The yellow-shirts view individuals on the pink-side as being ignorant and misguided people underneath the management of Thaksin. A political demonstration might be described by a yellow-shirt commentator as a gathering of rented thugs paid by Thaksin to cause havoc and confusion, while a red-shirt sympathizer might view demonstrators as professional-democracy activists standing up for their right to vote. An individual that overtly shows assist for the red-shirt motion dangers being labeled as a traitor, terrorist or risk to national safety. Similar to in Thailand, Chinese government supporters have used the web to voice their help for the federal government and assault dissidents. The Chinese government’s apparatus of Internet control is the most extensive and superior on the earth. This time, the army efficiently took control of television, newspapers and radio but they couldn’t management the web. ASTV Manager, certainly one of the principle yellow-shirt newspapers and a pioneer in Thai on-line media, printed a fictional article wherein the pupil was arrested by the police, sent to prison after which gang-raped by inmates. Wimonwan Thampakdee, of Thairath Tv commented on the increasingly hostile attitudes in the direction of journalists in the following manner “When Thailand faced political rallies in 2004, the Thai Journalists Association gave out armbands to tell apart reporters from protesters – but at present armbands made reporters targets for some protesters…
People walk up to reporters after they see an armband and ask ‘Where do you work? This attracted individuals to get out on the street and be part of the protest. The Thai junta is at the moment still figuring out how to increase their management of the web. The Junta received criticism from the general public in the course of the short hours Facebook was down; this clearly showed that makes an attempt by the government to dam social media websites would have destructive penalties. Previous coup makers had additionally made an effort to take management of media and silence the opposition. The military and political elite are working arduous to censor and silence the opposition. The core of their beliefs is now being challenged by the opposition. They have regularly been accused of being terrorists paid by Thaksin to destroy Thailand. BBC’s Southeast Asian correspondent Jonathan Head and New York Times Bangkok correspondent Thomas Fuller are other examples of journalists which were accused of receiving money from Thaksin to distort the truth about what is occurring in Thailand. ”. Within the remark part the professors are accused of being paid by Thaksin, disloyal to the monarchy, traitors and never “real” Thais.
On social networking sites like Facebook supporters of the yellow movement frequently share pictures of academics and activists and accuse them of either being paid by Thaksin or of being disloyal in the direction of the monarchy. They’re portrayed as being a professional-democracy movement that represents the will of the majority population. The full variety of blocked websites in 2011 was estimated to be between 80-a hundred 000. Although hundreds of internet sites that includes “illegal” content material have been blocked, social media sites are nonetheless accessible. On social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter millions of user can share news, ideas and opinions that would not make it into conventional media. Social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook are blocked by the government. File-sharing and p2p networks have also made it attainable to get access to books and articles which might be banned in Thailand. But can they convince enough people that what they’re doing is in the interest of the nation? Social media can operate as a liberator however it additionally has the potential of changing into one other software of oppression. The query that is still is, if what we’re seeing is just a phase or if it is the beginning of increasing government control of the internet and social media.
Journalists and teachers were banned from addressing political issues on conventional media channels but the navy couldn’t stop web customers from sharing their views on the coup on-line. Frustrated by their inability to win the media conflict the yellow group has often resorted to hate speech and makes an attempt at intimidation. The concept Thaksin has affect over western media appears to be firmly established within sure fractions of the yellow movement. This was denied by the military and the popular social media site was quickly up and working once more. Groups that opposed the navy junta used social media to stage flash mobs all through the capital. As mentioned earlier in the article, “Business University In Bangkok” new media has come to play an necessary function in contemporary Thai politics. Up until the 1990’s the navy had practically total management of print and broadcast media. Shortly after the 2014 navy coup Facebook went down for a couple of hours.