September 22, 2006
Thai Coup D’Etat: Live Media Blacked Out
Led by army chief General Sonthi, soldiers staged a coup to remove Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from power. Live local and international television news was restricted.
Soldiers seized government offices, took up posts around the Thai capital of Bangkok and took control of local broadcast media. The Bangkok Post website, a major English news outlet, was slowed down significantly as Thais turned to the Internet for the news. The Post reports that websites in Thailand experienced very heavy traffic.
In an announcement by the Prime Minister, broadcast from New York, he declared a state of emergency and fired Gen. Sonthi. The broadcast was cut short. The Washington Post reported that troops arrested the station manager who attempted to broadcast the address. Gen. Sonthi revoked the state of emergency soon afterward.
Coup leaders have moved to censor the media and ban public gatherings as part of measures meant to ensure public order. Strict controls have been slapped on foreign and domestic media. The communications ministry has been allowed to "block" disinformation" deemed harmful to a provisional military council now in control of the country.
At least two blogs have been set up solely to cover the unfolding military coup in Thailand - a group blog 19sep which is in English and revolution.blogrevo which is in Thai.
Posted by Buzz Webster at September 22, 2006 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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