Off the Air in Bangkok
Well, our tussle with the military junta here is almost becoming comical. CNNs signal into Thailand is being blocked whenever our exclusive interview with deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is broadcast. Yet, the entire transcript has been carried on the front pages of all the papers here in Thailand, so quite why it is being censored on TV is mystifying me. Whenever the signal is blocked, a montage of photos of various Hollywood celebrities is put out on CNN instead. My cameraman cruelly suggested most viewers would prefer to see Brad Pitt to Dan Rivers any day of the week! Weve also become increasingly concerned about a number of sinister phone calls to our office here in Bangkok, with callers repeatedly hanging up and asking for information on the whereabouts of my Thai producer. Several of our phone calls from the office have also been mysteriously cut off. It smacks of an intimidation campaign of course I have no proof of that, just a journalistic hunch. But its clear our interview has caused waves. We interviewed Thaksin in Singapore, where he also met a senior politician. Our interview threw his visit to Singapore into the limelight now the military regime in Thailand is furious with the Singaporeans theyve cancelled an official visit of the Singaporean foreign minister and cancelled a civil service exchange programme, because they dared to have a meeting with the deposed prime minister of Thailand
oh and because they didnt prevent CNN from interviewing him there too. The Singaporean Ambassador has also been summoned to government house here for a reprimand. Its not quite war, but its certainly a jolly angry spat. Its ironic that the undemocratic, authoritarian junta here in Thailand is trying to take the moral high ground with Singapore itself not exactly a paragon of freedom. In my opinion, it all bodes ill for Thailands return to democracy. The military junta had promised to lift martial law by the end of 2006 but now were in 2007, and martial law remains in place, CNN is being censored, local TV stations are self-censoring their output and there is a growing climate of anger, trepidation and fear
especially in the CNN office, where the anonymous, threatening calls keep coming!
Posted by Dan Rivers, CNN International Correspondent: 3:10 AM
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