RIGHTS: Thai Courts Still Defend Press Freedom

By Marwaan Macan-Markar Reprint | | Print |

Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Nov 30 2005 (IPS) - A handful of recent judgements delivered by Thai courts is helping to push the country’s judiciary into a new realm of respect, as one of the only remaining institutions prepared to defend media freedom and journalists under siege.

A verdict, delivered Wednesday, in favour of 17 journalists from major newspapers in a Bangkok civil court was the latest in four rulings that have given Thailand’s increasingly threatened media a reason to celebrate.

Of significance, was the language in this week’s judgement, which said that journalists were within their rights to expose and criticise the actions of public figures, which in this case is the former national police chief General Sant Sarutanond.

Sant filed a criminal and civil case against the reporters for defaming him by the stories they wrote linking him to an alleged case of sexual harassment of a senior Thai female journalist. At the time of this alleged incident, in early 2003, Sant was still head of this South-east Asian nation’s police department.

”This is an important verdict, because it means the public and the press can depend on the courts for justice when other institutions to check the government are under threat,” says Supinya Klangnarong, a leading Thai media rights campaigner. ”It is a boost for media freedom.”

Supinya, herself, is battling a million-dollar libel case that many here see as one whose verdict could have lasting impact on the media landscape – particularly in the sensitive area of business and political conflicts of interest.

She and her co-defendant have been sued for 10 million U.S. dollars by Shin Corporation, following an article that appeared in a Thai-language newspaper alleging that this telecommunication conglomerate had gained undue profits due to its links with Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand’s prime minister.

Thaksin, a billionaire business tycoon, founded Shin Corp, but has handed over the business to his family since leading his Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thai) party to a parliamentary victory in January 2001.

Last Thursday, Nov. 24, a judge in another civil court also delivered a verdict that shot down an attempt by Thaksin to insulate himself from criticism by a high-profile media personality. The judge said that the prime minister, as a public figure, is fair game for scrutiny by the press.

This legal tussle arose from a gag order imposed by Thaksin on Sondhi Limthongkul, founder of the Manager Media Group, for a string of charges he has made linking Thaksin to alleged abuse of power cases.

And earlier last week, the administrative court ruled against an attempt by powerful bureaucrats and media moguls to dominate a still-to-be-created National Broadcasting Commission, an independent body to monitor the liberalisation of the country’s radio and television sectors.

According to media rights watchdogs, Thailand’s courts have become a new avenue by powerful political, government and business figures to intimidate the country’s fiesty, independent press.

Thailand’s press council, a self-regulating media body, is aware of 50 libel cases filed against journalists during the first eight months this year, which is almost twice the number of libel cases filed against journalists in all of 2004.

Part of the problem behind such a surfeit of libel cases is the emphasis in the legal culture here for journalists accused of defamation to establish that their story is true, rather than the plaintiff having to prove how an article in the press was defamatory.

”Even in cases where public interests are of concern, the burden lies with the person who makes an alleged libellous statement to prove that the statement is true, rather than with the public figures to prove otherwise,” the ‘Bangkok Post’ newspaper recently reported in an article on the threats to media freedom due to mounting lawsuits.

Besides libel suits, the Thai press has been subject to other forms of intimidation, such as pressure to ensure the government gets good coverage or lose advertising revenues.

As a result, Thailand dropped many notches this year in the annual press freedom index released by the media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders. From a 2004 press freedom ranking of 59th, Thailand dropped to 107th in the 2005 ranking, released in October.

Also placing the press centre stage in this tussle to keep it free is the fact that the country’s broadcasting sector is still controlled. Out of the nearly 500 radio stations, 200 belong to the military, 140 belong to the government’s public relations department and 62 to a media company dominated by a government shareholder.

Consequently, the recent judgements are being viewed by media rights groups with some hope, that they signal a possible shift in the hostile media environment. ”What we see are encouraging signs of courts upholding the freedom of expression guaranteed (under Thailand’s) 1997 constitution,” Shawn Crispin, of the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists, told IPS.

Yet, it was too premature to translate such judgements into something permanent, he conceded. ”It is too early to say this is part of a trend by the courts.”