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THE NATIONAL Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA) committee on media reform will today consider removing the proposed licensing requirement for media professionals from its draft media regulation bill due to strong industry opposition and concerns that such a requirement could lead to more problems, chairman ACM Kanit Suwannet said.

However, the proposed 15-person national media council will still include two representatives from the government to ensure smooth cooperation between the public and private sector on media affairs, he said, adding that the two slots would be phased out in six years after two fixed terms of three years each are completed.

The Thai Journalists Association (TJA) plans to submit a formal letter to the NRSA vice president Alongkorn Ponlaboot today asking for the proposed reform draft to be withdrawn.

The licensing requirement and government representation on the national media council have become hot issues for the government as it faces strong criticism for attempting to control the media sector

According to Kanit, the government would not be able to interfere in media affairs or curb media freedom because the media sector would have up to seven representatives on the 15-member council, while the NRSA committee had agreed to consider removing the controversial licensing requirement as a compromise with opponents of the bill.

In addition, he said, government representatives on the media council were necessary to ensure that both public and private sectors work together to reform the media sector, but the national media council would in the end have only 13 members after two government slots are removed after six years.

At this stage, the permanent secretaries of the PMs Office and Ministry of Culture are tipped to be the governments representatives on the national media council.

However, Chaovarong Limpatama-panee, president of the National Press Council of Thailand (NPCT), said earlier he would not join a committee tasked with preparing the establishment of the new national media council as suggested by the NRSA.

NPCT spokesman Pratchaya-chai Datuyawat said the government would still be able to interfere in media affairs due to the proposed structure of the new national media council, even though the licensing requirement might be suspended at this stage. He said other professional bodies such as Medical Council or the Lawyers Council had no government representatives on their board.

Yesterday, reporters covering Parliament also urged the NRSA to withdraw the draft media regulation bill, saying in a statement: It is unacceptable to let the state take part in favouring or penalising mass media and social media practitioners as stipulated in the draft bill.

Journalists and members of the public have raised concerns that such a mechanism would give authorities undue control over the media, which should be independent given their role in scrutinising various authorities.

Any law related to the media should be designed to protect rights and freedom of the media practitioners to create a mechanism for freedom of the press on the basis of public interest, they said in the statement.

Media bodies have also threatened to protest on World Press Freedom Day this Wednesday and have vowed to fight it at every stage of the legislation.

Since last week, many media professionals have framed their social networking profile photos with a picture of pigeons breaking free from a chain, with the motto: Stop licensing the media. Stop controlling the people.

They also took to change.org calling for the NRSA to halt deliberations. More than 400 people have signed the online petition.

The bill would set a punishment for media practising without a licence at three years imprisonment and a fine of up to Bt60,000.

Veteran journalist Suthichai Yoon wrote in his column Black Coffee in Krungthep Turakij, The Nations sister newspaper, that reporting under such conditions would make it impossible for the media to be straightforward or question abuses of power.

Politicians would definitely be able to interfere through the professional council directly or indirectly, he wrote.

In addition, Suthichai pointed out the licence reflected the line of thought of authoritarianism that aims to control freedom of expression.

Press freedom is peoples freedom. If one wants to chain the media, then he wants to cage the peoples thoughts, the journalist wrote.

Pramed Lekpetch, TJA president, said the media had no problem with having a professional council. However, such a mechanism should rely on self-regulation with no state interference.

This is not media reform. It is media control and opens they way for the state to interfere with us, Pramed said.

What the media had to do was warn the people of the dangers that the bill would make scrutiny impossible amid a plague of corruption, Pramed said. And the media must send the message to the powers-that-be that reforms, not a control mechanism, were necessary.

Thepchai Yong, president of the Thai Broadcast Journalists Association, said the bill would have a chilling effect on press freedom as the media would be vulnerable to political interference. He said the proposed media ethics council, staffed partly with top bureaucrats and given vast powers, could be easily abused. If the military junta allows this bill to become law, it will essentially hand the politicians coming to power in the future a legal tool to control the media, he said.

Thepchai appealed to the NRSA to seriously ponder the consequences. It would deal a big blow not only to press freedom but also to Thai peoples freedom of expression, he said.

Read more:
NRSA rethink on media licensing - The Nation

(New York) The Thai government should immediately withdraw the latest draft law that seeks to tighten control of news reporting in Thailand, Human Rights Watch said today. The Media Reform Committee at the National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA), whose members are appointed by the military junta, announced that the National Assembly will consider the bill on May 1, 2017.

