| Home > South-East Asia >> Thailand | |
Press freedom in Thailand 'not free' says Freedom House
Prachatai - May 3, 2011
Lisa Gardner – In 2010, Thailand experienced a fifth consecutive yearly decline in press freedom, moving from 'Partly Free' to 'Not Free' in terms of press freedom, according to Freedom House.
In their annual report 'Freedom of the Press 2011' marking World Press Freedom Day, the US-based think-tank wrote that "the number of people worldwide with access to free and independent media declined to its lowest level in over a decade."
"A country where journalists cannot report freely without fear of interference, by the government or other actors, has little hope of achieving or maintaining true democracy," wrote David J. Kramer, executive director of Freedom House.
"While we have unfortunately come to expect restrictive and dangerous environments for journalists in nondemocratic regimes like those in the Middle East and the former Soviet Union, we are particularly troubled this year by declines in young or faltering democracies like Mexico, Hungary, and Thailand."
Thailand followed global and regional trends towards a steady deterioration in media freedom.
"Over the past five years, countries with significant declines have outnumbered those with similarly large gains by a more than two-to-one margin. Many of these downturns occurred in emerging democracies that were tested by political upheaval, polarization, coups, or outright civil war, such as Bolivia, Ecuador, Fiji, Sri Lanka, and Thailand."
Thailand's decline in press freedom was marked by "the use of violence in putting down street protests in April and May 2010, and the coercive use of lhse-majesti laws and emergency powers to limit freedom of expression and personal autonomy." In last year's Press Freedom report, <http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=251&year=2010> Freedom House expressed concern that in Thailand, "the trend of increased use of lhse-majesti laws reached new levels."
In the Asia-Pacific, Freedom House identified Sri Lanka as having suffered the most prominent decline in matters of press freedom, but remain concerned that "declines in the areas of freedom of assembly and freedom of expression were apparent in several other countries. In Cambodia (and) Thailand, the space for peaceful protests on politically sensitive matters was curtailed."
The report singled out Thailand and South Korea for imposing additional restrictions on the internet, namely, increased censorship of online content. With it, Thailand experiences a four-point decline from 58 to 62. A score above 60 registers in the 'Not Free' category.
The report ranks Thailand 29th from forty countries in the Asia-Pacific, between Pakistan (#28) and Cambodia (#30). With it, Thailand joins 62 states worldwide deemed Not Free, ranked at #140 of 196.
The report named several key trends as threats to press freedom. Namely, misuse of licensing and regulatory frameworks as a means of state control; repressive states intensifying efforts to exert control over 'new media', as well as over news outlets; and worsening levels of violence against members of the press.
"These attacks have a chilling effect on the profession, and the failure to punish or even seriously investigate crimes against journalists has reached scandalous proportions."
Despite the overall finding of a fifth consecutive year of global decline in press freedom, Freedom House noted cause for optimism. "The global economic downturn has not triggered a major reversal for democratic institutions in the countries where the impact has been greatest Nor have years of repression succeeded in destroying the spirit of democratic resistance in authoritarian settings."
"There were also signs – modest, to be sure – that the democratic world was more attuned to the challenges posed by an increasingly assertive band of autocracies," they wrote, although Freedom House cited their continued disappointment in the "failure of the major democracies of the developing world to speak out against authoritarian abuses."
The survey does not rate "governments or government performance per se, but rather the real-world rights and freedoms enjoyed by individuals."
Since 1993, World Press Freedom Day is celebrated on May 3, marking the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a document which "calls for free, independent, pluralistic media worldwide characterizing free press as essential to democracy and a fundamental human right."
See also:
 |