Thailand Correspondent
FRIENDS I met at a small farewell for Bangkok-based CNN correspondent Dan Rivers last Saturday night said they had seen the soldiers out again.
On the way back home I saw them as well – two stationed inside the Asoke BTS station.
It is probably the first time since May that soldiers have been on the streets of Bangkok – and it is a reminder that the capital is still under emergency rule, with security run by the Centre for Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES).
Dan has been given a senior assignment in London. The move is well timed; seldom have foreign journalists working in Thailand come under the kind of pressure that Dan has.
The government of prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, soon after taking office, took a dim view of Dan's reporting on the Rohingya boat people issue in early 2009. Dan got his story the classic way – visiting the areas where the Rohingya had fetched up and painstakingly recording various locals' version of events. CNN's reports also showed images provided by a whistle blower, of the Rohingya from Myanmar's Rakhine state, being towed out to sea by Thai security forces – and cast adrift.
The government immediately denied the accusations, saying the images had been faked and were misleading. But CNN stood by the story. Last year, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva admitted there had been "some instances" when boats had been pushed out to sea, and pledged an investigation. The Department of Special Investigation was put in charge, but so far no results have been announced.
Dan collected an Amnesty International award for his reportage.
More recently, this year, there has been a widespread campaign to vilify Rivers. An open letter to CNN in May by the young lawyer Napas na Pombejra, contended that CNN in its coverage of the clashes between troops and "red shirt" protestors in Bangkok in April and May, had been "reporting single-sided or unverified facts and distorted truths drawn from superficial research, or display/distribute biased images which capture only one side of the actual event".
The letter spread through the Internet like the proverbial wildfire. At the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT), at least two phone calls were received from unknown people, asking for Dan Rivers' home address. A CNN producer reportedly had a stone thrown through a window in her home. The influential blogger Bangkok Pundit's analysis of the issues raised in the letter drew 310 comments and 222 Tweets – probably a record for the blog.
Rivers was not the only foreign journalist under attack. BBC correspondents were and still are, also subjected to criticism and vilification, for their coverage of the clashes. The trend is not new; in 2008 many foreign correspondents were blasted in speeches by right wing, royalist "yellow shirt" leaders; on one occasion a right wing radio host urged members of the public to attack then-BBC correspondent Jonathan Head if they came across him. (Head has since then moved to Istanbul).
I believe it has been impossible since the storm over CNN was triggered this year, for Dan to get interviews with government officials. Even Thais in the private sector have been wary. This despite analyses of CNN's coverage showing the network did indeed feature interviews with government figures during the clashes. The BBC has also stood by its coverage.
Ms Napas na Pombejra received support from Queen Sirikit, who in a letter to her dated July 24, 2010 wrote, "I read your letter to CNN. I feel proud of you that you stood up as a Thai person to respond to the foreign journalists in a forthright way, politely and clearly, which made the world community reconsider the reliability of CNN.
"I greatly admire you for your help upholding the nation's reputation".
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