A Thai journalist covers his eyes, ears, and mouth to protest the proposed draft law that tightens government control of news reporting.

2016 Chavarong Limpattamapanee

The Bill on the Protection and Promotion of Media Rights, Freedom, Ethics and Professional Standards provides for a government-appointed national media council to regulate all media platforms print, broadcast, or online. It also subjects anyone who directly or indirectly earns income from reporting news to the public without a license and their company, agency, or organization to up to two years in prison and a 60,000 baht (US$1,715) fine.

The misnamed media rights and freedom law is the juntas latest attempt to increase government interference and control of any independent news reporting, said Brad Adams, Asia director. Passage of this draft law would mean that reporters in Thailand will be constantly looking over their shoulder at a government-appointed panel that can have them jailed.

Asia Director

More than 30 media organizations in Thailand including the Thai Journalists Association, the Thai Broadcast Journalists Association, the National Press Council of Thailand, the News Broadcasting Council of Thailand, the Online News Providers Association, and the Thailand Cable TV Association have expressed strong concerns that the proposed law would invite government interference in the media and prompt journalists to censor themselves to avoid potential reprisals including the threat of having their licenses revoked.

The ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) under Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Cha-ocha has frequently pledged that it will respect freedom of expression and independence of the media. The government reiterated this pledge most recently in March at the United Nations Human Rights Committee during the review of Thailands rights record. However, the juntas record on freedom of expression has been poor. Thai authorities have repeatedly harassed and prosecuted people for their speech, writings, and internet postings even mildly critical of the government.

Immediately after the May 2014 coup, the junta forced off the air satellite and digital TV channels and community radio stations associated with all political factions. Some were later allowed to resume broadcasting provided that they signed a memorandum of understanding with the junta that the broadcaster would not make any critical comments about the junta or the situation in Thailand.

The junta has maintained media censorship through various decrees. NCPO Announcement 97/2014 bans criticism of the work of the NCPO and the dissemination of information that could harm national security, cause confusion, or incite conflict or divisions in the country. All news outlets are compelled to distribute the information issued by the junta.

NCPO Announcement 103/2014 prohibits the propagation of news or the distribution of any publication containing information that the authorities consider intentionally distorted to cause public misunderstanding that affects national security or public order. This has effectively turned the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) into a censorship tool for the junta, with broad and unaccountable powers to suspend the broadcast of TV and radio programs or take a station off the air because of content that the authorities consider distorted, divisive, or a threat to national security.

The proposed media law is taking Thailand even further away from the juntas promised election and restoration of democratic rule, Adams said. Instead of adopting another repressive law, the government should lift censorship and the rights abusing regulations that are destroying free expression in Thailand.

Continue reading here:
Thailand: Draft Media Law Threatens News Reporting - Human Rights Watch (press release)

Friday April 28, 2017

Read story transcript

Serena McKay was just 19 when she was killed in Sagkeeng First Nation in northern Manitoba.

And the crime was made all the more disturbing by a video posted on Facebookthat appears to show McKay being violently assaulted.

Two teenaged girls have been charged with second degree murder in McKay's death.

Facebook has removed the video though it's still working on stopping it from being shared on the Messenger app.

It's the latest video posted on Facebook, showing a disturbing incident of real violence, either posted or streamed live. And it is raising questions about how social media should handle this disturbing content.

Jacqueline Helfgott, a professor of criminal justice at Seattle University, says that for some people, social media can be a motivating factor for a crime.

Serena McKay, 19, was found dead, April 23, in Sagkeeng First Nation. Two teenage girls have been arrested in connection with her death.

"Social media creates opportunities for people who aren't famousto be famous," Helfgott tells The Current's Friday host Laura Lynch.

"And there's an element of that in these types of crimes."

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said his organization is working on preventing the sharing or streaming of videos of crime. But experts are asking how exactly that should be done.

"Even with all of the advances in machine learning and AI, we are nowhere near being able to filter content like that at internet scale," says Hany Farid, a professor of computer science at Dartmouth College.

"There is a gap between what we can do and what we want to do."

However, Daphne Keller, the director of intermediary liability at the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society, questions whether machine monitoring is something we should even want to do.

"The idea that we can have an automated machine that can detect what's illegal from what's legal is pretty risky," Keller tells Lynch.

