UPDATE: See at the end
Matichon alledges INN was the first to print 13 stories about Thaksin seeking refuge/being granted citizenship in Bermuda, Bahamas, and in a number of countries in Africa (they have another background story here). They alledge that this news was to coincide with "bad news" stories for Thaksin in Thailand (i.e trying to get the bad news of the front pages). It also mentions that a number of the news sources do not have websites. It asks whether all the news stories were false and who was behind the stories.
BP: I will state I am unable to find any evidence to back up any of the previous news stories (this also seems to include the story on Thaksin receiving an award from Bolivia). I am still rather busy, but can anyone find any foreign language news story or a newspaper/media source in one of those countries (Togo, Chad, Bolivia, Bahamas, or Bermuda) which substantiates the earlier stories? If not, who was behind this disinformation campaign? Given most of the stories are favourable to Thaksin (although not everyone) one most look closely at Thaksin's PR team.
I was surprised the first time I read the story on Thaksin going to Bermuda and noted in a blog post that I couldn't find the website of the newspaper referred to. However, what amazes me now is Matichon going after INN. The first I read of this story was on the Matichon website. The time I previously blogged on was from Matichon article which makes no mention that they sourced the article from INN - it reads as if it is their own story. So did they "borrow" INN's story without attribution and now are mad they got burned? Don't Thai newspapers have any fact-checkers? Matichon is not the only newspaper who print such stories without attribution to INN (if INN was the original source), we have Post Today, Naew Na, and Thai Post (which is virulently anti-Thaksin). They all refer to a foreign newspaper/media source and give the impression to the reader that they are getting this information from the newspaper/media source concerned themselves. These examples are just from a one minute google search, I am sure there are many more examples.
I should note that AP were the ones who first cast doubt on the entire Thaksin seeking refuge in Bermuda/Bahamas story.
Surely it wouldn't this be this to get a disinformation campaign past the entire Thai media?* Ok, I am being facetious.
*This includes the Bangkok Post.
While it accepted the scrutiny and would reconsider its reporting process, the INN explained how it got the news about the offers to Thaksin.The INN earlier reported that several countries like the Bahamas and Bermuda had offered asylum and positions to Thaksin while living in exile.But the governments of both countries denied the report.Thai media published articles questioning INN's news sources after they failed to verify the INN report. They also questioned the timing of its release which coincided with Thaksin's movements and statements in the past few months.During his address on November 1, Thaksin told his supporters that many countries had offered him shelter and positions.According to INN, the questionable reports were found accidentally by an INN reporter while searching for another topic on the Internet.INN said the first piece, a story headlined as "Bermuda Prime Minister invites Thaksin into exile", published on August 22, was found accidentally when INN's reporter searched for news about a Bermudan football player of the Manchester City Football Club.The reporter double checked the information [BP: double checking means to check the name of the premeir was correct, it doesn't mean looking for another source of information - see below] from an encyclopaedia on the Internet about the country's information and its prime minister's name. They matched, so the reporter decided to translate the story into the agency's database.Since Thaksin's movements have been a source of interest to Thai people, INN decided to publish the stories to its audience."Due to curiosity about Thaksin's extradition process being an issue at that time, INN's foreign news reporter searched information from prominent media like CNN, BBC, AP, AFP and visited the websites in the Bahamas and Bermuda where stories were found before. The website of ZNS Bahamas, which was not being upgraded at that time, had a piece of news published on October 16 saying Bahamas' prime minister was seeking ways to help Thaksin. It was a 15 day old story but the reporter saw it interesting and decided to translate it," INN said to clarify how it got the story headlined as "Bahamas asks UK not to send Thaksin back to Thailand" which it published on October 31.The website of ZNS Bahamas has been posted as "being upgraded" for more than a week.
