Following closely in the wake of protests by Thai Airways female cabin crew against the soap opera ‘War of Angels’, the Association of Politicians, Influential Persons and Sundry Other Flaks (PIPSOF) has launched a similar campaign against the portrayal of politicians in the Thai media.

The Thai Airways air hostesses had criticized a highly popular soap opera on the Army-controlled Channel 5 for depicting them as vindictive, violent and interested primarily in exploiting their revealing uniforms to attract philandering pilots.

In a similar way, the politicians’ association is criticizing the portrayal of Thai politicians on TV and in the press.

A spokesperson for the association explained that anyone watching TV or reading the newspapers would almost certainly form a negative image of Thai politicians.

‘For example,’ said the spokesperson, ‘the voters might think that the Prime Minister had been given a prison sentence for defamation and was under investigation for corruption.’ Similarly biased reports would lead people to believe that the Speaker of the House was the subject of a vote-buying inquiry and had a history of being gun-happy.

‘This misrepresentation victimizes not just politicians, but even their innocent children,’ added the spokesperson. ‘Many people might be misled into thinking that the sons of the prospective Minister of the Interior went around night clubs acting like thugs, even killing police officers in the line of duty.’

When questioned by reporters which TV programme was guilty of these alleged slurs against the members of PIPSOF, the spokesperson claimed that all TV channels were equally guilty. ‘They all have something called a news programme and that is where most of these vile insinuations and innuendos are made,’ he claimed.

But, he added, the print media were probably even more to blame. ‘The newspapers carry both news reports and commentary in the form of editorials, columns and op-ed pieces. But as far as my members are concerned, there is no difference between them. They are all based on a negative interpretation of the role of politicians in Thai society.’

The spokesperson was asked what the correct image of politicians should be, if what is portrayed in the media is so unremittingly unattractive. He said that politicians were good people. They made friends easily, especially with each other. They would do a great deal to stimulate the economy just as soon as they got their hands on enough money. And they invariably praised such virtuous ideals as proper Thai culture, the sufficiency economy, and paying respect to one’s leaders, such as politicians.

When reporters pressed for concrete examples of the good deeds of politicians, the spokesperson began to show visible signs of becoming upset.

‘Politicians make some of the nicest promises in the country,’ he claimed, ‘as anyone would know who bothered to read their campaign literature.’ He also added that it was exactly this kind of insulting question that started the problem. If reporters would only concentrate on the proper kind of positive news then politicians would have no problem.

One reporter then asked if, in the opinion of PIPSOF, the media should deliberately not report crimes and misdemeanours committed by politicians, even when these were proven facts.

‘Which channel do you work for?’ asked the spokesperson. ‘Who’s paying you to dig up this filth? Are you not getting enough on the side? Is that what’s making you so ratty?’

While reporters were momentarily stunned into silence by this outburst, the spokesman quickly added that all politicians speak very nicely and never indulge in personal vituperation, especially against the representatives of the media.

Because of the kind of politicians now in power, many mainstream news editors have decided that the PIPSOF campaign is a warning of what may come and their reporters have been instructed to tone things down. Many remember that the new Prime Minister was responsible for the public burning of so-called ‘communist’ books in the 1970’s.

However, the independent media consider that this campaign is even more misguided than the one by the air hostesses. When asked if Prachatai would change its reporting of politicians in a way that would make them look good, a Prachatai staffer said ‘PIPSOF can just PIPSOF out of it.’