Freedom of speech in Thailand

Television

The censorship on smoking scene of an anime charactor from One Piece in Thai TV.
In television broadcasts, scenes displaying nudity, consumption of alcohol, smoking, drug usage and weapons pointed at human beings are commonly censored by blurring out respective areas. Like all media, criticism of the King is not allowed.After the military coup of September 2006, the junta sent tanks and troops to secure all television stations. Junta leaders demanded the censorship of news reports and opinion polls that might be negative to the militaryThai television broadcasters did not air footage of demonstrations against the coup.Local cable broadcasts of CNN, BBC, CNBC, NHK, and several other foreign news channels were censored, with any footage involving former Premier Thaksin blacked out.In November, an interview with Nuamthong Phaiwan, a taxi driver who drove his taxi into a tank to protest the coup was broadcast by iTV. The broadcast came to an abrupt end after the director of Army-owned Channel 5 gave a warning telephone call. Although the station was already occupied by the military, an additional 20 soldiers were dispatched to the station. The junta also sent a letter to the six public TV channels summoning their news editors for instruction on "constructive reporting for peace of the nation. The nine members of Board of Directors of MCOT, a privatised state-owned media company, resigned on 26 September with effect as of 27 September in order to take responsibility for allowing Thaksin Shinwatra to shortly address the nation on MCOT-controlled Modernine TV (Channel 9). Seven months after the coup, the Bangkok Post reported that military censorship of broadcast media was tighter than at any time in the past 15 years.
Radio
Radio stations in Thailand must be government licensed and have traditionally been operated primarily by the Government and military. Ownership of radio outlets by government, military, and quasi-government entities have often undermined freedom of the media. In May 1993, the military shut down an army-owned radio station leased to a private news group for three days after the station ran a commentary critical of the armed forces. In another incident in February 1993, government-run media attempted to protect a prominent Buddhist monk accused of sexual misconduct by prohibiting interviews with another well-known Buddhist on his views about the allegations and declined to air a video documenting the monk's overseas travels.More recently, in March 2003 the Independent News Network (INN) radio broadcast was temporarily canceled after the network aired a Cabinet member's criticisms of the government. In response to public protests, the Government restored the broadcast and claimed that INN's failure to renew their broadcast license was the reason for the temporary closure.Community radio stations – mostly unlicensed – have seen dramatic growth during the Thaksin-government.There have been fears that the medium might be censored. Thailand's 2000–3000 community radio stations, often operating unlicensed, have been accused of causing interference with air traffic radio and other radio stations. However, limited crackdowns on selected community radio stations have caused critics to accuse the government of political interference.