Somjit
Journalists and government officials have been urged to respect each other more after a row between Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung and a television reporter last week.
The call came from Sadej Bunnag, the Thai Journalists Association (TJA)'s vice president on press rights and freedom. He said: "Each side (journalists and the state officials as news sources) has a duty to do and they should ask and answer related to issues without making incitement.
Journalists have to ask questions and investigate, while officials have to answer and clarify. They should try to answer in the parts that they can and simply say they can't when they can't."
Thai Post's veteran political writer Prachyachai Daththuyawatr said reporters and news sources needed to keep an appropriate distance and be careful not just with their words but also "non-verbal language".
Chalerm told reporters at Government House yesterday he would not give an interview if Channel 7 reporter Somchit Nawakruasunthorn was present among the group.
Chalerm and Somchit had a war of words during an "ambush" interview at Parliament last week when Somchit put some questions to the Deputy PM about Pitak Siam's rallies. Chalerm accused Somchit of favouring the opposition Democrat Party.
Somchit said Chalerm's remark was libellous and accused Chalerm of being a slave for Thaksin and urged him to sue her.
The TJA's Sadej said Chalerm's announcement was inappropriate and could be considered an obstruction to the media's work. But he said the best way to avoid problems was for journalists and officials to avoid instigating any flare-up.
"A news source has the right not to answer, (and) journalists also have to be careful in posing questions. In any situation that an instigation and war of words occurs, the interview might just be ended and journalists from other media lose their chance to ask questions that are useful for the people," he said.
Wilaiwan Jongwilaikasem, a communication arts lecturer at Kasetsart University, said war of words between Chalerm and Somchit was a sign that respect between journalists and officials had dropped. But it was important for journalists to behave well to retain credibility.
Conflicts between journalists and officials during interviews have been more severe and explicit than in the past. Chalerm did not just decide to refuse to answer Somchit's questions but also sought to discredit her, Wilaiwan said.
Wilaiwan, who worked for Matichon newspaper as a journalist at Government House from 1990 to 1996, said trying to discredit someone or replying with harsh questions were a common tactic that politicians used to counter journalists.
"In 1990, I had asked Newin Chidchob, then deputy agriculture minister, about the Sor Por Kor scandal. He said, 'I'm not answering your questions. Were you paid (to ask me these questions)?'," she said, adding that some politicians had told journalists to go back to school or ask questions to their parents in reaction to questions they did not want to answer.
In 2007, then premier Samak Sundaravej asked a journalist if he had a sexual affair the night before in reaction to his question about who was behind selection of his party's MP candidates, saying it was a matter of internal (domestic) affairs.
"Some sources might act in a way that it's understandable that they avoid certain journalists. I was known to have asked harsh questions so my peer journalists asked me to keep my questions till a later part of an 'ambush' interview," Wilaiwan said.
Somchit yesterday wrote an open letter to Chalerm on her Facebook page, saying his decision was unfair to other journalists and he would lose opportunities to communicate to the people. Moreover, he should not have pushed her to "the other side" while the country was so divided.
She told The Nation she had been reporting without bias and posed harsh questions towards officials in all governments.
A reporter for 20 years, Somchit said attacking journalists with ridicule was a new thing. In the past, arguments focused on issues and ideas.
Somchit said Chalerm had tried to discredit her many times with this accusation. While she had had to cover Democrat Party "beats" for a long time, she used no bias in reporting.
She said she would insist on doing her job as normal. She would not sue Chalerm for libel unless he sued her with the same charge - to show that everyone has the right to protect oneself.
Somchit covers Parliament, the Democrat Party and independent agencies. She has written two books about Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva but said in an interview she could not write about people from Pheu Thai Party as she did not know them enough.
Somchit sued a local red-shirt leader for circulating her picture and threatening her last year. The court will decide on December 6 whether to accept her case.
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Source: http://www.news.thethailandlinks.com/2012/11/20/show-some-respect-tja-urges-chalerm-reporters/
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