By Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) |
<p>Thailand's Cabinet approved on 15 June 2010 the creation of an online crime agency that will go after violators of the Kingdom's lèse majesté law, media reports said.</p>
<p>Agence France-Presse quoted the government as saying that the Bureau of Prevention and Eradication of Computer Crime was established to protect the royal family.</p>
<p>"The monarchy is crucial for Thai national security because it is an institution that unifies the entire nation," government spokesman Watchara Kanikar said.</p>
By Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) |
<p>(7 May 2010) Thai media groups and members of civil society agreed in the recently concluded World Press Freedom Day observance in Bangkok that fair and responsible reporting is crucial in addressing the political crisis in the kingdom.</p>
<p>On the morning of 5 May, www.prachatai.net was blocked by the CRES. The page was redirected to http://58.97.5.29/www.capothai.org, with the message: Access is temporarily suspended, as ordered by the CRES under the 2005 Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situations.</p>
By World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) |
<p>Port-au-Prince, Haiti, May 3, 2010 - On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day (3 May) AMARC, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, calls on governments and international agencies to respect the communication rights of communities struck by disaster and to recognise the vital role of community media in disaster response and reconstruction.</p>
By Reporters Without Borders |
<p>The list of Predators of Press Freedom, released each year on 3 May, World Press Freedom Day, has 40 names this year – 40 politicians, government officials, religious leaders, militias and criminal organisations that cannot stand the press, treat it as an enemy and directly attack journalists. They are powerful, dangerous, violent and above the law.</p>
By Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) |
<p>The Facebook fan page of independent Thai online news site Prachatai.com was blocked today [28 April] by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT), along with two other websites in the aftermath of the clash between security forces and Red Shirt protesters on 27 April, according to Chiranuch Premchaiporn, Prachatai's executive director. The fan page has 5,798 fans.</p>
<p>The Civil Court dismissed a case brought by Prachatai against the government within 5 hours of the complaint being filed, without examination of witnesses.</p>
<p>Statement from Former Thai Senators (2000-2006)*, “Demanding the government to stop blocking media channels and using the state-run media to present one-sided information on the crackdown of the demonstration on April 10, 2010”</p>
By Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nation |
<p>A new red-shirt radio station went on air yesterday in the Rajprasong intersection protest-site area, in a move to counter the continued shutting down of red-shirt media by the government under emergency rule.</p>
<p>"They should allow us to criticise [the government], but instead they shut our ears and eyes," Chinawat Haboonpak, a red-shirt leader told the crowd at the intersection yesterday morning. "We ask for just one television channel, but they have taken it away from us and shut our ears and eyes again."</p>
<p>ASTV-Manager has resigned from the board of the Thai Journalist Association in protest after the media body released a statement opposing the government’s closure of the red shirt People Channel or PTV. Its representative said the red-shirt TV should be closed because it is not loyal to the monarchy, unlike ASTV which adheres to what is right and just.</p>
By Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nation |
<p>Red-shirt media and those identified as sympathetic to red-shirt protesters suffered heavy censorship yesterday as the government exercised its power under the emergency decree to cut communication lines among the red shirts, leaving society with only what the state views as correct and appropriate.</p>
<p>It was a bid to reduce the crowd - but it invited more red shirts to the main protest venue at Rajprasong intersection and elsewhere.</p>
By The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) |
<p>The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) expresses concern over the declaration of a State of Emergency in Bangkok, particularly in how the broad powers granted the military under such a declaration could render the free press and freedom of expression vulnerable to political and security objectives.</p>