{"id":312436,"date":"2021-07-30T21:28:41","date_gmt":"2021-07-30T18:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/thai-media-restrictions-raise-freedom-of-expression-concerns\/"},"modified":"2021-07-30T21:28:41","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T18:28:41","slug":"thai-media-restrictions-raise-freedom-of-expression-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/thai-media-restrictions-raise-freedom-of-expression-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"#Thai media restrictions raise freedom of expression concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Thai media<\/a> restrictions raise freedom of expression concerns<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n

BANGKOK \u2014 Thailand implemented new regulations on Friday that app<\/a>eared to broaden the government\u2019s ability to restrict media reports and social media posts about the coronavirus pandemic, raising immediate concerns that authorities will seek to stifle criticism.<\/p>\n

While Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has long sought to crack down on what he calls fake news<\/a> and has a government department devoted to it, the new regulations, announced late Thursday, include the ability to prosecute people for distributing \u201cnews that may cause public fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also gives Thai regulators the ability to force internet service providers to turn over the IP address of the person or entity distributing such news, and to \u201csuspend the internet service to that IP address immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a joint statement sent by six Thai journalist associations to Prayuth and published by multiple Thai media outlets, the groups urged him to cancel the restrictions, saying they were overly broad and an attack on freedom of expression.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe clause \u2018news that may cause public fear\u2019 allows authorities to proceed with legal action against the media and the public without clear criteria,\u201d they wrote, threatening to take legal action if necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if the public or media share factual information, state agencies may use this clause as grounds to file a complaint or threaten them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new measures come as Thailand is struggling to cope with a new wave of the coronavirus pandemic fueled by the delta variant, with rising numbers of cases and deaths. On Friday another 17,345 cases and 117 deaths were reported.<\/p>\n

In announcing the restrictions, the prime minister said they were necessary to combat the spread of inaccurate rumors that could impede government efforts to vaccinate the population and implement measures to slow the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have daily briefings to give the right information to the public,\u201d Prayuth said. \u201cBut some try to distort the information and cause confusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The announcement immediately raised fears that the measures could be used by authorities to stifle legitimate criticism and could also have a chilling effect by making it less likely that people would publicly question the government\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if Thai people share legitimate information, even second hand, the government could still determine that the information, while factual, could cause a panic,\u201d Mark Cogan, a professor at Japan\u2019s Kansai Gaidai University, wrote Friday in an opinion piece in the Thai Enquirer online newspaper. \u201cThe government has almost accomplished what it has long set out to achieve. It\u2019s a giant step closer to being sole arbiter of what is true and what is fake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri downplayed the concerns, saying that the order would not be \u201cenforced in such a way to limit the media or people\u2019s freedom of speech.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government is rather trying to manage fake news or any criticism based on false information to prevent misunderstanding and hatred in the public,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Asked whether factual reports that have the potential to create fear could be affected, he said that \u201cif the news is reported appropriately, there should not be a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Thai
Thailand implemented new regulations Friday that appeared to broaden the government\u2019s ability to restrict media reports and social media posts about the coronavirus pandemic.<\/figcaption>
AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a discussion on Facebook, prominent Thai journalist Suthichai Yoon suggested Prayuth was reacting to growing dissatisfaction with his government\u2019s response to the coronavirus crisis and was looking for a scapegoat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government is stumbling, and feels that the reports presenting the facts to the public from the media, the mainstream media, are questioning whether the government can handle the COVID crisis, and whether the government should be changed or the prime minister replaced,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe media is the easy scapegoat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about the new measures at a news conference Friday, the top U.S. diplomat in Thailand, U.S. Embassy Charge d\u2019Affaires Michael Heath, did not comment specifically, but emphasized that \u201cthe United States always supports freedom of expression.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat expression sometimes will include criticism of the government,\u201d he said. \u201cAs you\u2019ve seen in my own country, we tolerate a wide range of criticism of our government \u2014 some of it\u2019s justified and some of it\u2019s not \u2014 but we will always support the right for people to express their opinions.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

For forums sites go to Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Thai media restrictions raise freedom of expression concerns” BANGKOK \u2014 Thailand implemented new regulations on Friday that appeared to broaden the government\u2019s ability to restrict media reports and social media posts about the coronavirus pandemic, raising immediate concerns that authorities will seek to stifle criticism. While Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has long sought to crack…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":312437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/AP21211275249937.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[113094,32128,1545,109496,5078,71469],"class_list":["post-312436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-7-30-21","tag-censorship","tag-coronavirus","tag-delta-variant","tag-journalism","tag-thailand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}