ultras67 Posted September 24, 2002 Report Share Posted September 24, 2002 This thought struck me a few weeks ago when I was reading the Post and my then gf was reading a Thai paper. It seemed that her paper was so much more interesting with a picture of a murder victim on the front page and so on. When she looked through the Post she said half the news was missing. Is it a case of the Post/Nation giving us falang the news they think we are interested in ( even local stuff ) , a certain level of self censorship - if a murder isnt reported in the Post/Nation it doesnt happen and we dont frighten the falang here on holiday, different levels of gore acceptence - the pictures in the thai papers seem much more bloody or something else ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted September 24, 2002 Report Share Posted September 24, 2002 Hi, I would not really be all that surprised. We get the Thai Rath here every morning and hardly a day goes by without a corpse on the front page. Can't really read the paper so don't know if the coverage of news is similar. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trotsky2 Posted September 24, 2002 Report Share Posted September 24, 2002 One difference that surprised me was on my last trip. I was reading a few Thai papers with my gf and there was a big story about a police raid at a gogo in Pattaya. The main character in the story was a falang who put pepper spray in the ac ducts. It was in several of the Thai newspapers for two days or so. However I never saw word one of it in the BKK Post. Could have missed it but I looked hard figuring this would be a falang news worthy story, but nothing. I would guess that there is lots of differences because the companies try to tailor their stories to meet what they think is the interest of their readers and presumably the interests of Thais and falang are different in many areas. For example, I see lots of "weird" Buddhist stuff in the Thai papers which I would guess is not really of interest to an ex-pat businessman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 24, 2002 Report Share Posted September 24, 2002 I am not fluent, but I can generally understand the headlines and get the gist of the story. A few observations. First, with the exception of Grungthep Turakej (Bangkok Business), the newspapers tend to be very sensationalistic. Grungthep Turakej, as the name suggests, focuses on business stories, and many, unfortunately including many that work in my office, consider it boring. I consider it the best paper. Second, gruesome pictures are common. Although many people here are literate, the education level is fairly low. Gruesome pictures sell papers. Hence, the front pages of many Thai newspapers are filled with pictures of corpses, mangled bodies, criminal suspects, etc. Think National Enquirer. Third, some papers seem to have a very nationalistic bent. Most also tend to tow a party line, particularly when that party controls a substantial amount of the advertising revenue. Now that iTV is owned by the Shin Group, all local TV stations tow that party line. Fourth, Thai papers generally lack the news analysis pieces that you will find in papers such as the NY Times, Wall Street Journal and International Herald Tribune. You generally also won't find good news analysis pieces in the English language press here unless the story came from an international paper. There are a few exceptions, such as Chang Noi's commentaries in The Nation, but that is the general rule. If you cannot read Thai and you are still curious, the Saturday (or is it Sunday?) Bangkok Post runs selected English language translations of op/ed pieces from the Thai press. Often interesting; rarely inspiring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilli13 Posted September 24, 2002 Report Share Posted September 24, 2002 that story about the pattaya 'top secret club' raid where numbers of thai & farang people we're arrested/deported we're also reported in english papers & a long thread ongoing here try a search for top secret or something! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedonist Posted September 24, 2002 Report Share Posted September 24, 2002 I don't think it is correct to say that the Bangkok Post and the Nation are specifically aimed at a 'farang' audience. A large part of their readership are well-educated Thais and Asian ex-pats. I would guess these people have little interest in mutilated bodies and the drug scene in Pattaya. Look at the adverts too. These don't seem to be aimed specifically at foreigners. Investigative reporting is a bit of a rarity in Thailand. Seems to be mostly "This politician said ... then this politician said ...". Digging up the dirt about what really goes on here would be a difficult and dangerous job!!! My impression is that Thai reporter's jobs are rarely high-paid or high-status positions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattaya127 Posted September 24, 2002 Report Share Posted September 24, 2002 I rather think that murders and death of farangs are well publicized as it seems to get posted on every thai english site, including this one. As for murders of thais and grim reports of it, plus pix, the thais love that and their newspapers cater to that, whereas Post/Nation deal with english readers, a lot of farangs who can't care less for grizzly pix of murder reports, and details of how much blood was spilled on the street. IMO, no censoring there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Kev Posted September 24, 2002 Report Share Posted September 24, 2002 Re: Do we get the full news in the newspapers? My response to this question, not just in Thailand, but anywhere in the world, is a resounding NO!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 25, 2002 Report Share Posted September 25, 2002 In reply to: IMO, no censoring there By censorship, I assume you mean censorship based on gory pictures, because there certainly is censorship based on political content. You might recall that several months back an edition of the Far Eastern Economic Review was banned and several weeks later The Economist was told that it would not be permitted to distribute one of their editions in the Kingdom. No reason to go into the specifics of why they were banned, but simply note that they were banned based on political content. I had lunch today with a Thai partner of one of the law firms our bank uses. We started talking about the banning of the Far Eastern Economic Review and The Economist, and he mentioned that the new Thai Constitution specifically states that the government cannot ban any publication, unless they first obtain a court order on the grounds of national security. He also said that government did not even attempt to seek such an order when they banned the Far Eastern Economic Review and The Economist. They simply ignored the constitution. I was pleased to learn that the Thai constitution has such a provision and that at least some people (the partner who made these comments) take it seriously. I am less impressed with what happens in actual practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattaya127 Posted September 25, 2002 Report Share Posted September 25, 2002 By censorship, I assume you mean censorship based on gory pictures --------------------------- yes, any other more general discussion on censorship would have hi-jacked the thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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