Thailand
Move appears to be in line with the stance of Thailand’s military-allied government
A Thai Buddhist monk wears a face mask painted with the colors of Ukraine’s national flag during a demonstration against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine outside the Russian embassy in Bangkok on March 19. (Photo: AFP)
A military-run television channel in Thailand has drawn the ire of numerous netizens for seeking to present the Russian side in the European nation’s invasion of Ukraine through airing content from Russian news sources.
Top executives from Channel 5, which is owned by Thailand’s powerful military, met with Russian ambassador Yevgeny Tomikhin this week to discuss the sharing of foreign news from Russian media to Thai audiences, according to a post on social media by the Russian embassy.
The move appears to be in line with the stance of Thailand’s military-allied government, which has declared itself neutral on the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by the Russian military.
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Numerous netizens have taken to social media to express concerns that Channel 5 will become an apologist for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has claimed repeatedly that what he calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine has been necessary in order to uproot Nazism in the country and protect Russian speakers from an unfolding genocide.
Russian media have provided no evidence of the presence of Nazis in Ukraine’s government or of an unfolding genocide of Russian speakers in the country.
“Why they are accepting Russian news as news? Any information coming from Russia is controlled propaganda, not a word of it can be believed. We will not invade Ukraine. Last thing they said before invading Ukraine,” a commenter pointed out on social media regarding the proposed collaboration between Channel 5 and Russian media outlets.
“So the world has condemned Russia for invading Ukraine, but Thailand brings [its] child-killer army and corrupt government to a Thai TV channel. I say boycott Thailand as a holiday country”
“What do you expect? It’s one dictatorship making common cause with another,” another commenter argued.
“The only thing that Russia and the Putin regime can share is lies and betrayal!” said a third.
“So the world has condemned Russia for invading Ukraine, but Thailand brings [its] child-killer army and corrupt government to a Thai TV channel. I say boycott Thailand as a holiday country. Time to boycott all military dictatorships,” noted yet another commenter.
The Russian government maintains very tight control of news in the country where even the word “war” is banned in relation to its invasion of Ukraine.
In Thailand, where the current prime minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, rose to power in 2014 during a military coup, there is little media freedom, according to Reporters Without Borders, a group that monitors media freedom worldwide.
“Any criticism of the government is still liable to lead to harsh reprisals facilitated by draconian legislation and a justice system that follows orders,” the group says.
“The threat of a lese majeste charge carrying a possible 15-year jail sentence continues to be used as a weapon of mass deterrence against dissident journalists and bloggers. The coverage or non-coverage of the massive pro-democracy demonstrations in 2020 confirmed the scale of self-censorship within the Thai media. One of the key demands being made by the protesters — reform of the monarchy — was systematically erased from mainstream media coverage,” Reporters Without Borders explains.
“The authorities meanwhile behave in a very indulgent manner towards certain regimes: Cambodian, Chinese and Vietnamese operatives have been allowed to come and arrest dissident exile journalists or bloggers from their country in order to ‘repatriate’ and then jail them.”
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