Thai junta hands regulator power to close media outlets
Rebecca Hawkes
| 15 July 2016
Thailand’s broadcast and telecommunications regulator has been given the power by the junta leader to close TV stations without the right to appeal.
Prime Minister Prayut Chanocha, in his capacity as chief of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), issued Order Number 41/2559 on the supervision of distribution of news and information to the public. He exercised his power under Article 44 of the post-coup interim charter, reports The Nation.
The Southeast Asian country’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has been tasked to monitor broadcasters against airing reports ‘deemed detrimental to the political system’ or that ‘may destabilise the national stability and damage the moral value of the people’.
The NBTC and immediately shut down any television or radio broadcasters which violate the orders, without providing them with the right of appeal.
The orders, which were issued shortly after the coup in 2014, were widely criticised by Thai media outlets and international rights organisations for quashing freedom of expression and the right to information.
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