Archive for the ‘Media Control’ Category

Consumer bodies slam NSRA stance on media reform – The Nation

Consumer organisations on Tuesday issued a statement strongly criticising the National Reform Steering Assemblys endorsement of the controversial draft bill on media regulation, and vowed not to be part of the so-called media professional council unless the NRSA removes the clauses that infringe on the peoples rights to information.

The organisations, including the Foundation for Consumers, called for the NRSA to scrap the draft bills proposals, having a new bill drafted that established co-regulation between citizens and the media, and to promote the peoples awareness in media consumption as well as protect their rights to information.

In the statement, the organisations said that they opposed the NRSA and its media reform committee for their insincerity in the reform effort, as reflected through a media control bill which undermined public participation.

Although the committee has removed the licensing system and some penalties from its proposals, it maintained the requirement for two ministerial permanent secretaries in the professional council and the fine for failure to attain accreditation, the statement read.

This demonstrated a lack of sincerity in the reform effort, which should have been about protecting press freedom and promoting professional standards, it added.

Deprivation of such rights is against the new constitution, it insisted.

The committees report on media reform overlooked the fact that media regulation overseas was based partly on a strong civil sector, the organisations said in the statement.

Despite the flaws, the NRSA passed the report, hence the organisations now denounced the NRSA for not protecting the public interest, it concluded.

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Consumer bodies slam NSRA stance on media reform - The Nation

Next Up on Trumps Dictator Dance Card: Thai Gen. Prayuth – Daily Beast

BANGKOKWhen Thailands military seized power almost three years ago, the Obama administration shunned it. Washington was angered by Gen. Prayuth Chan-ochas suppression of political parties, dissidents, and the media. But, as you might have guessed, the Trump administration has a different view, and the strongman finds himself cordially invited to the White House.

In Bangkok, Government House was predictably puffed up at the news. The Twitterverse, meanwhile, bristled with outrage over Trumps decision to invite Prayuth as well as Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (plus Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong).

Is Assad next? one tweep wondered, echoing critics who saw the invitations as a predictable move by a U.S. president who praises strongmen like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, Egypts Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Turkeys Recep Tayyip Erdoan. Trump loves his human rights abusers, one critic tweeted.

Trump showed little knowledge oflet alone interest inSoutheast Asia during the presidential campaign and after his election. Now, not only has he discovered the region, he is trying to embrace its leaders.

But are these invitations merely evidence of a U.S. presidents penchant for demagogues? Or has the Axis of Adults around him decided the U.S. needs friends in the region right now as tensions grow in Korea and between the U.S. and China? Perhaps all of the above.

Thailands Prayuth may well be a kindred spirit for Donald Trump. The two men share a disdain for and fear of journalists. While Trump attacks the media as disgusting purveyors of fake news and talks about changing libel laws to go after offending outlets, Prayuth has cowed local media into self-censorship and run off disagreeable foreign press, including The New York Times.

A subcommittee Prayuth appointed has proposed a triumph of Orwellian double-speak called the Protection of Media Rights and Freedom and Promotion of Ethics and Professional Standards Billa.k.a. the media control billthat would require media outlets to be licensed, with scofflaws susceptible to three years in jail or a fine of up to $1,700.

And while Trump and underlings such as Sean Spicer and Stephen Miller strive to portray the president as an imperial figure who will brook no opposition, Prayuth makes good on that kind of threat. Last August he rammed through a referendum that approved a new constitution, written by an Army-appointed committee, which leaves the country at best quasi-democracy that will be overseen by the military for decades.

For a society that has overthrown two military dictatorships over the past two generations, what has been happening in Thailand is astonishing, Thai political analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak writes in the Bangkok Post.

But Thitinan tells The Daily Beast that Trumps invitation to Prayuth does not signal some budding bromance between autocrats. Instead, its a recalibration of values and interests and an attempt to pick up a ball former President Barack Obama dropped.

Despite good intentions, the Obama administration came up short, says Thitinan, an associate professor at Chulalongkorn University. China has been winning Southeast Asia. In Washington theyre waking up to the fact that this is consequential. When you talk tough to China you have to follow through, because China will test you. Obama was talking big and coming up empty. He didnt follow through; he didnt show the muscle.

Thitinan says that while Obamas cherished human rights priorities will not be abandoned, they will be superseded by the geopolitical interests of the United States.

