik, an NLA member, said it was possible a voter would favour one party but like another party’s constituency candidate and prefer a third party’s candidate to be PM.

Legislators proposed that drafters review this matter and reconsider the two-ballot system.

Legislator Jate Siratharanon preferred the system proposed by Borwornsak Uwanno, head of the previous drafting panel, as voters are more used to two ballots.

Many representatives voiced concerned on the new selection method in the draft for senators. Besides the bloc vote issue, they deemed the section on 20 social groups vague and the cross-election proposal confusing.

Drafters have said the vote bloc proposal would not be a problem because there would be too many candidates – thousands from across the country – to result in fraud. But legislators were not convinced. They noted a similar method used to selection of members of the National Economic and Social Development Board as an example of how effectively lobbyists could work to corrupt a system.

“Have you not learned the lesson?” Thani Onla-eid, an NLA member and a former selected senator, said.

He added: “The cross election would not work either because how could you say a senator represents his group when he was elected by the other 19?”

Legislators prefer selected senators because they believe the Senate could approve laws and conduct checks and balances with other branches.

They dismissed the notion that senators should be linked with the people as that would be a mere “discourse”. NLA members encouraged future senators to do the right thing for the people and the country rather than listen to voices of objection.

One of the most repeated suggestions made yesterday was on reform. Several lawmakers said reform was a crucial agenda item at the heart of the current regime and should be highlighted more in the charter draft.

They said having reform matters in the transitory provisions was not sufficient. Having a chapter on reform would make sure reform is carried out once the regime hands over power.

After legislators, drafters and reformers met on Wednesday, many suggestions on the draft were made yesterday including those centred on rights and liberties, the national administration and the national strategic plan.

NLA member Wallop Tangkananurak said he wanted |community rights to be clearly stipulation.

Although he said he understood drafters had put them in the state’s duties chapter, it was important they were addressed properly as communities played a major role in taking care of themselves when state authorities sometimes offered insufficient assistance.

Meechai Ruchupan, chairman of the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC), pointed to “a lot of attempts at distorting” issues related to the draft written by his team.

He rejected allegations that the CDC wanted to have a non-MP become prime minister by not clearly stating that a government head also had to be an MP as had been specified in the 1997 and 2007 constitutions.

The CDC chief said all PM candidates nominated by political parties might not be MPs when the list is submitted to the Election Commission (EC). “But how can they be sure if their PM candidates will be elected?” Meechai asked. “People who tell you that the CDC favours a non-MP prime minister, they are lying. It is us, the voters, who choose the prime minister.”

The chief drafter also rejected the perception that the new charter would impinge on the rights of communities and individuals, saying the CDC had based this clause on the 1997 and 2007 provisions on this matter.

“Our conviction is to ensure that the stated constitutional rights are actually applied to one and all, not just those who fight for their rights. That’s why the CDC wrote in the charter that it is the government’s duty to ensure everybody has the same rights, or it will be regarded as a violation of the constitution,” he said.

Meechai added that there were moves to distort the constitutional clauses about community rights. “Some people wrongly claim that the CDC has removed everything related to community rights. I am not sure if they have read the draft. We mention community rights in six provisions in the draft charter,” he said.

The CDC chairman added that the new constitution would not be exactly the same as the two previous ones because the problems faced by the country are different now.

However, he added, all the rights and liberties guaranteed by the previous charters are included in the new one. “But we made some revisions to make it bolder,” he added, without elaborating.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday called on people to read the charter draft carefully themselves instead of listening to claims being made by politicians, Government Spokesman Maj-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said.

In a related development, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, who is in charge of the government’s legal affairs, said yesterday that relevant state agencies would convene next Wednesday to discuss whether people who obstruct the referendum on the draft charter should be punished. He added that the EC had set regulations on the plebiscite, but had not set penalties in relation to this matter.

National Legislative Assembly president Pornpetch Vichitcholchai yesterday called on the government to amend the post-coup interim charter to clarify whether the draft needs approval by a majority of actual votes cast and not a majority of all eligible voters.

 

Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) chairman Meechai Ruchupan said yesterday that the drafters would rework the plan for writing organic laws.

The CDC is seeking to readjust the time span for writing the organic laws from eight months to five to six months instead.

Meechai had said earlier that because as many as 10 organic laws had to be written, it was likely the next election would be held late next year. However, Prayut on Tuesday stuck to his July 2017 schedule, repeating his earlier promise.

Initially, the transitory provisional clauses stipulated that 10 organic laws be written and completed within eight months after the constitution is promulgated. But that would delay the road map proposed by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) by a couple of months.

The drafters yesterday said they would write only five or six organic laws, sufficient for an election to take place. They would consult with the Election Commission as to which laws should be prioritised, Meechai said.

However, the chief drafter pleaded that if necessary, the road map could still be deferred for 15 to 20 days. Also, Meechai expressed concerns over the strong criticism of the charter draft. He said it was a “Thai thing” for people to believe what they hear even though the information might be inaccurate. “And then they keep criticising based on such false news,” he said.

Meanwhile, at the daily press briefing yesterday, CDC spokesman Amorn Wanichwiwatana explained about a new television program called “Unveiling the New Constitution” to be broadcast twice daily, after the national anthem at 8am and 6 pm.

“It isn’t that we’re trying to cover your eyes and ears or brainwash you. It’s just that we see the constitution is important and we want to communicate with everyone, especially when some people are trying to distort our work. Plus, each episode is only three minutes long,” the spokesman said.

He added that the idea came from the charter drafters, and not the NCPO.