The media needs to play a more active role in reporting the truth about violence in the deep South, a seminar was told yesterday.
Col Parinya Chaidirok, a former spokesman for the director of the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc), said the media should work harder to reveal the truth about violence in the Muslim-dominated provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.
Col Parinya said media outlets should also endeavour to report opinions and feelings of local people as such reports could help solve problems there.
He said the media had not performed its duty in the nine years since violence re-erupted in the deep South. He did not elaborate.
Col Parinya was speaking at a seminar titled "Seeing the southern violence, seeing the media in presenting news reports _ the case of Bacho [where 16 militants were killed by naval officers on Feb 13]" held by the Thai Broadcast Journalists Association (TBJA) yesterday.
He said, however, the media should be cautious in its reporting on some topics which could affect the feelings of local people.
He said he saw that media outlets fiercely competed against one another in reporting incidents concerning the killing of militants at a village of Narathiwat's Bacho district.
Korket Chantalertluk, acting director of ThaiPBS channel, said the media should present reports which project the views of all sides. "The media should be a tool for all sides which will help reduce violence and bring about peace," he said.
Angkhana Neelaphaijit, chairwoman of the Justice Working Committee for Peace, said security agencies should reach out more to local people. "I don't want the government to think that giving them compensation is enough," she said.
"If it wants to tackle this problem successfully, it should think about all stakeholders in society.
"I'm concerned about the feelings of both security agencies and local people. They should care for each other's feelings when their people are killed."