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It is a matter of realpolitik, agrees Lindsey W. Ford, director for Asian Security at the Asia Society Police Institute in Washington. Principles, human rights, and democracy are simply parts of a bigger strategic picture, she tells The Daily Beast. The U.S. emphasizes its alliances as foundations of its foreign policy, but our Southeast Asia alliance has been in trouble for some time, she explains.

America stopped showing that it values those relationships, resulting in a strategic shift toward China in the region, she says. In the last couple of years theres been a perception that the U.S. didnt have the ability or the will to lead as we had in the past, and China was stepping into that breach.

Prayuth, 63, has done much to deserve scorn and suspicion since he overthrew democratically elected Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in May 2014. The grim-faced ultra-royalist first installed martial law and then responded to criticism by replacing it with Article 44, an even harsher constitutional provision that essentially allows him to perform any actexecutive, judicial or legislative. He also has toughened enforcement of the countrys lse majest law, which criminalizes insulting the royal familylargely, critics say, to stifle dissent and silence opponents.

Thailand and the Philippines are two of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, whose 30th annual summit just concluded in Manilaunder Dutertes chairmanship. So devoted is the bloc to not meddling in members internal affairs that it has come to be dismissed as an unwieldy collective of dictatorships, authoritarian states and a monarchy, along with fledgling democracies.

The ratbag of dictators, autocrats and juntas that dominate ASEANs ranks perceive transparency, accountability, and rule of law as existential threats rather than foundations of good governance, is the way Phelim Kine of Human Rights Watch has described the group.

Even so, the organization would prefer that Southeast Asia not become a Chinese redoubt, and would likely welcome a more robust American engagement. At the same time, says Kan Yuenyong, of the Siam Intelligence Unit, ASEAN could play the role of a mediator on behalf of North Korea in its ongoing nuclear-arms dispute with America, as well as a body that could help cool relations between the superpowers as they jockey for influence in Asia.

I feel this is a long-term game between the United States and China; an overall chessboard in the Asia-Pacific, not just about the U.S. and Korea. Theres very deep geopolitical maneuvering going on and we have to understand this is a long game, he says.

To show just how much of a pivot he is prepared to make in Southeast Asia, President Trump later this year will attend the U.S.-ASEAN summit and the East Asia summit in the Philippines, and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vietnam.

But will Trump be treated with resepect?

Prayuth has accepted the invitation to the White House. But Duterte, ever one to thumb his nose at the sons of bitches in America, says he cant commit because Im tied up. After all, he said, I am supposed to go to Russia; I am supposed to go to Israel.

With such options, how could anyone for sure accommodate the leader of the free world?

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Next Up on Trumps Dictator Dance Card: Thai Gen. Prayuth - Daily Beast

Press Freedom Day holds grim irony for Thailand – The Nation

Today is World Press Freedom Day and the global situation is not promising, with that very freedom deteriorating in two-thirds of countries, according to an analysis published last week by the advocacy group Reporters without Borders. It examined relative freedom of news outlets and journalists in 180 nations and found democracies and dictatorships alike increasingly shrinking the capacity of newspeople to get the truth to the public.

In countries ruled by dictators, media people are intimidated through surveillance, summonses, arbitrary detention, physical assault and even murder. In democratic territories, libel laws and quasi-legal tools are used, and there is a rising tendency among high-level politicians to use their power to quash stories they dislike.

Thailand fares poorly in the 2017 World Press Freedom Index prepared by Reporters without Borders. Its ranked 142nd among the 180 countries, down six places from last year.

This years commemoration of World Press Freedom Day coincides with the governments attempt to further restrict media freedom through a controversial regulatory bill that was readily endorsed on Monday by the National Reform Steering Assembly.

Thailands record on press freedom has been poor since the military coup in May 2014, as Reporters without Borders noted in its summary. It said the junta keeps journalists and citizen-journalists under permanent surveillance, often summons them for questioning, and detains them arbitrarily. The media regulatory legislation, if it becomes law, would worsen the situation tremendously.

A major concern regarding the bill involves the inclusion of government representatives including the permanent secretary of the Prime Ministers Office in a so-called media professional council to regulate the industry.

Prominent media figures have objected, warning against what they say is a blatant attempt at government interference. Critics suspect the proposed legislation has the backing of powers-that-be who want to ensure there are media controls in place once they return to power after an election.

In fact the new law is wholly unnecessary. There are ample legislation and guidelines already in place to control the behaviour of media outlets and professionals, as well as traditional adherence to industry ethics and the willingness of most news outlets to voluntarily restrain their reporting on sensitive issues.

