It's the fourth appeal that Thai PM's family company, Shin Corp, is making against 21 editorial staff it fired over 2 years ago. The staffers were sacked after they formed a worker's union within the Shin Corp owned television station, iTV.
In a letter to the PM, the IFJ is calling for the Thakin to intervene and "ensure ITV withdraws the appeal and immediately reinstates the 21 journalists."
IFJ President Christopher Warren also urges him, "as Prime Minister of Thailand, to uphold media freedom and human rights - including trade union rights - in Thailand."
The case is significant as it eptomises the changing dynamics of media freedom in Thailand. Once hailed as one of the freest presses in Asia, things have changed drastically since the 1997 economic recession.
Thepchai Yong of The Nation writes that the legal battle is a "symbolic" fight for editorial independence "in an age when political intervention is eroding Thailand's reputation as having the freest press in the region".
iTV started as an independent television station in 1996. Its journalists guarded their editorial independence fiercely, believing their work important and set apart from the otherwise cronyistic broadcasting industry. In 2001, just prior to the elections, Shin Corp bought over the station. It was the journalists' bold accusations of political intereference and news bias that gave iTV management the motive to expel the "rebels". Citing financial downsizing, the 21 outspoken workers were dismissed.
Despite three rulings in favour of reinstating the journalists, iTV has done nothing. A 2002 report in Thai newspaper The Nation quotes iTV executives as saying that they regarded any ruling favourable to the "rebels" as "bad precedent" and would fight the judgements. The third ruling in 2002 by the Thai Labour Court found for the sacked employees and was of the opinion that the journalists had a constitutional right to resist editorial intereference and it was unlawful for the company to fire them for setting up a labour union.
This fourth appeal by iTV emphases the blatant disregard for both workers' rights and press freedoms in Thailand.
Vincent Brossel of Reporters Sans Frontiere Asia-Pacific desk remarks in an email interview that the case is significant. "Pressure from the government on the media companies has been increasing since Thaksin came to power. If the verdict goes against the journalists, it will be a new step in this deterioration for the independent journalism in Thailand."
// UPDATE Phone Interview with Jacqueline Park, director of IFJ Asia-Pacific: 7 August 2003
What has been the response to the petition? From a campaigning point of view, it has been very effective. The petition has revived interest in the issue. In Thailand, a lot of people had thought [the case] had just gone away.
How significant is the case for press freedom? I must stress that it is not only and important press issue but also a trade union issue. Journalists aren't usually unionised in Thailand. Apart from the Bangkok Post, which has its own worker's union, iTV is actually one of the first Thai media to form a union.
How about from a journalist's point of view? It is important that all journalists are able to organise collectively and speak for themselves. If they live in fear then they can't be free to report independently.
>> MORE INFO>> Shin Corp Background
Shin Corp is a telecommunications conglomerate with interests in wireless and satellite technology, e-business, media and advertising. Thaksin started the company in 1983. His wife and himself were majority shareholders till 2000 when they sold their shares just prior to the Thai general elections.
The company now rests in the hands of Bhanapot Damapong, his brother-in-law. Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin's younger sister is the president of on of one of Shin Corp's subsidiary companies.
