After hounding Thaksin, Thai media loses its bark

BANGKOK, Dec 14 (Reuters) Having ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to end what they called ''rampant corruption'', Thailand's army rulers took just 11 weeks to award themselves a 34 per cent hike in military spending.

Yet the press, terrier-like in their pursuit of Thaksin in the nine months before the coup, barely mentioned -- let alone criticised -- the increase in defence spending in the 2007 budget put before the parliament the generals appointed.

As suddenly as it rediscovered its bark in January after five tough years under Thaksin, the media has lost it again under the interim, army-appointed administration, human rights groups, analysts and journalists say.

''Having stoutly defended the generals' takeover as the 'Thai way' to restore democracy and the rule of law, and shamelessly gushed admiration for their appointed prime minister, the media in Thailand is now timorous and restrained,'' the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission said.

Presenting last week's proposed budget, the government said the huge increase in military spending was needed to make up for funding gaps since the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis and to counter a bloody Muslim separatist insurgency in the far south.

Typical of media coverage at the time, the Bangkok Post acknowledged the military spending rise ''would draw public criticism'' -- but failed to provide any.

SELF-CENSORSHIP Under Thaksin, the pressure on dissenting voices came from many angles -- massive lawsuits, firing of editors, targeting of individual reporters, tight state control of radio and television frequencies, and government-friendly advertisers.

The Council of National Security (CNS), as the September 19 coup leaders call themselves, and its appointed administration has urged the media regularly to report ''the truth'' and provide ''constructive criticism''.

Yet an atmosphere of self-censorship has emerged in which contentious issues are avoided and the government gets the benefit of the doubt, analysts say.

At one level, the press forced itself into a broadly pro-coup stance because of its vehement opposition to Thaksin and its unrestrained joy at his removal.

However, like Thaksin, the generals are putting direct pressure on newspapers -- which are complying by and large, insiders say.

One journalist at a leading title said ''senior figures'' were calling up all the time to have critical reports pulled.

Similarly, a popular radio show host was suspended after a live interview with the new head of Thaksin's political party.

The revered figure of King Bhumibol Adulyadej is also playing a part due to the generals' careful packaging of their coup in the royal flag and draconian lese majeste laws that make criticism of royalty punishable by up to 15 years in jail.

''Nobody knows what the line is between the monarch and the interim government -- but anything to do with Crown, and the papers just won't touch it,'' said the journalist, who did not want to be named.

However, analysts said the press, which tends to give all new governments a few months' leeway, would not lie passive forever, especially if the army started meddling in the drawing up of a replacement democratic constitution.

''If the constitution-drafting process becomes bogus, if the military has too much influence and tries to manipulate it, the press will turn against them,'' political analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University said.

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