BP: I look at two stories below* and well I am sceptical of INN's claims. Matichon are now quick to point out they believe that INN didn't have any knowledge about the "unusual news" - they state that they should be careful with checking information from sources and it is a lesson for the media (มิได้มุ่งร้ายต่อสำนัก INN เพราะเชื่อว่า โดยตัวสำนักข่าว INN มิได้มีส่วนรู้เห็นแลเกี่ยวข้องกับข่าวซึ่งเป็น"สิ่งผิดปกติ"ดังกล่าว แต่ปรากฏการณ์ที่เกิดขึ้นน่าจะเป็นบทเรียนร่วมกันของสื่อมวลชนไทยว่า การนำเสนอข่าวโดยไม่ตรวจสอบ"ที่มา"ของข่าวและ "แหล่งข่าว" รวมทั้งการไม่อ้างอิง"แหล่งข่าว"อย่างชัดเจน).
Some of the INN "sources" are bizarre. You have a TV stations ZNS Bahamas , VSB TV Channel 11, Radio Kara (Togo), and Radio Illimani (Bolivia). Supposedly, someone translated material which appeared on each and was relevant to Thaksin on some news websites and all of this material can no longer be found.
What I believe happened is someone passed on news stories and they were published without checking them. Now, they are trying to make up some story to justify what they published. However, I cannot believe the audacity of Matichon who printed at least one of the same stories almost word-for word - it now seems they just copied the stories verbatim from INN without acknowledging it was from INN and without checking the information themselves - and are screaming blue murder at INN for doing so.
Will INN continue with their line?
I should note that the pro-Thaksin Thaienews is quick to point out that those involved in founding INN and former executives have been opposed to Thaksin - there is a telecommunications connection of UCOM, a competitor of Thaksin (it is connected with DTAC) and Samran Rodpetch, Manager columnist and PAD leader.
I have also contacted a journalist to see whether they have ever been passed on this information when speaking to people from PPP and they replied no. They did speak to a well-known PPP person about about the stories, but the answer was vague about countries welcoming Thaksin without referring to specifics or providing examples.
Matichon also states that the news was to coincide with bad news stories for Thaksin. It states 3 bad events, the issuing of the arrest warrant on August 11, the Rachadaphisek decision on October 21, and the revocation of his visa on November 8.
BP: Matichon refers to 13 stories. The first news story was not until August 22. For October 21, there was one news story on October 17 and the next one was October 28. For November 8, there was one news story on November 10. Surely, if the point was to push the bad news off the front pages, you would release immediately after the bad news. You wouldn't be waiting 11 days.
*For story No. 1, they said they were looking for news on Sean Goater, ex-Man City forward who is from Bermuda who is reported to being back to English. They found the website Lex Mundi. Then by a coincidence they found the story about story mentioning that a Ewart Brown Junior, who is Premier of Bermuda had offered to give asylum to Thaksin. They then checked his name against Wikipedia and found he was the Premier.
BP: Why not just google Sean Goater? You can get nowhere near Lex Mundi.
For 13, the story on Thaksin receiving an award the Order of Simon Bolivar from President Morales. INN states they found the newslink on the Bolivian newspage of Big Network News and there was a story entitled "Bolivian Leader to give"order of Simon Bolivar" with the source being La Estrella which is the Bolivian Spanish language newspaper La Estrella del Oriente.*
BP: My Spanish is certainly not muy bien, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to search their site. They have one story on Thaksin and 4 stories about Tailandia. None mention of the award and googling the award brings up too many hits. Then again, Matichon states INN had this story on "14 November". I am not sure they were first with the story as the Bangkok Post had it on November 4 - see Newley's post with the link it on that date. You will note the Post includes no source whatsover on the source on the story so I am not sure what is worse the no source people or those with an unlikely story on how they found the article. Actually, if one goes to the Bolivian newspage of Big Network News and searches for La Estrella in the search window one finds mention of a La Estrella newspaper in Panama which has some stories in English including this story which I am sure the Tourism Authority of Thailand will like... Again, no story on the award. It appears they can't even get the name of the right newspaper where they supposedly got the story from.
