The Thai media regulator has suspended the broadcasting licence of a TV station run by the red shirts. This is the fourth time the channel has been banned under the junta.
On 6 February 2018, Thida Thavornseth, an executive of Peace TV, posted on her Facebook account that the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBCT) had suspended the broadcasting licence of the station for 15 days, starting from midnight that night.
According to the suspension order of the NBCT, the ban is related to a TV programme “Direction of Thai Democracy” broadcast in October 2017, which comprised interviews with supporters of Jatuporn Prompan, the imprisoned red-shirt leader. The NBCT stated that the show’s content was illegal.
“As we are pro-democracy media, there must be a conflict with the current regime,” said Thida.
Peace TV station is run by leaders of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, also known as the red shirts. This is the fourth ban on broadcasting by the channel under the junta. The first ban lasted seven days in April 2015, the second 30 days in July 2016, and the third a month in August 2017. All the bans were related to seditious content and criticism of the ruling junta.
NBCT staff deliver the suspension order to Peace TV (Photo from Thida’s Facebook account)
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