THAILAND: CDR wary of local radio in the North

Military council considers regulating content of community radio stations that supported ousted government

Bangkok Post
Friday, September 29, 2006

By Subin Kheunkaew

The Council for Democratic Reform (CDR) is inspecting community radio stations throughout the northern region, the political stronghold of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. A source in the Third Army said community radio stations are now seen as a significant threat to the CDR's authority as they could be used by supporters of the ousted prime minister to incite public resentment against the CDR.

The Third Army is considering appropriate measures to regulate those stations.

The source said a number of community radio stations in several mountainous and remote areas in 16 northern provinces are equipped with radio signal-relay devices. Those stations serve as signal-relay spots to broadcast information from manned radio stations.

With such relay devices, a community radio station can transmit its signals further than the capacity of its own transmission antennae.

More importantly, the content broadcast by many community radio stations in the North has supported the ousted government.

"If we don't quickly take action on this matter, it could continue to fuel rifts in the country," the source said.

Banyong Sirasunthorn, chief public relations officer of the Third Army's peace- keeping division, said among more than 400 community radio stations in the North, several did not cooperate with the CDR, nor broadcast its statements as requested.

"We're in the middle of examining those stations, asking them to present their operational licences and programme charts. We'll give permission to operations on a case-by-case basis," he said.

Col Banyong said only a few community radio stations in each northern province would be granted permission.

The CDR will also take control of the operations of community radio stations in the northeastern and eastern regions.

Statistics from the Public Relations Department showed there are about 2,500 registered community radio stations nationwide. It is estimated that another 1,000 are unregistered.

Date Posted: 9/29/2006

Printer friendly version