Umesh Prandy said he refused an order from board of directors to ‘tone down’ the newspaper’s reporting and editorial
Umesh Prandy, who has held the position since July 2016, said the
board of directors had asked him to “tone down” the newspaper’s
reporting and editorials on the actions of the military government,
particularly over their suppression of freedom of speech and the delays
over long-promised elections.
“When asked to tone down I did not budge and was blunt in letting
those who make decisions know that I would rather lose my position than
bow my head,” said Prandy in a written statement on Monday night. “The
axe finally came down on me just 60 days before my two year contract
ended.”
The Bangkok Post board is made up of some of the most powerful
figures in Thai business and education, many with close ties to the
government; one member, Wuttisak Lapcharoensap, was floated as education
minister last year. Neither Prandy nor members of the Bangkok Post
board responded to requests for comment. Press freedom in Thailand
has been notoriously restricted since the military junta took over in a
bloodless coup in 2014, with numerous journalists arrested under laws
which ban views the government considers to be “inconsistent with the
truth” or under the strict lese majeste laws, which prevent any
criticism of the King. In the 2016 Freedom House report, media in
Thailand was certified as “not free”.
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However,
in the past 18 months Prandy was seen to have pushed the boundaries of
the paper’s coverage, and in his departure statement, Prandy spoke of
his pride at the “hard-hitting news” that he and his team had produced.
An editorial from 14 May, in which the paper criticised the banning
of all broadcasts by pro-democracy Peace TV, was said to have been a
particular source of contention.
The paper slammed the ban as a “blatant and poorly thought out act of
censorship” and added: “The charge used to once again shut down the
only popular outlet of a major political force is ludicrous.”
Prandy had also recently wrote a damning op-ed on the military
government, who rule as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO),
led by prime minister General Prayuth.
“The momentum has already started to build against this
government and any smart politician or military strategist would know it
is futile to go against the trend,” wrote Prandy. “It is therefore
advisable Gen Prayut and his band of democracy-robbers wake up before
the situation deteriorates to a point of no return.”
It follows a recent incident where the editor of ChiangMai City Life
magazine was almost jailed, and the publication accused of blasphemy,
after they posted an image on the publication’s Facebook page, which
showed three Thai kings wearing gas masks, in an attempt city to
highlight to city’s problems with pollution.
The governor of Chiang Mai accused editor Pim Kemasingki of violating
the Computer Crime Act, and she was only cleared after taking the image
down and publicly apologising.
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