A new body will be set up to monitor media ethics and government public relations spending will be more transparent to prevent abuse of state funds under two new bills to be proposed by the reform body next month.
The National Reform Council's committee on media reform on Monday said it would propose two bills to form a “national council for media profession” and to prevent state interference.
Jumpol Rodkhamdee, who chairs the panel, floated the plan as he submitted a report on media monitoring policy, their freedom and responsibility and interference prevention at an NRC meeting to consider.
Mr Jumpol said his panel would propose next month or in July a bill to set up a national council for media profession to oversee ethics of journalists in all forms of media.
Once the draft is completed, the panellists would disseminate it to the public to gather opinions from media professionals and other sectors before forwarding the bill to the cabinet and the National Legislative Assembly.
The other bill involves government agencies’ advertising and public relations spending. Mr Jumpol said the legislation was designed to prevent state agencies, which receive a combined of 8 billion baht annually for their advertising budgets, from exploiting the funds to buy or influence media, especially newspapers, which mainly rely on advertising revenue.
The media reform panel would amend the Official Information Act to allow the public access to government agencies' data more easily, he added.
During the debate, many NRC members agreed that a new independent organisation should be formed to monitor the conduct of journalists instead of self monitoring as is the case now.
They said the media had been part of the political and social conflicts in Thailand over the past decade. Some media have instigated hatred and divisions through their unbalanced, unethical and unconstructive news coverage. They alleged some journalists received bribes and enriched themselves by using their personal influence.
NRC member Prasarn Marukapitak suggested the NRC empower media organisations such as the Thai Journalist Association to punish members by revoking their licences in the same manner as the Lawyers Council of Thailand and the Medical Council.