this is a really frightening campaign of disinformation if it really has been orchestrated by thaksin's people.
you're right the thai media is to blame for not fact-checking but those sources are really hard to track down.
doing a search for thaksin or thailand on "la estrella del oriente" the santa cruz newspaper only brought up stories about the coup.
also, in searching for "order of simon bolivar" the only mention i found of morales giving the award was to maradona in march this year. this kind of debunks the INN line that thaksin would be the first foreigner to be awarded this medal. i'm guessing the maradona story on bbc is what gave the agents of disinformation the idea for this.
if thaksin's hand is behind this i'm really scared for the impending showdown and future of this country.
The media are really are going to make an issue out of journalistic ethics?
So will The Nation and Manager be next?
This doesn't surprise me one bit.
I had a gut feeling that the stories were made up.
What is striking to me BP is that you(finally?) noticed that Thai news agencies basically copy other stories without attribution and print them as their own stories.
This is common. Andy over at Bangkok Bugle has pointed this out several times.
I have noticed that The Nation does it all the time, especially with British papers.
Also, The Nation got a lot of traction from the Bermuda/Africa exile stories. Of course, The Nation blames INN and Thaksin for reprinting those lies over and over again, when it didn't even bother to check if the story was true or not.
I doubt The Nation will be issuing any corrections soon for all the lies it has spewed the last few weeks.
I see this as a stunt by the Thai Media for publishing false reports. They probably getting some flack from the foreign media and are releasing this news.
Why no criticism about CTX false reporting?
bobserver
Is The Nation an attorney for INN?? The article makes it seem so.....
bobserver
LSJ, if the root cause of this whole scandal were a black propaganda group within the X, then I'd be even more scared for the impending showdown and future of this country.
hi lsj....
and if thaksins hand is not behind this but someone else unknown?
does this affect your concerns for the impending showdown and future of this country.
by the way, what impending showdown?
this sounds like something the PAD are trying to organise
I think the PAD are in their desperate last throes , after Khun Chamlong negotiates immunity from prosecution the movement will fade away and we can have some peace...
to look after maintaining and developing the country with less silly distractions
LSJ, you should not be scared about Thaksin's hand. Thailand, its bureaucracy, its elite, and its media are all too capable of that. Doesn't require Thaksin.
This is very good illuminating lesson about how the Thai media works:
1. Do very little on the ground reporting, no real investigators, etc; you wait to be spoon fed information or find easy sources
2. No professionalism and no initiative. The media are all too content and entrenched into their positions of complacency. They work like how most Thai people work. Spelling errors, fact errors, no background understanding of the issues...
3. No depth at all. The Thai media is extremely out of its depth in nearly all aspects (except perhaps the Entertainment people, but not much depth there to begin with anyways). Analysis is rubbish and usually dependent on rumors. No one actually talks about hard facts, numbers, or evidence and the amnesiac media somehow think they can lecture to the public.
Add to this the fact that they just all want to sell papers...
Nice work BP.
This is an often problem with current journalists (and sometimes bloggers too), with this wide spread of information available online:
Spreading news based on vague, sometimes even fabricated information or sometimes even confidential information received.
Sometimes to buster own hits (self-promotion) or as most likely in this case, maybe to try to benefit another person.
I like your quiet detailed research on this one.
Muy ben!
"if thaksin's hand is behind this i'm really scared for the impending showdown and future of this country."
To the contrary, I would be much more concerned for the Thai people if this proves to be what it seems to be -- the work of an inept Fourth Estate. But I wouldn't be surprised.
Journalistic integrity hasn't ever appeared to be a priority in Thailand. Rumors and fabrications are much more interesting and sell much better than the truth. This seems to be a cultural thing and I don't see it changing anytime soon.
Such an inept media and an empire of crooks has crumbled with its patriarch having no country to live. What would have happened to toxin if the Thai media are one notch smarter????? I guess fonzi knows the answer. lol
holier than u guys
lsj: What would be frightening is if no one reported on it or made an issue of it.