It must be acknowledged that the self-regulatory approach adopted by media groups has in the past often failed to adequately punish professionals who committed wrongdoing. The usual escape from punishment entails resigning their posts so that industry watchdogs no longer have the power to deal with them. If proponents of the bill want a professional council with the legal authority to regulate the industry, it cannot have government representatives among its members. Their presence would be an obvious contradiction to the principles and practice of a free media.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Tuesday told media leaders who protested against the bill at Government House that he recognised the important role the media play in society. He said the media expose both the positive and negative aspects of government and thus give the people in power a realistic view of where the administration stands in the publics perception. The premier, assuming he was sincere when he said this, should ensure that the proposed law is cleansed of any clauses designed to tighten government control over the media or otherwise restrict press freedom.

This wasnt the first time General Prayut has alluded to the benefits of having a free press. One of those benefits that any government leader must be aware of is that the overarching duty of the news media is to protect the public and the national interest. But perhaps that role is precisely what the corrupt and dictatorial elements in government are seeking to curb.

More:
Press Freedom Day holds grim irony for Thailand - The Nation

Indians win in extras; Bluehawks control Patroon – Columbia-Greene … – The Register Star

COXSACKIE Green Tech gave Coxsackie-Athens everything it could handle on Monday, but it was the Indians that came out on top, 4-3, in extra innings.

"Their starting pitcher did a hell of a job, he kept us off balance, he had a great breaking pitch and it was tough to put something hard on it," C-A coach Curt Wilkinson said. "It came down to a couple people on our team stepping up and trying to rally the troops. I was disappointed in the effort today, but I was happy with the overall result which was a win."

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Indians win in extras; Bluehawks control Patroon - Columbia-Greene ... - The Register Star

Hunters oppose Md. and W.Va. parks’ deer-control plan – Herald-Mail Media

A proposal to use sharpshooters to cull the deer population in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and Harpers Ferry National Historical parks is still open to public comment an opportunity some local hunters took advantage of Tuesday night.

Superintendents Kevin Brandt of the C&O Canal and Tyrone Brandyburg of Harpers Ferry attended the informational meeting to present the plan "in a succinct way," and to give people an opportunity to ask questions and get further information.

The plan was developed because of the damage too many deer can do to natural vegetation as well as to the overall health of the deer population itself, Brandt said.

Recent National Park Service programs to cull deer have been completed at Antietam and Monocacy National battlefields, and Catoctin Mountain Park.

Brandt said the problem is that deer feeding on vegetation is resulting in the loss of forest areas in the parks.

"It would be a bigger job of regenerating the forest without culling" the herd, he said.

Brandt said the park service monitors vegetation to see whether to cull the herds, and does deer density counts in some areas.

But hunters attending the meeting said they don't think there are as many deer as the park service believes. And if there are, why not let local hunters take care of the problem?

Among them was Washington County Board of Commissioners' President Terry Baker.

"I'm obviously here in opposition to bringing in sharpshooters to the C&O Canal," he told Herald-Mail Media, particularly in the western part of the county.

Baker said he believes there are fewer deer there than in previous years.

"This was the first year in 15 years that I haven't harvested a buck on my own property," he said.

Baker called the proposal to hire sharpshooters "appalling."

"Why do I want to waste taxpayers' money when we have our own sportsmen" who could hunt the deer, he asked.

Fellow hunters Keith Weller of Hagerstown and Tom Drury of Cearfoss agreed. Both hunt on property near the canal, they said.

"We're seeing fewer (deer) all the time," Drury said.

Where they once filled feeders every week, now they fill them every month, they said.

"We talk to a lot of people," Weller said. "Everybody's saying the same thing."

But Brandt said culling operations on the canal would be far away from Washington County, at least for a while. And it wouldn't involve that many deer.

He said the park service would target the Gold Mine track in the Great Falls area in Montgomery County.

"The science tells us that taking out 50 in the first year will greatly improve regeneration of the forest," Brandt said. "We won't rush to do other areas."

Brandyburg said about that many would likely be culled from the Harpers Ferry park, in the areas of Maryland Heights in Washington County and Bolivar Heights in Jefferson County, W.Va.

Another meeting is scheduled Wednesday night from 6 to 8 at the Stephen T. Mather Training Center in Harpers Ferry.

A final meeting will be conducted from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center in Potomac, Md.

The White-tailed Deer Management Plan and Environmental Assessment is available online, and comments on the plan will be accepted through May 16.

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Hunters oppose Md. and W.Va. parks' deer-control plan - Herald-Mail Media