Newspapers should be exempt from possible media curbs under the media reform bill drafted by the National Reform Council (NRC) and submitted to the cabinet on Tuesday, a forum was told Wednesday.
Thepchai Yong, president of Thai Broadcast Journalist Association, said he personally thought newspapers should not be included in the bill and should instead continue to regulate themselves.
He was speaking at a forum jointly held by the Thai Media Law & Policy Centre (TMLPC) of the Isra Institute and the Office of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to gather opinions of media outlet executives on the bill.
It is dangerous to include all types of media under such controls because Thai society has never actually been free from interference in this area, he said. Self-regulation was better than an external body imposing rules.
"Who knows? Thai politics could remain in the same unstable situation for even the next five to six years. And that's why the freedom of newspapers will be crucial in maintaining freedom of expression," Mr Thepchai said. "The NRC draft opens up the risk that newspaper freedom will be curbed," he said.
There should never be any new laws or rules to control newspapers as they had fought for years to be free from any form of interference, he said.
The ideology of the NRC's draft law on media organisations was to control the entire media apparatus without thinking about the nature of the media, said Jakkris Phermphol, former chairman of the National Press Council of Thailand.
Instead of attempting to control the media by forcing an improvement in media ethics, the new law should have been drafted to support natural improvements in media ethics and to empower existing media professional councils so the industry can regulate itself, he said.
Ubolnadda Suphawan, a representative of the Chiang Mai-based Thai News newspaper, said she agreed existing professional councils should be supported in guiding the media.
More media professional bodies should be set up in the regions as well because media outlets based outside of Bangkok still find it difficult to unite and form groups, Ms Ubolnadda said.
Phuwasit Suksai, director and editor of Focus News newspaper in the southern province of Songkhla, meanwhile, criticised the NRC media bill as being drafted to mainly serve people in the capital. He added that government media should be separated from other types.
Suwanna Raksasombatsuk, of the TMLPC, said the centre had drafted a bill on media professional ethics and would submit it for deliberation along with the NRC's bill.
The TMLPC's bill will require a new body called the mass media professional council to be formed in three years, she said.
Unlike the NRC's bill, media outlets will not be forced by the TMLPC to formally register themselves as media organisations, she said.