Thaksin, where are you?

[BelgianBoy]

maybe because the tv footage from a few days ago, is not from a few days ago ???

[colorwolf]

Somchai's relatives dressed in black: Bannawit

 

Adm Bannawit Kengrien, a former deputy permanent secretary for Defence, posted a message on his Twitter page, saying he has learned that all family members of former Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat are now dressed in black.

 

Bannawit also claimed that his friend, who is a Pheu Thai MPs, received an order that if someone asked him about former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, he would have to reply that he had just talked to Thaksin over the phone.

 

Link

how low can you sink?

posting a pick-up by the yellow-shirt mouthpiece of the twitter-feed of a no-name former bureaucrat!

surely fiery jack's mega-farts contain more truths...

[BaronTT]

I'm not entirely sure of the point you're trying to make.

 

Are you saying that a newspaper should not mention what is on a person's tweet or facebook page, even if they attribute it as such? If that's the case, they should not mention anything that's posted on Thaksin's Twitter about his whereabouts and the fact that he is alive, right?

 

So that's the point, right? Twitter and Facebook cannot be used as a source in any case.

 

Then I disagree. As long as it's attributed, then people should be able to judge for themselves how trustworthy the source is.

[Wallenda]

maybe because the tv footage from a few days ago, is not from a few days ago ???

 

Right, CNN and all the other news agencies in the world are in on a plot to cover up Thaksin's death. Sorry, I didn't get it till now. Thanks for enlightening me.

[Wallenda]

So that's the point, right? Twitter and Facebook cannot be used as a source in any case.

 

Actually, any serious newspaper would insist that the source be reputable, and preferably on the record. Just existing as a person doesn't qualify. Normally it would have to be someone with a position of some responsibility that would be at risk if they were saying something to mislead the public. Have you ever heard of this guy?

 

And what's more, the guy's not even stating anything of any substance but just insinuating.

 

A real newspaper would at least go find him and force him to comment on the record -- if he didn't back it up with some kind of substantial statement, they wouldn't print it.

 

I'm no supporter of the reds, but in terms of journalistic ethics this is pretty guttery stuff.

[BaronTT]

Real newspapers frequently get quotes from non-famous, run of the mill type people. Pulitzer winning newspapers, that is.

 

This particular person has some stature. Perhaps not as much as the Pope, but certainly more than me.

 

Newspapers also frequently quote people off the record. You can see that hundreds of times every day from these newspapers. I didn't keep track of how many articles from 'real' newspapers had unnamed sources today, but they were several.

 

I'm not saying that what this person tweeted is correct. I'm just saying that newspapers should be free to gather information from whatever sources are available to them.

[Gadfly]

Serious newspapers would use posts like this as leads to see if there is any substance to the story. They are not idiots. They know that protagnists in any conflict can and do try to do use them to spin various tales.

 

They also know that there can be substance to stories like this, and the tremendous value of getting a scoop on a story like this. So they do follow up on leads like this.

 

I just don't see how Thaksin's death could be kept a secret from the serious media for very long. I can see the serious media about repeating unfounded stories about his death because they recognize there is a propaganda war going on and they don't want to be made to look foolish or irresponsible. But they also recognize that getting the scoop on Thaksin's death would be a tremendous score. My hunch: they are checking the bona fides of these type of rumors, but aren't going to repeat them (and be made a fool) unless they think there is substance behind them. Because they cannot find any substance behind the rumors, we aren't seeing it in the responsible press.

[Wallenda]

Real newspapers frequently get quotes from non-famous, run of the mill type people. Pulitzer winning newspapers, that is.

 

The key word is 'quotes'. We're not talking about quotes, we're talking about a tweet.

 

This particular person has some stature. Perhaps not as much as the Pope, but certainly more than me.

 

I'm not familiar with this person. What is his position?

 

Newspapers also frequently quote people off the record. You can see that hundreds of times every day from these newspapers. I didn't keep track of how many articles from 'real' newspapers had unnamed sources today, but they were several.

 

You're taking the wrong ball and running with it. When papers quote an unnamed source, they know his name. They just don't name him cuz that was the agreement made with the interviewee taht they'd preserve his anonymity. If the reporter got called into court, he'd have to name that source. But anyway this is all irrelevant to what we're talkign about.

 

I'm not saying that what this person tweeted is correct. I'm just saying that newspapers should be free to gather information from whatever sources are available to them.

 

QUotes and tweets are not the same. A quote is heard first hand by the reporter, verifying that it's the person who said it, with that person knowing that he's giving that info to a reporter, and it's probably recorded on tape. A tweet is a short informal msg sent to the internet, and I'd guess it would be easy to deny sending it.

 

Gather and report are 2 different things. As part of the process of building a story, anything is game. But when it comes time to print, you need reliable on the record sources or you're vulnerable to being shamed when your story is denied, and they say you invented it. Or, as in this case, you're likely to be seen by any intelligent reader as printing a BS story.

 

Note that the tweets here only insinuate and don't actually state anything. A responsible journalist who thought this was possibly something would pursue this as a lead. Not report it as the story itself. They haven't even bothered to confirm that this guy really wrote it. Apparently didn't even try. Cmon man, I think we all realize this is really weak. It's just rumor mongering, and based on nothing. There's a reason gossip columnists are held in low regard. But even they do better than this.

 

[acockasian]

Dude....relax. A poster here has a wife who has a sister who has friend who is the son of a person who can break news on Mr Ts medical condition, or lack of one, right here in this thread!

 

Seriously confidential stuff!!!

[BaronTT]

Although you've never hear do him, many people have. If you google the admiral's name, you'll get many hits and not just because of his Tweet.

 

My guess is that it would be more difficult to disown a tweet than a statement to a reporter as most things on the internet a recorded forever.