Thailand’s media landscape

Responding to a recent PPT post on the media and 112, a reader pointed us to RSF/Reporters Without Borders and their 2025 World Press Freedom Index.

The Thailand report is worth reading in full. It actually has Thailand ranking a little better than in 2024, although this ranking may simply reflect declines elsewhere. Here are some Thailand excerpts:

The Thai media landscape has undergone significant changes following the 2023 elections. While the media is no longer subject to the same level of censorship as it was under the military government, public and semi-public media groups, such as MCOT, have been accused of avoiding criticism of the government. In contrast, Voice TV, a media outlet founded by the family of the current Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, shifted from a critical tone to becoming a de facto mouthpiece for the ruling party before its closure in April 2024. Several presenters and political commentators from Voice TV have since joined NBT, a state-owned outlet….

The Move Forward Party’s dissolution over its stance on lèse-majesté, coupled with the Pheu Thai Party government’s weak political will, has stalled reform. Once-vibrant debates on sensitive issues such as lèse-majesté law have faded, while the media work in an environment that fuels self-censorship and limits open political discourse….

Thailand’s leading media outlets are owned by a handful of oligarchs with direct links to the royal family and the armed forces….

Since the 2014 coup, dozens of journalists and bloggers have been forced to choose between imprisonment and self-imposed exile. Those convicted of lèse-majesté are systematically mistreated in prison….