'I can never unsee it,' says elder Alma Kakinapinace who found Serena McKay's body in Sagkeeng First Nation. (CBC)

Farid advocates bringing people into the decision process, to work with machines in making sure decisions on what content to take down are ethical. He says it's a complex process that would require an investment of time, staff and money.

"I don't think Facebook is putting enough effort in ... and this is probably true of most of the tech companies," he says.

"They put a huge amount of effort into data mining. They put a huge amount of effort into advertising. They put a huge amount of effort into the latest features, like Live. And I think the efforts that are going into really making sure these platforms are safe are much, much less," Farid points out.

Keller, however, sees bigger ethical problems with the monitoring effort altogether.

"Platforms like Facebook are the public square," she says.

"Unlike the public square historically, they're run by a private company that is subject to media pressures and legal pressures and can choose to just silence difficult speech, or controversial speech, or minority speech if that is what makes the media and shareholders happier," Keller tells Lynch.

"Do we want a system where that private actor is systematically erring on the side of caution?"

Listen to the full segment at the top of this web post.

This segment was produced by The Current's Samira Mohyeddin, Catherine Kalbfleisch and Seher Asaf,

Original post:
Facebook isn't doing enough to control violent posts, says expert - CBC.ca

Srinagar, April 28 (KMS): In occupied Kashmir, the Chairman of Hurriyet forum, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has said that the Indian authorities have to understand that they cannot control the situation by resorting to brute force.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq addressing a public gathering at Jamia Masjid in Srinagar, today, said that spontaneous mass student protests and agitation across the Valley clearly showed that every section and segment of the Kashmiri society was actively connected with the liberation struggle.

He said, the puppet authorities have to change their prohibitory mindset and allow students to reclaim their space for activism and freedom of expression in college and university campuses, as is the norm across the world. He said extreme state repression in all forms further pushes the people to resist and stand up against it, despite fatal consequences for them.

The Mirwaiz said keeping leadership in jails or under house detention for months or for years has proved futile in containing the problem.it is a pan-Kashmir peoples political struggle and not confined to any particular section that it can be isolated and curbed by force, he added.

He said that much blood of innocent Kashmiris had flowed down the Jhelum and people of Kashmir did not even want the death of Indian soldiers. They want the death dance to stop, he added.

The Hurriyet forum Chairman said for ending bloodshed and establishing real peace in Kashmir and the region India had to behave as a genuine and mature democracy. It has to seriously and sincerely engage with the people of Kashmir taking into account their political will and aspirations and simultaneously start a process of engagement with Pakistan which is a party to the dispute, he maintained.

Visit link:
Authorities cannot control IOK situation by force: Mirwaiz - Kashmir Media Service

The annual Avenue of Roses Parade in Portland, Oregon, has been called off after the organizers received specific threats of violence from anarchist groups. An anonymous email included threats that, if the Multnomah County Republican Party was allowed to participate, their members would be forcibly removed by their large band of thugs. The email bragged: "You have seen how much power we have downtown and that the police cannot stop us from shutting down roads so please consider your decision wisely." This is a reference to the riots in Portland in November in which citizens were terrorized and millions of dollars worth of property damage occurred over a period of almost a week.

The email included links to two Facebook events: "Defend Portland from Fascists at the Avenue Of Roses Parade," hosted by Direct Action Alliance, and "Shut down fascism! No nazis in Portland!," hosted by Oregon Students Empowered. Both groups are affiliated with the Antifa movement, which has violently confronted participants in Trump rallies across the nation.

This is the full email to parade organizers:

The Facebook event from Direct Action Alliance reads:

In response, the Multnomah County Republican Party issued a press release along with a letter to the mayor, chief of police, and district attorney of Portland, asking for cooperation to provide sufficient security and investigate the anarchists. The letter to the city said, in part:

Before the GOP could have the requested discussion with organizers and city officials, an announcement was made that the entire event -- parade and carnival -- was canceled. Parade organizers released a simple statement explaining that "following threats of violence during the parade by multiple groups planning to demonstrate at the event, we can no longer guarantee the safety of our community and have made the difficult decision to cancel the parade and carnival."

The cancellation of the parade has caused a firestorm in local media, with widespread condemnation of the anarchists. One comment left on the Multnomah County Republican Party website represented the predominant reaction among a vast number of Portlanders:

Read the rest here:
Portland Anarchists Shut Down Parade After Bragging the Police Can't Control Them - PJ Media