Fonzi: To defend The Nation slightly, I have seen them refer to what the foreign newspapers are saying, but from memory they state "BBC reports". This at least gives you the initial source and can tell the reader they are based their story on the BBC article. In this instance, they seemingly copied the article almost, if not totally, verbatim with no mention whatsover of the source. The later is much worse than the former.
Bobserver: Shh! If you don't report it, it didn't happen. No Jayson Blair like mea culpa either.
Aa: Argh, don't get me even started on Thai media entertainment reporting. It reminds of the whole Kee-nu Reev (AKA Keanu Reeves) is gay rumour which seemed endemic in the mid-to-late 90s. Every single outlet is the National Enquirer on steroids. The problem is people seem to believe it all.
Why no criticism about CTX false reporting?
the sources of that false reporting are too obvious.... the Nation reporters intentionally misreading english to get Thaksin
maybe we think its just inept this time
but the false reporting that created the CTX scandal saw real evil intention on show!
And what if the story of "the false reporting" was... false ?
I read somewhere that Nation Group presented its excuses. But for what exactly ?
The bottom line is : CTX scanners was INDEED a corrupted deal.
The US authorities even launched an investigation (on the US supplier). The report then was sent to Bangkok... and of course never released. And it was under Thaksin reign.
So ? To hire a middle man who's only job is to take the Purchase Order from AOT, add a huge commission and then send the revised PO to the US supplier... you call that a normal process ?
Why AOT was unable, unwilling to buy directly from the US supplier ?
Let's go back on earth.
Sure, we all know that Nation takes... liberties with facts.... from time to time.
But here we should stop this stupid "counter rumor" : AKA "nation made a mistake over the CTX scandal, therefore there is no CTX scancal".
All talks, but no hard facts to substantiate their news reports. Sounds like Sondhi L. is in the works again to me.
Thai Crisis, for someone who has such a fetish for raw data (apparent on your own blog), you seem to be able to make positive statements of corruption without ever seeing the results of any legitimate investigation.
- anon
well.. what do you expect in this intellectual wasteland. dignity? integrity? professionalism? bah..
As Fonzi said in an earlier comment I've written before about instances where the Thai media copies (translates) overseas media stories word-for-word without attribution and claims them as their own. It's happening more and more.
The Thai translation rights to a selection of stories from one leading English language business newspaper in the UK cost tens of thousands of pounds per year, but I've seen many Thai publications do exactly that. Why? Because those overseas publications have no one here monitoring what's happening to their content.
That said, I am aware The Nation does have a licensing/syndication agreement with several overseas newspapers and agencies.
It's harder to steal content in English compared to Thai.
No reason to discriminate: Did the Post ever justify this Nov. 4 gem?
Thaksin to receive award from Bolivian President
(BangkokPost.com) - Bolivia’s President Evo Morales was considering giving Thailand’s deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra the Order of Simon Bolivar after he aided Thai people in the grass-root level, improved their living conditions, and settled the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan.
Mr Thaksin was scheduled to receive the award at Plaza Murillo in Bolivia’s La Paz.
In addition, President Morales was expected to approach former premier Thaksin to become his adviser to overcome the economic problems in Bolivia.
The award was named after Simon Bolivar, a historical figure who freed many South American countries from Spanish rule.
To broaden the topic somewhat, can it be said that the media in Thailand has been trained to make stuff up? McCargo wrote a book on the media that was none too flattering, but one only needs to look at the fawning press of these few days to know how hard they have to work to come up with "reports" that are no more than hagiography (at best).
One might go back a year and look at how they had to scrape around to get stories following the death and compare those to the beat-ups that now pass for journalism, most especially in the Post and Nation.
In the past, these nonsense things used to be in special supplements but now they fill news columns.
If journalists are trained to make things up about these things, isn't it just a short step to making up stories on politics and not even having sources to check?