The disastrous floods in Thailand have been seized on by the yellowish mainstream media as a chance to punish Yingluck Shinawatra for winning the election over the media’s beloved Democrat Party. The media has been jumping on every opportunity to criticize, and where there isn’t an opportunity… well, they create one.
The United Nations Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Noeleen Heyzer seems unimpressed by being caught up in this.
In a recent story at the yellow-shirted Thai-ASEAN Network, the U.N. was portrayed as critical of the Thai government’s efforts. We assume this is the story. [Update: this link has been updated by TAN – see below]
an immediate retraction from the Thai ASEAN News Network for the serious misquotes of Dr. Noeleen Heyzer, United Nations Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in a story that ran this week.
The story, which revolved around the flood situation in Thailand, falsely attributed quotes to Dr. Heyzer that criticized the government.
The reality: the United Nations has issued no statement criticizing the government, and has only offered support and assistance as Thailand faces the worse floods in more than six decades.
“These quotes are completely contrary to the solidarity and support that the United Nations is giving in Thailand,” said Dr. Heyzer. “The quotes are totally wrong and a poor reflection of journalist standards that are meant to reflect the truth.”
We suspect that the political tide is now shifting to the government as the Democrat Party and its supporters are exposed as wanting to use a disaster for their own narrow political interests.
Update: TAN has now issued an apology and changed the story:
On Friday, October 21, 2011, the Thai-ASEAN News (TAN) Network broadcasted a news story entitled “UN Blames Govt for Poor Flood Management”. The story quoted UN ESCAP Executive Secretary Noeleen Heyzer for something she did not say. However, in actuality, the quote belonged to Jerry Velasquez, senior regional coordinator for UN/ISDR Asia & Pacific.
Once informed of the misquote, TAN Network corrected the story on the evening of Friday, October 21, 2011. The corrected version can still be found at http://www.tannetwork.tv/tan/ViewData.aspx?DataID=1048976.
There is no excuse for the mistake that was made. TAN Network, its management and its editorial team sincerely apologizes for the error that was made. However, we must stress that there were no ill intensions.
This incident has served as an important lesson to all of our staff. We apologize and will do our utmost to never allow this to happen again in the future.
Our sincere apologies.
The Thai-ASEAN News Network
Bangkok, Thailand
October 24, 2011
Political Prisoners in Thailand 
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[…] what was the actual misquote? Many, including the fellow bloggers over at Thai Political Prisoners, hint at an article titled “UN Blames Govt for Poor Flood Management”. Some excerpts: […]